24 Sep 17'
"What a tremendous week! Hands-on and hard work, in a small group, and with all the materials and tools you need to make a lovely chair, even if you've never picked up a drawknife in your life!
I've been on a greenwood chair-making course before, so had some rusty skills and foggy memory of how it's done when I arrived, and knowing this, Ben took a very sympathetic approach to imparting his knowledge and ways of chair-making to me. He was more than happy for me to make a modified version of the chair he normally teaches (in my case a side chair variant with a high back but no arms), and he allowed me to get on with it when I wanted to, and gave freely of his knowledge and experience when I asked for help.
Seeing how another teacher goes about the chair-making process was hugely useful, and I learnt much more than I would have done by repeating the course I'd done previously. As the chair he teaches is a Welsh stick chair, the course also focussed more on drawknife, spokeshave and seat-shaping skills than the other course I have done, which was great. The other difference is that, with the exception of the seat blank Ben provides, you make all the other components yourself, including cleaving the comb from the same log as the sticks and stretchers before steam-bending it and fashioning it with a spokeshave, and carving your own hardwood wedges.
The workshop itself is accessible, yet feels properly "woodland", and the grounds in which it is set are beautiful. If you need accommodation there are a couple of spacious yurts in a woodland valley and a woodland cabin perched high on a bank with views through redwoods, right on site, as well as B&B accommodation in nearby Presteigne.
If you are considering going on a greenwood chair course I can highly recommend this one. Be prepared for hard work and long days, and you'll come away with a huge sense of achievement and a new interest in traditional skills, not to mention a lovely chair!"