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Finest Handmade Willow Products and Workshop using Traditional Methods |
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Willow & Craft History |
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Mike was born in Curry Mallet Somerset, but has spent most of his life in Chedzoy, Nr Bridgwater. |
We planted out our one-acre willow bed by hand in April 2005 with approximately 75 lines of 300 setts (a stick of willow) – that’s about 22,500! Each sett is around 12” (30cm) in length and is pushed into the ground by hand using a leather gauntlet. The first year’s growth is cut and discarded as the willow plant doesn’t produce long enough stems to weave into baskets. This initial growth of willow stems are cut at the end of the growing season, in the month of March. Unfortunately, most of our acre of willow did not grow as the first year's weather was too dry, but what survived has flourished. We are aiming to replace the willow plants slowly to regain what we have lost. |
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| Mike's Grandfather introduced him to basket making, where he made basket bases to pay for petrol for his motorbike - he became instantly hooked. Soon afterwards, he served a 5 year apprenticeship with a well known local firm, before starting out on his own. To date, his basket making career has spanned 25 years. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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After purchasing some land in 2004, we decided to plant out an acre of willow to allow us to be more self-sufficient. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
We built the new workshop to give Mike more room to work, and also to display his baskets. Later in 2006, we planted out around 250 native English trees, which is where our chickens and ducks now live. They have now been joined by four rabbits and two geese. |
Each year the willow stems are cut between November-March and grow progressively longer and thicker. The willow bed will have a life span of around 30-50 years! |  |
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We cut the willow stems by hand and weave some of the stems straight from the field into our baskets, drying the remainder to use at a later date. The majority of products are woven from four different types of willow: |
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Steamed Willow – Un-stripped willow steamed in the boilers. The steaming process releases the natural tannin which stains the bark black. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
At present, visitors can watch baskets being made, view our wide range of products and enjoy our animals and picnic area. |
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| Buff Willow – Harvested willows that are boiled and then stripped afterwards. The tannin stain left in the bark which has stained the inner wood the traditional reddish buff colour is stripped away. |  |
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Brown Willow – Dried, harvested willows sold with the bark intact for use in sculptures and other structures like hurdles. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| White Willow – Willow that is harvested & placed in water and allowed to grow again. This allows the sap to rise up to the top of the stem. It is then stripped to reveal the white inner wood. This type of willow is traditionally used for cribs and bread and laundry baskets. |  |
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