We had a day before the workshops so took the opportunity to explore Northern Ireland a bit. A huge thank you to Paul @wildwalkbushcraft for showing us around, I've wanted to see the Giant's Causeway forever, but the whole area is spectacular.
I've been down to the river to put this year's bundle of lime bast in to ret, and I thought you might enjoy 25 seconds of calm and birdsong to start your day.
And we're done... Massive thanks to everyone who came on our Lime bast courses held over the weekend here at Froe Wood. Far too busy to take photos but had a great time with two brilliant groups. Lots of fun, thank you all, it was lovely to meet you all and hope you enjoyed yourselves, learnt loads, and went away inspired.
We also 'launched' our new book 'Lime Bast, Harvest, Preparation and Use' available direct from The Great British Bookshop /products/lime-bast-harvest-preparation-and-use
Special thanks to Ash for catering support and car herding, and of course Leithan for guarding the food.
Check out the @sallypointerheritage website for more of her brilliant courses, we'll probably be doing more Lime Bast courses next year....watch this space...
Lime bast and other sustainable woodland products available from me at #froewoodcoppiceproducts
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🌳 I’ve had an absolutely fantastic day frolicking in the Gloucestershire woods on a Lime bast workshop with the brilliant @sallypointerheritage & @chizharward learning more skills & getting hands-on with techniques from tree to fibre, & I’ve loved it!
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Despite my heritage & archaeological knowledge, & working in these environments, I don’t often get to actually put the whole process into practice, so this workshop was a treat to myself to practise what I preach…it’s one thing being able to TALK about the processes & another to actually DO them.
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Delighted to receive a copy of Sally & Chiz’s new book about Lime bast, with oodles of information & plenty of projects to work through (watch this space to see how I get on!), as well as plenty of materials to work with ☺️
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It’s been a truly fab day, with like-minded people, & thanks to these experts for sharing their knowledge & passion of their crafts 🌳
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(It’s also given myself & my GreenMan a good excuse to have a long weekend away in a beautiful part of the country for some much needed R+R, yay!)☺️
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#heritagecrafts #plantfibres #limebast #woodlandmanagement #experimentalarcheology
I am very honoured to have been included in this wonderful book by @sallypointerheritage and @chizharward . I brought it with me today to share alongside projects made with limebast from @chizharward as part of my display as an artist in residence at @chilternoam today. I will be a staple for all lime bast incorporating workshops.
It's always exciting opening the first official parcel of a new book! Copies of our new Lime Bast book are starting to arrive around the world and initial comments are really positive. I've taken the liberty of including a couple of screenshots of posts this morning about the book.
Thank you all for your support so far, if you haven't yet got your copy, I'll have them available at in-person workshops this summer, or you can buy direct from the publisher (just search for Lime Bast Book online and the listing at the Great British Bookshop should appear).
Bryn Celli Ddu Ancient Archaeology Alive will return to the beautiful island of Ynys Môn on the 13.06.26! 🌀🪨🌞🌀
Bryn Celli Ddu & its surrounding landscape is truly magical. One of the most important aspects of being there is the fabulous surroundings: the monument is not only beautiful but is also one of the most important and best-preserved examples of a Neolithic passage tomb in Cymru, dating to around 5,000 years old.
Come & find out more about this special place, & enjoy a day of living history, guided tours, find out more about our current excavations, exhibits, live demonstrations, flint knapping, pot making, geology displays, food demonstrations and a range of hands-on experimental archaeology activities for all the family.
Archaeology Alive Open Day
13th of June 2026
11-4pm
Free entry 🌞🌞🌞
🎥 @prehistoric_jewellery ♥️
📸 @pete_takes_pictures@loca.mon coffee and refreshments will be available at the event.
🌀🗿🌀
Mae prosiect Bryn Celli Ddu yn dychwelyd mis Mehefin yma. Dewch i dathlu ar y 13 o Fehefin.
Mae Bryn Celli Ddu yn wirioneddol hudolus. Un o’r agweddau pwysicaf ar fod yno yw’r amgylchedd gwych: mae’r gofeb nid yn unig yn hardd ond mae hefyd yn un o’r enghreifftiau pwysicaf a mwyaf cadwedig o feddrod cyntedd Neolithig yng Nghymru. Mae’r safle tua 5,000 o flynyddoedd oed.
Dewch i ddarganfod mwy am y lle arbennig hwn, a mwynhau diwrnod o hanes byw, arddangosion, arddangosiadau bwyd ac amrywiaeth o weithgareddau archaeolegol ar gyfer y teulu cyfan.
Bydd coffi a lluniaeth gan Loca.Môn ar gael yn y digwyddiad.
@cadwcymruwales@thinkcreativelywales@orielynysmon@angharadevans3@ancientcraftuk@prehistoric_jewellery@dominique_charley@sallypointer@vic_pardoe@pottedhistory@stonesciencemuseum@heneb_twa@gwyneddarch@geomon_geoparc@hanesllanfechellhistory@catherine.rees.526@rhysmwyn@1pukub
We are at Butser Ancient Farm this weekend running Stone Age Sewing Kit workshops, and we've taken the opportunity to introduce our Palaeolithic mascot, Sungir Sam, to a wider bit of prehistory than he has so far been used to. He's just had a tour of the Mesolithic and Neolithic houses, learnt to identify woad, and had a flint knapping lesson with @jonathandymond84
I'm packing the van to head off to Butser Ancient Farm to run the 'Stone Age Sewing Kit' workshops this weekend,* and I'm taking the opportunity to drop a commission off to it's new home in the process.
Sprang hairnet in unbleached linen, inspired by Bronze Age examples. I'm pleased with this one, it came out really well.
* There are still a few places left if you fancy joining us! An amazing location for a unique session.
If you fancy learning Sprang, I have several more classes this year at various locations including one coming up in Northern Ireland.
One of the things I love about working with reconstructions of historical hats is how every single one comes out a little bit different.
These are based on a well known example in the RijksMuseum and are made to exactly the same pattern, using the same number of stitches, same size needles, same dyes in the yarn, (naturally dyed woad and madder) but they have both come out subtly but definitely different.
Neither are quite finished, I always give hats a final steam shaping to settle everything in, but they are almost ready to go off to new adventures around the world.
My order books are currently at capacity for new hat orders, but do subscribe to my once monthly newsletter ( front page of my website) if you'd like advance warning of the next order opportunities.
Join us, for a day of ‘wet felt stone formed bag making’ Learn the materials, understand the craft and create your own bag all under the expert tutelage of the famous experimental archaeologist and ancient craft expert Sally Pointer!
Myself (Sally Pointer Heritage Education) and Chiz Harward (Froe Wood Coppice Products) are delighted to announce that our new book is now available!
Lime Bast: Harvest, Preparation and Use is an ideal companion text for anyone interested in working with Lime (tilia, linden, basswood) bark, covering the history and archaeology of this versatile material, with detailed, well illustrated chapters on how to harvest and prepare it, and includes six projects to get you started.
We have gone with a 'print on demand' publisher with print partners in the UK, Australia and the US, so hopefully postage and delivery times will be reasonable for those of you not in the UK.
Those of you attending our Lime Bast days will get one of the first copies then, everyone else, get yours at: /products/lime-bast-harvest-preparation-and-use
Please feel free to share this post, we want this book to be useful to as wide a range of people as possible, especially as the sap is now rising in the Northern Hemisphere and Lime Bast Season is about to begin for this year.
