Mallinson Ltd - woodwork courses in Dorset. Perfect short breaks for everyone.

Dorset Art Weeks saw us open to the public for 16 consecutive days earlier this month and despite the odd spot of torrential rain (as seen on the national news!) not only did we survive, we welcomed a fantastic turn-out of both new and old faces. It was a great opportunity for us to get lots of feedback and ideas and for people to come and have a look at what we get up to before signing up for one of our courses.

Going, Going ...

During those 16 days it was, of course, very pleasing to see so many people signing up for courses and buying gift certificates for others. However, as a result most of the remaining courses for this year are now nearly full so do please book your place soon if you have your eye on a particular date. Once they're full, they're full!

Children's Course - New Autumn Date

The August Adult And Child course in particular filled up very quickly and therefore we have added an additional date for this one: Saturday October 25th.

Goodbye Mangerton

Immediately after Dorset Art Weeks I was packing up the woodland workshop, the last piece of the move from Mangerton to Higher Holditch Farm. I must say it was very gratifying, having moved all of the workshops, benches, logs and what-have-you, to be left with a bare clearing in the woods that is now reverting back to nature. Soon there will be no sign that we were ever there - very much part of our minimal footprint philosophy.

The willow screens were left in place, as the area will now be a woodland walk and these made a fitting feature. However, in time these too will rot and disappear again. With the final trailer loaded up I will admit it was with a tinge of sadness that I drove out of the woods for the last time. I know that a lot of guests have happy memories of this venue - and I do too.

Hello Higher Holditch Farm

But that all said, any sadness soon passed as I arrived at the new woods full of enthusiasm to develop the new - and improved - woodland workshop. The work is coming on very well at Higher Holditch Farm and the areas that we had to clear for the groundwork for the workshops are growing back very quickly now. The pond is clearing nicely and the land drains are working well too.

The first proper 'building' work was to make 22 45ft poles for the enormous new tipi dining room that we are building ready for next winter (and on the unlikely off-chance that it might rain in summer). We were fortunate that within the new woods there's a small area of conifers that were in dire need of thinning, having been unmanaged for decades, and this produced all the poles we needed. So, all that had to be done was to axe off the small branches and drawknife the bark off to a smooth finish.

Above, you can see Jack deep in bark shavings on number eight of the 22 poles; Lally is working on these too and we hope to have them dry and smooth in about two weeks time before putting it up in time for the Kitchen & Garden Pole Lathe Turning course here on July 17 and 18th.

Braziers For All Seasons

A lot of our guests have commented on the braziers that we use in the workshop areas and asked where they can get one. Well, I am pleased to say that you can now buy these directly from us in the normal way.

»» visit shop.

They are particularly large and make a great fire on cold days and also come with a grill for BBQs in the summer. At £100 including VAT I think they offer great value.

That's all for this month. Now it's back to the woods for some more camp building - we're looking forward to welcoming guests here shortly.

Guy and the team

Tree of the month - Small-leaved Lime - Tilia cordata

Ancient pollen records show that the small-leaved lime was once the commonest tree in lowland Britain. Today small populations survive in widely separated areas with favourable conditions and a limestone soil, ranging from the West Country up as far as the Lake District. These are often coppiced colonies rather than maiden trees; the lime tree widely planted as street trees and formal avenues across Britain is the common lime, tilia x vulgaris, a vigorous and tolerant hybrid of the native small-leaved and large-leaved limes.

The small-leaved lime is an inhabitant of southern climes, long valued as a shade tree in Mediterranean countries, and planted for this purpose by ancient Greeks and Romans. In Britain the small-leaved lime was widespread in the warmer climate of prehistoric times, when it would produce a mass of flowers and pollen. However, as the climate progressively cooled from around 3000BC the average summer temperature dropped, (as you may have noticed), to a point where the lime was rarely able to set fertile seed, and if it did, the few palatable lime seedlings were at risk of being eaten by wild and domestic animals. As a result the tree is today stranded in areas where it was already established, propagating by mainly vegetative means.

That these colonies of limes exist at all is testament to its longevity and powers of regeneration; fallen trees will routinely root into the ground, and damaged roots and broken branches sprout. In a similar vein human intervention such as pollarding and coppicing has helped to ensure the survival of the existing trees, and examination of old coppiced limes has shown that they can live to an incredible age. In the Lake District coppice stools of small-leaved lime have been dated to over 1000 years old, but this is topped by a find in a woodland near Westonbirt Arboretum, Gloucestershire, where a colony of limes growing in a circle were found to be clones - genetically identical trees which are the remains of a truly ancient coppice stool whose parent tree, now long gone, could have been growing and flowering in the warm summers of 6000 years ago.

Although the trees were coppiced, the timber was of low commercial value, cut for general uses such as hop-poles. The rods were also stripped of bark to reveal the underlayer of bast, which was twisted into rope. The timber did not even have much value as fire wood, as it burns poorly with an unpleasant smell. To the craftsman, however, lime wood is a gift, being fine-grained, strong and resistant to splitting, but soft enough to work into intricate designs. Valued by carvers and turners for many centuries, lime wood was most famously used by seventeenth century craftsman Grinling Gibbons, whose intricate and delicate carvings can still be enjoyed in buildings such as Hampton Court Palace and St Pauls Church in Covent Garden.

The name Lime has nothing to do with the fruit, but derives from the Anglo-Saxon Linde. This ancient name for the lime tree appears in place names throughout Britain, both in places were limes grow today, and others, like Lyndhurst and Linwood in Hampshire where the limes are long gone. All lime trees -which grow into tall, graceful maiden trees if left unpollarded - are associated with feminine qualities and aspects. Many cultures have ancient myths and lore associating the lime with conjugal love, femininity and peace; more dramatically in the ancient Greek myth, Philyra gave birth to Cheiron the centaur after an assignation with Cronos. Unfortunately they were caught in the act by his wife, at which Cronos changed himself into a stallion and fled the scene. Bowed down with shame, Philyra begged the Gods to change her into a tree, and was changed into a lime, still called Philyra in modern-day Greece.

To return to more peaceful associations, the flowers, whose honey scent is loved by bees, have long been used in medicinal herbal preparations as a remedy for nervous tension, anxiety and high blood pressure. As a tea or tisane it is used to ease any sort of stress-related condition and gently calm and relax adults and children. Lime-flower tea is also valued as a remedy with specific soothing and healing action on the digestive system. This is recognised particularly in France, where Lime-flower tea, called tilleul, is the most popular after-dinner tisane. If you want to try the soothing power of the lime, these trees will be spreading their sweet scent along streets, avenues and parks near you in the next few weeks. If the spring is not warm enough to encourage the small-leaved lime to flower this year, then venture out with your tree guide and collect some flowers from the common lime and dry them for tea. If you don't want to drink it, mix the dried flowers with lavender to stuff a soothing sleep pillow, and relax into summer!

Carolyn Brightwater