Come and join us for an informal “walk & talk” workshop on small scale woodland management looking at the many ways that we use our woodlands on the croft including coppice, basketry & craft, fruit, shelter and of course for biodiversity.
About our croft woodland
Our croft is 8 acres and mostly covered in woodland at various different ages and species, with another 4 acres that we are beginning to manage for a neighbour. We have native woodland planted 30 years ago, shelter woodland of a similar age, newly planted coppice, fruit, basketry willow, and various other experiments.
Having been here for 7 years now and shaping the croft woodland to be productive for us and at a manageable scale, we’re looking forward to opening up the croft for the first time to welcome folk to find out how we utilise the trees as part of a whole integrated and closed loop system of food, fuel and craft produce. Hopefully during the day you’ll gain some fresh ideas on different ways to use trees, learn from what’s worked and not worked here and have a good day wandering in the woods (and a nice lunch!).
Who’s it for
The workshop is open to anyone with an interest in small scale woodland management, whether you own a croft yourself, are involved with a community woodland, or just interested in a different type of croft land management. All welcome. There’s no minimum age but young kids might get a bit bored with all the tree chat!
What we’ll cover
The workshop will be very informal and we’ll spend the day slowly wandering around the croft looking at the different areas and systems we have, discussing how they are managed and why. As most management is done in winter, there won’t be much scope for practical tasks. We’ll look at:
- Design & planning
- Shelter planting
- Fruit & integration with vegetable growing
- Pollarding & coppicing for shade management & craft products
- Willow basketry coppice
- Hedges & hedgelaying
- Growing your own trees from seed
- Integrating poultry into woodlands
- Productive coppice management for woodfuel & woodchip
- Converting existing woodland to coppice
- Planting & planning new coppice
- Deer & browsing management
- Tools & equipment
- Books, resources, grants & funding
Accessibility
Our croft is quite steep in places, and some areas have very rough and uneven ground, which can also be boggy after wet weather. We’ll take our time, but a reasonable level of fitness is needed and good footwear & waterproofs. We’ll have a lunch break at the house to rest legs and chat.
This workshop has been made possible and is fully funded by Woodland Trust Scotland – Croft Woodlands Project
Booking Form
Sorry this workshop is now fully booked. We’re hoping to run future workshops if there’s demand so please join our newsletter for updates.
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