We are now at the end of June 2017 and I haven’t got round to blogging for seven months, so here’s a quick catch up. In  February we decided to replace our living room wood-burner with a new stove that had a back-boiler, so that we could also get rid of the dear old Tyrolia cooker that lived in the kitchen. With the space liberated we then set about refitting the whole of the kitchen, a job that took over a large chunk of our spring.

I managed to fit in a sunny day levelling the floor in the shelter, where I now run the courses and I made a model of the proposed new dining area.

At one point I felt so relaxed that I spent a blissful March morning weeding a small piece of the raspberry patch outside my workshop.

April saw the erection of the new dining area with the help of a few friends from time to time.

I cobbled together a makeshift table out of two walnut veneered headboards in time for my eldest daughter, Hannah and her husband, who arrived after Easter to partake of their wedding present – a week making a chair each. This they achieved, and in the process helped me get up and running for the following courses.

In the meantime I had collected several loads of beautiful chair-making ash from various helpful colleagues around the county.

So the courses took place during alternate weeks in May and June, with the weather fluctuating from a record-breaking heatwave to cold , wet and wind, for which I had to envelope the shelter in a huge tarpaulin. Whatever the weather , everybody managed to make a fine chair and seemed to have enjoyed their week.

So now it is time to to turn my mind to the exhibition, Country Chairs Today that commences at Tinsmiths gallery in Ledbury this weekend, 1st July……………….but more of this and other events in another blog, coming soon.