We've teamed up with the fabulous Kimbers' Farm Shop, between Wincanton and Bruton, in Somerset to hold the first of many spoon carving workshops. Greg ran the workshop in the peaceful Dutch barn, where you get a stunning view across towards PenSelwood
and King Settle Hill. You can also see the
National Trust’s Alfred’s Tower from the Farm.
Our budding spoon carvers arrived at 10am and soon settled
in to the Blighty classroom. After an
initial health and safety brief Greg showed them a display of different spoons
that he had carved over many years, explaining the uses they had had. The last thing he showed them was a butter
spreader made from hazel that was still ‘in the round’. This means it hadn’t been split or altered in
any way.
Our spoon carvers sat down with a piece of hazel in their hand and Greg discussed the properties of this native hardwood. He then invited them to pick up
their saws, again after discussing the various safety features
and different styles of cutting techniques with this tool the Blighty students
sawed their first piece of green wood ready to make in to their own style of
spreader.
At Handmade in Blighty we fully understand that adults learn
by doing and there’s no better way to introduce the different types of cutting
techniques than by creating a simple kitchen utensil. This project is quick but gives each student
a huge amount of confidence to tackle their spoon later in the day. Greg demonstrated the different types of
cuts. Before we knew it lunch time was upon us, hands and forearms were aching but there were five finished spreaders in the hands of the delighted students.
At this point,
whilst the beautiful stew that Kimbers Farm Shop had made
was cooking over the fire, Greg took the students out on a short foraging walk around the
Farm’s hedgerows. After lunch, Greg demonstrated how to saw and split an ash
billet. From this point on the students
were able to put their new skill set in to practice with hints and tips all the
way from Greg. At times the students had one to one tuition so that everyone kept on track to finish their spoon.
During the last half an hour Greg discussed sharpening techniques and the legalities of carrying knives in the UK with the group. This concluded a very relaxing but productive and informative day. As you can see from the photographs the students enjoyed the day and each created a wonderfully unique spreader and spoon to take home with them, to dry slowly ready to sand and oil at their leisure. One of our budding carvers said "I have just spent a fantastic day with Handmade in Blighty at Kimbers' Farm Shop, making a wooden spoon and a spreading knife. Thanks to Greg and team, I learnt about the English hedgerows and our beautiful Somerset countryside. I would thoroughly recommend this course to anyone. I can't wait to use my new kitchen tools" Karen from KRysalis PA, Lifestyle and Business Administration Services.
We have more courses running throughout the year, please see
our website for more details www.handmadeinblighty.com
