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

Summer in the woods has been a decidedly soggy affair so far, although we did enjoy a fortunate break in the weather for a very enjoyable totem pole course at the beginning of the month. It is always fascinating to see the variety of designs that guests create from essentially very similar sweet chestnut poles.

This was the last adult course for a couple of months, what with holidays away and the 'mastercraft' filming. However, we are making good use of this relatively quiet period to get on with the site improvements I've mentioned, and there are some special private bookings too.

We have two more parent and child courses this year, the next being on Saturday August 22nd. If you would like to come and join us do please book soon as places are strictly limited. Children must be 10 years or older and accompanied by an adult. More details are here.

Making Bread

Those of you who were familiar with our previous workshop in the woods might remember the old clay bread oven we had there. Since moving it's been my intention to build a new one and, at last, I've completed what was a fun project. (The first stages of the construction proved a popular side-show during a totem pole course. It seems everyone likes to watch someone else working!)

With the help of Adam and Ed we dug the clay from the streams in the woods and followed the same construction method as before. I first learned about this process through attending a River Cottage 'Build and Bake' course which I really do highly recommend, and I owe a big thank you to Dan and Gill at River Cottage for sharing their expertise.

If you are reading the illustrated version of the newsletter then the photos at the bottom of the page show the stage by stage process of building the oven as well as my son Jasper producing the first Holditch Pizza, delivered to the rest of the family up at the house by Jasper balancing a baking tray whilst riding pillion on the back of the quad bike. Who says we're behind the times out here in the sticks?!

Sharky and George Summer Camp

The other main event in July was the 'Sharky and George' Summer Camp. This involved a group of 10 and 11 year olds being shipped down from the home counties for a three-day stay in the woods. Arriving in fine style in an open-top London taxi cab, I rather think they all entered the woods with trepidation, in the knowledge that they were going to have to build their own shelters to sleep in as well as learn a bit of fire making and trapping, alongside my demonstrations of green woodwork.

I have to say it rained and rained but despite this they all entered into the spirit of it all and successfully kept reasonably dry and warm. The pizza oven was put through its paces with everybody making their own preferred recipe. The pond came into its own both with some successful trout fishing - also cooked in the clay oven - and an amazing transparent giant hamster ball in which they took turns in to do laps on the pond - a great spectator sport! The group went home proudly wielding spatulas and bits and pieces made on the pole lathe and at the very end they all carved their initials into a slab of freshly cut sycamore as a memento of their adventure.

Having seen one first hand, I can say that Sharky and George run fantastic children's parties - see their website -

http://www.sharkyandgeorge.co.uk/

for more details. We're planning similar camps in partnership with them in the future. If you would like to arrange a similar event here for children please contact them directly.

Adult Camp!

No, not that sort of adult camp! If you'd like something similar to a 'Sharkey and George' camp, but with adults involved (perhaps as a corporate event with a difference), or you have something in mind for a more local audience of any age, please contact me directly:

T: 01460 221 102
E: contact@mallinson.co.uk

We can be very flexible and we're pretty sure we can meet your needs - whether for a one day event or longer.

Site Work

Following our successful planning consent last month we have now started the site improvements we've been talking about. These include the hard-core track to the 'business end' of the woods and extending the car park at the top of the field. At least the rain has made the ground soft for digging. Hopefully, in a week or so from now we should have all-weather access to the wood stores, along with electricity and water to the site for the new compost loos. We have also started levelling the camping pitches in the woods - more on that next month when work's finished.

For now, that's about it. Let's hope summer comes back soon.

Guy and the team

Tree of the Month - Hornbeam - Carpinus betulus

Hornbeam, is one of the principal native woodland trees of England, although it is much less well-known and recognised than the more familiar oak, beech or hazel. Despite this anonymity, hornbeam is a major component of woodlands, especially in the southeast of England where it is truly native in an area spreading a little to the north and west, into Wales and the south-west. Elsewhere in the country hornbeam grows because it has been successfully introduced; it is an adaptable tree, and thrives across wide areas of Britain and Scotland, although in cooler areas it will benefit from a sheltered spot.

Hornbeam is an ancient woodland indicator; it is found in British woodlands either as part of a mixture of native broadleaf trees, or as second-fiddle in a beech woodland, where it is one of the few species that will tolerate the deep shade of the giant beeches. The trees themselves can resemble the beech, although closer inspection will reveal that the trunks are distinctively fluted, and the leaves sharply toothed. Very frequently, mature trees will have the distinctive hourglass-shape and mass of upswept limbs that reveal them to be old, neglected pollards. Hornbeam burns well, and was once commonly pollarded for its excellent firewood; this can be seen in the many ancient former pollards in locations around London, such as Epping and Hatfield, where they were well placed to service the capital?s huge demand for firewood.

Hornbeams are a common feature of a type of relic landscape known as ?wood pasture?. This landscape of pollarded trees dotted across rolling countryside is now most commonly seen in historic land use such as the deer parks or landscape planting of the great country houses, and similar areas preserved for their historical and amenity value, such as Richmond Park and Hatfield Forest; it is a relic of an earlier age, a beautiful landscape generating both grazing land and timber.

The leaves of hornbeam are unpalatable to animals, and the bark is tough and resistant to damage, so it was a good choice of tree for wood pasture, and for areas of historic woodland such as Epping Forest, where the commoners both harvested wood products and grazed their livestock. Even though the pollards were cut above grazing height, trees could still be damaged by grazing animals, causing great damage to the valuable crop. This is a perennial problem; Mace frequently complains about the ravages caused by the Dorset deer population in woodlands he has worked on.

Although hornbeam can reach a height of 24m, it was traditionally managed either as pollards, or as coppice, the regrowth being cropped for use as faggots, beansticks and charcoal, as well as for firewood. Uses were limited for the larger-grade timber as it was a difficult wood to work, being so very hard that it would blunt the tools of carpenters and woodsmen. John Gerard, writing in his Herball of 1597, stated that ?the toughnesse and hardnesse of it may be rather compared to horn than unto wood, and therefore it was called hornbeame or hardbeam? ? a name that is still used in some parts of the country even today. There were some uses, however, where the extreme strength and toughness of hornbeam was an advantage; before steel was cheaply available, it was used to make cogs for windmills and waterwheels and spokes for wheels; due to its resistance to impact damage, it was also used to make butcher?s blocks, and balls and skittles, and for similar reasons the Romans used hornbeam to make their chariots.

Hornbeam is commonly used as a domestic hedging plant as it grows fast and densely, and, like beech, attractively retains some dead leaves in autumnal shades over the winter. If you have a hornbeam hedge in your garden, then you are in good company; the Hampton Court maze was originally planted to the 1689 design with hedges all of hornbeam, but this was gradually infilled with a mixture of other species over the years, until the whole lot was ripped out in the 1960?s and planted with the yew that we see today. Interestingly, Hornbeam is one of the few native trees to have no folklore attached to it whatsoever.

Carolyn Brightwater
Brightwater Greenwood
www.brightwater.org.uk