About Us

About Us

The most important thing to know about us is that we are absolutely passionate about all things willow. It is such a wonderfully versatile material which, as well as being brilliant for a whole range of uses, is fun to use, provides a natural and sustainable habitat for our wildlife, and locks up some of the world's excess Carbon Dioxide - all at the same time! 

We are a family run business located in 42 acres of woodland in East Dorset, growing over 80 different varieties of willow, all specially selected, and grown naturally. We sell cuttings from our collection, fresh and dried willow for weaving, and have developed our own range of willow weaving kits. We particularly keen on reintroducing the wonderful range of colours back into basketry willow and we supply fresh and dried willow for weaving from our collection. For fabulous winter colour, spectacular floral arrangements, to try your hand at sculpture or basket weaving, or to plant some short rotation coppice to give fuel for your stove, we have a willow for you. 

If you love willow too we would love to hear from you. Why not drop us an email or perhaps come on one of our courses? If you have a question please ask, if we don’t know the answer then we probably know someone who will. Our friends include artists, weavers, sculptors, other growers and florists as well as gardeners, wildlife enthusiasts and lots of other very nice people!


Some of our friends

We are members of the Basketmakers' Association, their aim is to promote the knowledge of basketry, chairseating and allied crafts Their site has lots of useful information on materials, tools, courses, suppliers and much more   http://www.basketassoc.org 


ARTISTS

Kim Creswell is a very talented sculptress who creates the most wonderful pieces in both living and dried willow. Kim has been featured in The English garden and Period House magazines. If you want to know what can be done with willow, take a look! www.kimcreswell.co.uk

Mary-Ann Featherstone is a local artist, who specialises in working with living willow and has undertaken many projects with local schools. www.mary-annfeatherstone@webs.com 

Norah Kennedy, a local artist and willow worker.has been making baskets for over 25 years. As well as making, Norah also runs a range of courses  www.norahkennedywillowworker.co.uk 

Sarah Hayes is a freelance and Community artist. Her willow work involves making both figurative and abstract sculptures using living and dead willow. Sarah has exhibited work at Kew Gardens, Osbourne House and at the RHS Show at Tatton Park. We love her work, take a look! www.twigtwisters.co.uk/index.php?id=3

Caroline Sharp has worked for many years as an artist and landscape architect. A lot of Caroline's work involves willow and she often shows at local exhibitions www.carolinesharp.co.uk


OTHER GROWERS

JPR environmental is a great family run business selling living willow supplies including for living willow structures, landscaping, willow planting and use in the garden. We use them for many of our living structure projects.

Bluestem Nursery: A wonderful willow & grass nursery based in British Columbia, Canada. We send all our American enquiries to them. Check out their BLOG it's fantastic! www.bluestem.ca


INTERESTING PROJECTS and PEOPLE   

Allesley Park Walled Garden Group - a very enthusiastic group of people helping to restore and maintain our heritage, Click here to take a look

Hidden Valley Yurts - If we are full or you fancy a visit to Wales the give Amanda at Hidden Valley a shout. It was our visit there that got us started on Yurts in the first place! Click here to take a look

If you are interested in courses and exhibitions in your local area why not visit this link and search on your postcode.  Click here for link