R2 Wood

R2 Wood - Handcarved Spoons, Bowls, Cups

Bentley Wood Fair 2023

September 21, 2023  /  Richard Roberts

Myself, Wendy, and Jon Warwicker travelled down south to Lewes, Sussex last weekend for Bentley Wood Fair. We joined a number of the Sussex and Kent Bodgers, forming a whole section of green woodworkers, representing the APTGW. Big thanks to Andrew Coleman for coordinating our presence with the organisers. The weather was surprisingly and pleasantly hot. Last year we woke up to ice on our tent each morning.

We all had a great time demonstrating our various crafts, engaging the public, and even had a few sales. Our section was quite a sight, Andrew Coleman turning on a spindle lathe, James Pumfrey on a bowl lathe, Tim and Son on shave horses making delicate gypsy flowers, Nick with his catapults, Jon W with his wands, swords, and carved bowls, Darren Hood providing have a go sessions on an antique sewing machine, Jill Swan rolling out constant comedy, she also carved some spoons and made a wooden doll. Snowy was making brushes, Rupert with his ‘crazy’ amazing bowls, Wendy Needle felting, and myself carving and showing my spoons and bowls.

I didn’t get much of a chance to explore the whole event, but I found the most delicious Toffee Rum from @prohibitionrum and got a lovely wool blanket. The evenings were fun. Andrew had brought his washing machine drum fire pit to keep us warm. Cider, beer, rum, and various home brewed concoctions kept the conversation lively and the laughter loud.

Summer in SpoonTown - I'm teaching a course!

June 16, 2023  /  Richard Roberts

Summer is now here, and my nerves, hay fever and excitement are on a high, the clock is ticking towards Kent’s own “SpoonTown” a festival of carving spoons and all-sorts of other associated crafts. I’ll be there teaching Bird Bowls during “PreTown” a few day before the Festival weekend. I think there’s still a few places left on my course, so if interested click the links below.

Bodgers Ball 2023

June 16, 2023  /  Richard Roberts

As Springtime hits its peak Bodgers from all over, under and behind make their way to the annual Bodgers Ball. This year held at Burwash Manor, hosted by the Burwash Bodgers. A lovely time was had, even through the plentiful rain and ensuing mud. The Essex Bodgers had a great showing, which made me feel it was well worth continuing to run the group. There was too much good Cider, a mixture of comedic banter & deep chats with folks just met and those to catch up with. To top it all off I won 2nd prize in the Non-Turned Treen category for a recent Bird Bowl. I was mighty chuffed to say the least.

Winter is here, the Essex Group has gone into hibernation. We will arise in the new year, hungry for wood chips and good company.

November 28, 2022  /  Richard Roberts

Saturday was the last meet of the year for the Essex branch of the APTGW. We celebrated by burning some wood in the Pizza oven. This was the first time using a wood fired oven for myself, Carl, and Merlin (the day’s pizza chefs). We’d have to figure it out as we went. It went very well indeed, from the slick teamwork to the first tasting and onto the second round!  Merlin kindly made a huge batch of perfect dough, Carl came equipped with the tools, and I brought far too much cheese. Everyone enjoyed the pizzas and went home stuffed to the brim.

The Pizza’s weren’t a total distraction, some wood was carved! A few worked on spoons, Andrew made a coat hook and had his first ride on a shave horse. Not just any shave horse either. It was a Sean Hellman easy rider made by Carl. One of our newer members David W brought us all burnishers he’d made from Antler and Bison Horn. At the previous meet he’d brought along some leather for us all, great for tool rolls and pouches etc. He’s been thrilled to find a group of like minds after years of not knowing any local wood folks to hang out with.

Just like the APTGW our group has a range of ages, races, and genders. Diversity doesn’t stop there, we have spoon carvers, polelathe & power turners, bowl carvers, walking stick makers, leather workers, weavers, wooly workers, yarn spinners. Some full time, and some hobbyists from various walks of life. We welcome beginners, veterans and those in between, and have an ethos of skill sharing and knowledge spreading.

It’s been an honour to hold our meets in Bedfords Park Walled Garden. We’ve been here since August 2021, it’s a wonderful location to meet other members, make a woody mess and encourage new folks to join the APTGW.

The Garden is owned by Havering Council and lovingly maintained by a team of dedicated volunteers, has won multiple horticultural awards, sells the produce they grow, provide education, and have created a beautiful place to visit. Bedfords park is situated on high ground, has a view of Canary Wharf and the City, a herd of Deer, hilly walks, a variety of our winged friends including birds of prey, a lovely visitors centre, plenty of history and a lot of different tree species.

tags / Essex APTGW

APTGW Essex Wood Group

May 03, 2022  /  Richard Roberts

In 2021 I took over the running of the Essex Wood Group, a local group for members of The Association of Polelathe Turners and Green Woodworkers.

We meet twice per month and make a woody good mess! Yes, we do tidy up. Click -> APTGW Essex for upcoming meet details.

My wife had helped scout for a new location for our meets, and found the most wonderful place! Bedfords Park Walled Garden in Havering Atte-Bower, Greater London. The Walled Garden is one of the only surviving 18th Century features of the Bedfords Park Estate.

History of the Garden

The walled garden dates from John Heaton’s time at Bedfords, J.P. Neale in 1819 described Bedfords as having a 'well-stocked garden with green houses, hot houses and a pinery of considerable extent'. It is thought that the kitchen garden was built some time after 1771.There are no plans showing the walled garden in Heaton’s time,but the Bedfords Estate is marked on two plans of Essex both dating from about 1777.

John Heaton lived at Bedfords until he died in 1818. His grandson Charles Heaton Ellis succeeded him; records show that by 1846 the manor had grown to 537 acres.

Ellis let the estate to a succession of tenants until 1854, when he sold it to James W. Hawkesley. In turn, Hawkesley sold Bedfords to Charles Barber, who sold to Henry R. Stone, whose widow then sold the estate to Romford Urban District Council.

The garden is located on a south facing slope. It had long been recognised that a slope in a kitchen garden exposed the crops to more sun, and a gradient also aids drainage and gives a choice of growing conditions suitable for a wide variety of fruit, wall fruit and crops.

The range of environments include the coolest, richest soil at the lowest part of the garden, suitable for growing moisture loving plants such as cabbages and late peas.

At the top of the garden, there is the sunniest, south-facing wall for growing warm-loving plants like peaches. Research in the 19th century showed that the amount of heat reflected from a south-facing wall showed it to equal the temperature of a garden in the south of France.

The garden appears to have been positioned according to the best practice of the day for gardens in the warmer south of England. The garden is not aligned on a dead north-south east-west axis orientation, but is rotated slightly to the east of south, so that the warmest walls receive the maximum amount of afternoon sun.

As was usual in gardens of this time, heated glasshouses were arranged along the south side of north wall, where they would receive maximum sun for producing grapes, exotics and forcing early beans and strawberries.

The earliest detailed plan of the walled garden dates from the Victorian period from 1871.

Kitchen gardens of the mid 18th century retained the tradition of division into quarters, and in gardens of all dates the main walks would never be disturbed. This arrangement is still in evidence on the plan of 1871 - it indicates two quarters available for growing crops. The third quarter is divided into two - on one half there is an enclosure containing a group of glasshouses, with fruit trees on the other half. The fourth quarter seems to be planted as an orchard.

The Garden used to serve as a kitchen garden for the mansion house that was located in the park, where the visitor centre is now.

Day to day management of the garden is carried out by Havering Council, with assistance from a dedicated team of volunteers. Produce from the garden is sold in the garden shop with all profits being reinvested into the site. Produce that is not sold is donated to Saint Francis Hospice in Havering-Atte-Bower.

Some produce is entered into local horticultural competitions. In 2018, volunteers grew a 621lb mammoth pumpkin which dwarfed others in the competition. In 2019, more awards were won including the Aileen winners cup for best cut flower display and a silver National Dahlia Society medal.