Teaching green woodwork, bushcraft and a variety of coppice skills, Cherry Wood is a 40 acre sustainably managed woodland situated in a sheltered valley branching from St. Catherine’s Valley, five miles to the north east of the City of Bath.
The Cherry Wood Project is a sustainable woodland management project incorporating a green woodwork school where visitors can make stools, side chairs and arm chairs in a traditional way, using only hand tools. Among other courses available are earth oven building, making a pole lathe or shave horse, tool sharpening, bushcraft and more.
Cherry wood is a unique setting. Tim, his family and the Cherry Wood team live in the woodland in yurts full time and have done since Tim built the track into the wood 8 years ago. Everything in the wood from the round-timber framed barn to the wooden spoons in the kitchen have been made by hand. Much of the work, both construction and woodland management, has been done by volunteers using permaculture principles. 95% of materials come from the wood itself and much of the food on courses is grown or foraged from the land.
“We believe it doesn’t have to cost the Earth to have a good time. Cherry Wood is off grid. There is no mains power, no wifi hotspot and we prefer the sound of birdsong to the sound of mobile phones. You will eat wonderful fresh local food prepared in our outdoor kitchen and cooked on wood fires. The cakes and pizzas are legendary! The compost toilets are airy and have fantastic views. The shower, heated by wood, is often described as ‘ better than our shower at home’. We even have a romantic wood fired bush-bath and a sauna! There is also a lake for wild swimming. Entertainment is sitting together around the table or campfire, talking and swapping stories, musicians are always welcome!”
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