About us
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Based Penny, Will and Loki the dog moved to Brook House Woods in early 2016 from London to take over the Living Wood workshop. We met in Greenwich in a Chekhov play and spent the next 10 years travelling the world as actors, until Will's love of green woodwork and Penny's love of horses hatched the idea of setting up a woodland wonderland incorporating glamping, woodwork, yoga and ales, our favorite things! Will had spent some time assisting on chair making courses at Brook House Woods so when Mike Abbott mentioned he was retiring and suggested the idea of us taking over we jumped at the chance. This year we are running woodwork courses, and in the next few years we hope to broaden our repertoire to brewing, cooking, fitness and who knows what else! Based on the same farm as Brook House Hops, a new and exciting hop yard, have a look on www.brookhousehops.com
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The Living Wood workshop |
Mike Abbott set up the Living Wood workshop in 2005 and has taught over 3000 people in his 11 years here. His aim was to spread the delights of woodland crafts to enable people to regain a meaningful contact with their woody roots. Partly because of Mike’s books and courses, there has been a significant resurgence of interest in woodlands and their associated crafts. In 2015 he embarked upon semi-retirement, packed up his workshop in the woods and now splits his time between making chairs, running courses and writing. Mike's blog 'Going with the grain' is the first stop for anyone interested in wood culture and his book of the same name is the bible on the process of making a chair. Mikes books are available to buy here, reading the story of the workshop's creation whilst enjoying it is a pleasure highly recommended!
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Our History |
Will is a full time green woodworker. ''I have had a keen interest in woodwork for most of my life but really started to take the traditional craft of green woodworking seriously when I started an apprenticeship with master craftsman Barnaby Carder in London. With Barn I learnt the simple pleasure of making a beautiful functional object using only a few sharp hand tools and a piece of fresh, green wood. From him I learned how to carve spoons, make bowls and turn on a pole lathe, and eventually I started teaching green woodwork courses at The Green Wood Guild.
While working in London I was able to go and spend some time in the woods assisting on some of Mike Abbott's chair making courses. Being in the woods so close to the material was very special for me, and in early 2016 I moved to Brook House Woods to take over Mike's workshop after he moved operations to his home. I now live here full time with Penny, and am able to work year round developing courses and making products'' Penny, a RADA graduate, worked in a London yoga studio for 3 years and learnt the hospitality trade at Soho Farmhouse in Oxfordshire. |
Our Ethics |
Our woods are important to us, they are the reason people visit and are our utmost concern in the building and running of our business. All our structures are made using locally grown wood from coppiced woodlands, a great example of this is Say it With Wood who not only make beautiful structures, gates and fencing but look after the health of our wood, helping us combat Ash dieback whilst ensuring the health of the woods for generations to come. In the running of our business we have taken every 'good for us, good for the world' measure, all our spaces are powered by solar systems from Wind and Sun energy, the water is from a bore hole on the farm which is particle filtered and UV treated avoiding harsh chemical treatment. All our cleaning products are biodegradable and the shower products are all Faith in Nature as the soak aways for the drainage goes directly into the woods. We use recycled paper products from Who Gives a Crap and any printing we do we endeavour to use recycled paper. We are always open to new ideas on how we can continue to make our business greener and hope to be an example of how you can be successful and kind whilst working for the highest standards.
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