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Coates
Willow Newsletter - Autumn/Winter
2010
Willow
The willow has grown well this
year, despite the very dry period we experienced during
the summer months. Autumn is certainly here now, the
mornings and evenings are distinctly colder, with
at least one ground frost already during September.
So, it will soon be time to begin harvesting this
year’s crop. Our stocks of willow are quite
low now, demand has remained very high throughout
the year, but we will soon be through this difficult
period. Stock does fluctuate from week to week so
please keep in touch with us to discuss your specific
requirements. Please do not wait until the last minute
to order willow, especially for classes and workshops.
We continue to plant new withy
beds, next year we plan to plant 10 acres of willow
at Stathe. The 3 acres we planted at Stathe earlier
this year have grown particularly well, and the 12
acres planted during 2009 are now well established.
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Courses
Throughout 2010 we have held basketmaking courses at
beginner and intermediate levels with Paul Tuck and
Jonathan Coate, living willow courses with Barbara Clift
and a willow sculpture course with Sarah Le Bretton.
These have all been successful and enjoyed very much
by both participants and teachers.
There are still a few places available on Barbara Clift’s
Christmas Decorations course on November 27th. |
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| We will soon have available
our 2011 programme of courses, all the details will
be available on the website, and of course, on site
here. |
Baskets
As ever we are amazed at the variety of baskets we are
asked to make. We have just recently finished making
175 replica german shell cases for a Steven Spielberg
film. Apparently the baskets were used to protect the
enormous shells whilst in transit.
We understand the film will be released in 2011.
Our willow coffins continue to be popular, now it is
unusual to go into the workshop and not see one being
made. Now, we have all become accustomed to seeing coffins
dotted around the premises, although it is still slightly
comical to watch visitors cautiously lift the lid of
one. |
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Autumn
is the season for gathering blackberries, nuts and other
wild foods and the time when our lovely blackberry gathering
basket proves so useful with it’s handy spike,
which allows you to keep both hands for picking.
It is such an unusual, but attractive looking basket,
it looks great around the house during the rest of the
year when it is less in demand for gathering. |
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New
Willow Harvester - RDPE Grant
At almost 20 years old, our
poor old machine is almost worn out! So with the help
of a grant from RDPE (Rural Development Programme
for England 2007/13) we are having a new one. But
a willow harvester is not something to be purchased
off the shelf like a lawnmower. The whole project
has taken over a year to coordinate and manage and
has cost £70,000.00 in total. We were very fortunate
to secure the grant from the RDPE, especially at this
time of government cut backs on spending. The new
machine should soon be here to start harvesting this
year’s willow crop. The old machine will not
be consigned to the scrap-heap, it is undergoing a
re-vamp and is having a new engine and new drive belts
and caterpillar tracks. It too will be ready to begin
harvesting later this autumn, and will hopefully be
still going in another 20 years.
For more information about the European grant programme
click
here.
DVD - LARC Grant
Any sharp eyed visitor who
has sat and watched our DVD will have noticed that
it is 18 years old. Since 1992 many things here have
changed, and the DVD now looks very old and in need
of updating. We have begun filming an extensive new
DVD with Sandra Sykes, a film maker from Bristol with
many similar prestigious projects to her name. The
new DVD will encompass more information about the
landscape and local wildlife as well as all the up-to-date
details about the willow industry. Part of the reason
we have been able to undertake this extensive project
is that we were awarded a significant grant by LARC
(Local Action for Rural Communities). The DVD should
be finished and available for viewing early in 2011.
We are all looking forward to seeing the end product
as so far we have only seen a few snippets.
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Museum
We are very gradually
working our way around the museum, trying to re-fresh
some of the old exhibits and introduce some new ones.
This is a tricky task, as we don’t want to disturb
too many exhibits at once. Hidden away in storage
we have some items that we are eager to get out on
show for our visitors. In time all of these curiosities
will be displayed.
Just recently in the post we received the photograph
shown below. The person who sent it to us found the
baskets in her loft and had no idea what they were
for. Unfortunately we couldn’t help her, do
you know what these are for?
We are always grateful for more
information about our exhibits and are constantly
looking for new interesting items. If you want to
contact us about something you feel we might be interested
in please email nicola@englishwillowbaskets.co.uk
or phone us on 01823 490249. |
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Tours
With autumn now upon us there
is plenty of activity to be witnessed during one of
our fascinating tours of the willow yard and basketmaking
workshop. With the word spreading amongst schools, colleges,
clubs and societies, we are receiving bookings for tours
throughout the year. For those with a geniune interest
in our unique industry we offer guided tours Mon (not
bank holidays) to Friday 11am and 2.30pm at £3.00
per person (under 5's go free).
For groups of 10 or more, special rates available by
prior booking, please call Sam 01823 490249 or email
sam@englishwillowbaskets.co.uk
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HLS progress
As part of our new HLS (Higher
Level Stewardship) access agreement we have just taken
the first steps of our extensive programme to improve
visitor access on our site.
Work on the programme will continue over the next couple
of years and will be complete by 2013. The first step
was to clear the old waste water lagoon site, in preparation
for the building of a bird-watching hide/ outdoor shelter
later on. Then the track way through the withy beds
between the bottom of the hill and the river bank was
upgraded.
This is no longer deeply rutted and muddy, it now should
stay even and firm underfoot all year round. Lastly,
two wooden foot bridges have been installed, these will
form part of a footpath around the withy beds and fields.
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