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We're back! I hope you've managed to have a good summer holiday, whatever you've been up to. As I write, the woodland workshop is looking fantastic in this September sunshine, and it's nice to be able to concentrate on teaching green woodworking again. The summer's certainly been busy here, with loads of site improvements, a wedding, some camping and more ... great fun but a lot of hard work involving quite a large team of helpers too!

A Wedding In The Woods

Earlier in the month we hosted our first wedding. What a first! The happy couple decorated the site in a woodland fantasy theme, with bunting, painted signs and more besides ... and it looked great, particularly at night when we lit the woods with coloured floodlights and fire flares.

I made a set of circular tables with hay bale chairs to seat 60 around the central fires and the store room was converted into a band and dance-floor area for the folk groups that played through the evening - it looked like a giant green mushroom, set off by its living willow posts that have now grown to a good 10ft high all round. The tipi was then converted into a disco and I'm pleased to say that a superb time was had by all.

It was almost strange that a day later you would not have known that there had been a wedding party there at all - and that's despite the fact that the couple and guests partied all night and camped in the woods and the field. Magical.

Camping In The Clearings

It was only a short time after our planning permission came through that we started work on levelling the woodland camp site pitches and then all of a sudden we had to get it all sorted in time for the wedding. Thankfully, we made the deadline. We have 10 pitches within the wood and will be taking bookings for campers on our courses from next spring.

The cleared areas do still look a bit bare but judging by last year's experience when we levelled the main workshop areas, it should take no time to regenerate and grass over again.

An Accessible Loo With A View

The wedding really was good for us - it spurred us on to finish the long-overdue (and much needed) compost loo, replacing the horrible chemical toilet that we've been using for far too long.

Once we started work we really got into the project and, say it myself, we've made them something special. We are now the proud owners of both ladies and gents facilities, complete with a turf roof and clad in oak boards. It must be one of the smartest compost loos to be found anywhere, boasting solid oak handmade seats as the finishing touch.

There was one wheelchair user at the wedding and they were very complimentary about the wheelchair access for the loos. This bodes well for any more future guests who use wheelchairs and I was very pleased about this. Add to it all the great view out the window and well, who could ask for more?

And For Next Year ...

So, we now have loos and we have lighting, we have a tipi and a dance floor, there's the bread oven and the braziers, the pond, the camp sites ... my next little job is to plumb in a tree shower and then we'll be really ready for business next year!

Last Courses Of 2009 (Use It Or Lose It)

And talking of next year, the upcoming October pole lathe course has just a couple of places left. So, if you want to do a course this year (and perhaps use a gift voucher before it expires) do please book soon! These are the last remaining places in 2009.

Wired For Sound And Watched All The Time

And if all that wasn't enough, we are now just about half-way through the filming of the craft series for TV that I mentioned back in June (when the production company were looking for contestants).

Well, the chosen participants arrived here a few weeks ago and we are all getting used to the novel experience of being wired for sound and having a camera and microphone boom pointing at us all day long. I must say I am quite enjoying the experience, in particular being able to spend six weeks teaching the same people the skills that we teach on our courses.

I can't say too much about it publicly prior to the show going out, but I shall let you know the date just as soon as it is confirmed.

That's about it for this month except to mention that Carolyn says that she will be back with 'tree of the month' next month. I'm now off to sharpen the tools prior to another early start filming tomorrow.

Guy and the team

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