Coppice, Cawl and Cake! ~ 2 Places Left! - Denmark Farm Conservation Centre

When

23/02/2018

10:00 am - 4:00 pm

Bookings

Bookings closed

Event Type

Courses

coppice, coppicing, Coutryside crafts, Denmark Farm, denmark Farm conservation Centre, Denmark Farm Courses, woodland management

Want to learn how to get more from your trees by coppicing?

Come and join Kelly for a day of traditional woodland management and learn all about the art of coppicing in the beautiful native woods at Denmark Farm nature reserve.

The course will cover basic theory and provide hands-on practical experience.

The day will include:-

Tree identification
Coppicing
Snedding & High Pruning
Ideas for craft projects using coppiced wood
Creating wildlife habitat piles and windrows
Using hand tools safely in the woodland
Making bean poles and pea sticks

The future of woodlands relies on effective management, just as a garden needs constant maintenance and care to thrive. Trees must be thinned to grow well and invasive species like bramble have to be managed so that they don’t dominate other plants.

So what is coppicing? Well it’s is an ancient form of woodland management, that involves repetitive felling of the same stump, near to ground level, and allowing the shoots to regrow from that main stump. Coppicing creates a variety of micro-habitats within a woodland which become homes for specialised wildlife such as dormice and butterflies.

Coppicing also produces loads of useful timber products that are still used today. Woodlands that have a reason to be managed, perhaps for timber, firewood, access or green woodworking, are more likely to receive love and attention long into their future, and indeed those woodlands that we have today have survived precisely because they have had an economic value to the local community, “the wood that pays is the wood that stays.”

Tools and gloves will be provided. Please wear warm, waterproof clothes and appropriate boots. Wellies can be provided if required.

The course is suitable for anyone aged 16 or over with a passion to learn more about traditional woodland management, managing woodland better for wildlife and for coppice products such as firewood and greenwood crafts.

hazel coppicing

Tutor: Kelly Cutler

Fee: £30 (Includes soup, bread and cake)

And when we’re not outside with our tools we’ll be warm and snug in the farm enjoying a hearty lunch of cawl (leek and potato soup) served with freshly baked bread and homemade cake. Good winter fuel for woodspeople.