Country crafts courses, workshops & holidays
including traditional skills & rural crafts

Celebrating traditional craft skills, formerly used in everyday life, now rediscovered as recreational activities and interests. Covering holiday courses in time-honoured country and rural crafts like: basket weaving, dry stone walling, soap making, thatching, fishing fly-tying, hedge laying, bee keeping, hurdle making, leather craft, coppicing, coracle making, charcoal burning ... If it's not listed in one of our other arts and crafts sections and it's an old everyday craft skill, then we'll probably list it here!

We've also picked out some of the more popular country crafts for particular attention (click links to see the dedicated sections):

• Fly Tying & Fishing Rod Building»
Learn to tie a fishing fly or build your next rod, these skills are dealt with in a dedicated section. Fly tying is a tradition dating back at least to the C13th, perhaps even before that as some historians believe that ancient Chinese fishermen were the first to use artificial flies. These days modern materials have changed the craft, the skills needed are largely the same, but there are more styles of fly tie than ever. While it's easy enough to buy in the flies you want these days, some people still enjoy the skill and artistry required to tie their own.

• Basket Making» Basket making really is an ancient craft, humans all over the world have been weaving baskets, from a whole range of materials, for as long as can be traced. Our dedicated basket weaving section covers multi-day holiday courses and workshops in basket weaving and willow work. Basketry courses to learn to make woven containers and baskets, to weave fences, furniture, garden structures and to create sculptural art pieces.

• Soap Making» Another craft with its roots way back in history, this time (arguably) to about 3,000 BC! As a craft skill, current-day hand-made soap tends to use the techniques and materials of yesteryear rather than the chemical ingredients used in commercially manufactured modern soaps. There are a number of different methods used (melt and pour, cold process, hot process and re-batching) and we are happy to list courses using any of these.

• Thatching» All over the world, and for many centuries, man has used thatch as a roofing material; but times and roofing materials have moved on, so the use of thatch in developed countries is now generally limited to existing thatched buildings, or new builds where a rustic look is sought, or where thatch is used for ecological reasons. Thatching is still called for in these buildings, but it's a skilled craft and years of apprenticeship are need to get to the level of thatching a full roof; but is possible to learn enough on a recreational level course to try a garden project, learn to make simple thatch repairs, or just to get a taster of what this ancient skill is all about.