Cob Oven Building Workshop

Over two days we will build a full-sized and fully functioning wood-fired cob oven.

Why cob? It’s simple to build your own oven and building with cob is fun!

Cob is a material with a clean conscience. Using the clay from under our feet, mixed with sand and straw, it has been a staple building material to millions across the globe for millennia. In the Americas they call it adobe. No energy-hungry cement is used in the mix, and no machinery is required for construction. This is a truly accessible and sustainable method of building that connects us to our environment, and nourishes both our soul and our body. Burning wood is a low carbon process. No fossil fuels here.

Using an existing stone base at here Denmark Farm, we will build an oven by recycling the old cob, as cob is infinitely recyclable.

Course dates:
Oven build – Sat 2 and Sun 3 May.
Firing up and pizza cooking – Sat 23 May.

Using a cob oven is a centuries-old way of baking, but wood-fired ovens are now becoming a foodie must-have.

Your BBQ will gather cobwebs while you explore the delights of roasting and baking in a way that fires up your senses. Your pizzas will cook in seconds. Nothing like a cob oven for the centre of attention at a party. Everyone will want to try their hand, and will gather around the oven long into the night.

A wood-fired cob oven is an ancient, simple and effective way of baking breads and roasting a myriad of dishes from across the globe. A cob oven isn’t just about pizza. You’ll be baking bread, roasting vegetables, meat, fish – the only limit is your imagination.

There are a growing number of ready-made wood-fired ovens on the market, yours for around £1,500 upwards. A cob oven, however, can be hand-made for as little as £100. Matthew will show you how, covering materials, techniques and processes.

This workshop will take place outdoors. Please come prepared to work outdoors with warm clothing etc.

Expect to get muddy, be prepared to get addicted to cob oven building and have heaps of fun in the process!

Come back and fire the oven up on 23 May.

Once the cob oven is built, it needs time to dry before firing up, so we’ll let it rest for a couple of weeks, and then meet for the inaugural firing on Saturday 23 May where we will cook pizzas for lunch and discuss how to get the best from a cob oven.

Workshop Tutor: 

Matthew Lloyd (AKA The Cob Oven Man) has over 16 years experience of building with cob, and has worked with communities and schools all over the UK. He has developed a simple design for a cob oven using reclaimed and natural materials.

“I first got my hands on cob at an oven workshop whilst researching for my self-build art studio, and it changed my life. The antithesis of my daily digital desk work – digging, mixing and building  – clay had reconnected me with earth, body, and soul.

I built my art studio using straw bales. The cob workshop had set my imagination alight. In 2008 my children’s primary school hosted my first School Cob Oven Project, the central feature of a new outdoor classroom instigated by the PTA. We won a National PTA Award for ‘Changing the Life of the School’, and this propelled me onward to repeat the experience and create The Fabulous Cob Oven Company.”

Need accommodation for this course?

Residential accommodation is available at Denmark Farm Conservation Centre in our Ecolodge self-catering apartments, or in the bunkhouse.
Please ask for details – discounts on Ecolodge stays available for course participants.