Wish YOU could make these?
A day at the bench, and something to take home at the end of it.
On Tuesday 11 August we are at THE PIG-at Bridge Place for a day of woodwork and wine.
It starts under the stretch tent on the front lawn with a hot drink and pastries, then you will choose your own piece of oak and make a chopping board, sanded and finished with food-safe oil so it is ready to use.
After that, a guided tasting of Kent sparkling and still wines with Simpsons Wine Estate, and a two-course feasting lunch out of the Garden Oven. 10am to 3.30pm, £125.
We will be making/finishing the thick platter to start off with. It is already engraved with 'Made by me...' which has that dual meaning we love at Oak & Rope. The board will be made by you, but the food you present or chop on the board in the future will also be made by you!
You will also have the opportunity to make one or two smaller boards where you can play around with using a range of traditional hand tools which might just be the beginning of your woodworking journey...
The Woodwork and Wine Tasting day at The Pig Hotel is an amazing and unique event that combines so many of our favourite things!
Learning to make something tangible with your own hands, transforming a raw piece of oak into something useful and beautiful you will use every day is a joy we love to share with as many as possible. That is why we have a number of Woodwork Studio Days throughout the year...
If you can't make it on the 11th of August, see our other events below:
The same thing happens on every one of these days. Someone arrives certain they are no good with their hands, and leaves holding a doorstop, board, swing or spoon they made, turning it over, quietly pleased with themselves. Photographs get taken. There is usually a phone call to somebody on the way home.
That reaction is why we keep running them. Most of what we do now happens on a screen and vanishes the moment we close it. A board does not. You will use it on Tuesday, and you will still be using it in ten years, and at some point someone will ask where you got it and you will get to say you made it.
We think working with your hands is close to the answer to most things. It asks for your full attention, which is rarer than it used to be, and it hands you something solid at the end.
Our own days at the workshop
Our own Woodwork Studio Days run at the workshop outside Canterbury, 10am to 2pm, six people at a time. Nobody gets hurried out of the door.
Saturday 12 September
Friday 9 October
Saturday 7 November
Saturday 5 December
You choose your project when you book: carve a doorstop, carve a chopping board, make a board with kitchen utensils to go with it, or make one of our small swings, engraved in advance if you would like. You will learn to carve, which is harder and more satisfying than it looks. Tools, materials and refreshments are provided, and no experience is needed.
Proceeds go to The Quercus Conservation Trust.
Bespoke days for groups
We also run bespoke days. A group of friends who would like the studio to themselves, or a company after a team day that is not another afternoon of forced enthusiasm in a meeting room. We can host you here, or bring the benches to you. Larger groups are no trouble at all, we will just talk it through first and build the day around what you want people to leave with.
Staying nearby
If you are coming any distance, email us and we will tell you where to stay. We are a few miles outside Canterbury and there is plenty within easy reach, including The Pig at Bridge Place if you would like to make a weekend of it. Ask and we will tell you where we would send our own family, which is usually better advice than a search engine gives you.
And for afterwards, because you will need it.