Primitive Pottery

Adam Hendley proved to be a natural teacher with his gentle style on our first primitive pottery course last week.  It was a girls-only affair which was unusual but fun for all.  I think everybody enjoyed digging our own clay from the stream in the Woodland Workshop and getting down and dirty!

Processing our own clay was a real eye opener to me and the wonder of watching our creations glowing red hot in our open fire pits was both an anxious and exciting moment.  There were all sorts of pots and effigies and beads etc made,  many of which were decorated with imprints of leaves and petals.  I made time at the end to make a 3d version of Oscar the Owl as a model for a really large one that Karen Hansen and I will be carving over Dorset Art Weeks.

The feedback from all of the guests on this course has been fantastic and it was great to see so many campers .. but where did all that left over home made cake go?  I have seen a few crumbs in the Tipi.....it must be all that "hyperthermalating" after the cider!

The Cloud Factory blog (see right) has a more information about 'primitive pottery' if you'd like to learn more.

The Nettle Pickers

There's a new team preparing food in the woods: Vicky, Joy and Anna (collectively known as 'The Nettle Pickers') have taken over the new dining tent and are producing fantastic lunches for all courses and events. All of our guests this year have enjoyed watching meals being cooked in the woods throughout the mornings, before each day's lunch extravaganza. The ingredients are all local and fresh and include lots of seasonal foraged elements too. When possible organic is preferred and mixed with spices from around the world.

The Nettle Pickers are part of our local farming and smallholding community and are perfectly placed to find the best of what's on offer at any time of year - with the result that guests (and the team) are getting really delicious, imaginative healthy food every day.

It's a duck's life

Mastercrafts trainees Tom, Charlie and Sarah's namesake ducks have settled in well on the pond and their duckhouse (that you can just see in the background in the second photo) is growing a fine lawn too. As you can see, the eggs look lovely (thanks girls!) and taste great - superb creamy scambled egg. We're also crossing our fingers for some ducklings before long ... I'll keep you posted.