Monday 27 April 2009

Willow Demonstrations


















Now that its started raining again the English summer begins. This means that we will be appearing at garden events, countryside shows and game fairs throughout the land.
Our first event is at Pickering Showground next weekend. Lets hope the rain has stopped by then!




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Thursday 23 April 2009

Willow Weaving With Schools







now that the season for planting willow structures has finished we will begin our willow weaving sessions for schools.the pictures are of some past projects.

A Picture from an early workshop at Beamish

Here is a picture from about 10 years ago of a basketmaking workshop held at Beamish Museum. Everyone had a good day and managed to complete a basket.
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willow projects




Just found a couple of pics of early projects that we worked on.


The first one is a Decorative Willow Fence on the theme of Water in the Eurozone. this was created with students at Dallam School, Milnthorpe, Cumbria.


The second pic is of a display at the Chelsea Flower Show. We worked with Capel Manor College, Enfield to make this display about the uses of willow. The display was for Lifelong Learning In The Garden and it was awarded a Gold Medal!

Wednesday 22 April 2009

Cheadle and Marple 6th Form College


we had a great day today weaving willow wigwams outside in the spring sunshine. we had 20 students and nearly everyone made 2 wigwams to take away for their gardens. This was our last willow project until we get back from our spring break in Menton, France.

Menton is a great place, you can walk into Italy along the beach, visit fantastic gardens or visit museums in Nice and Antibes. If you go to the links page at our website at http://www.willowpooldesigns.co.uk/ you can see some pics of our trips to Menton and other places in the med.

The picture above is of the students and their creations on today's willow workshop

Sunday 19 April 2009

Dalby Forest Living Willow Snake




We finally finished creating the willow snake at Dalby Forest near Pickering. We worked with the Friends Of Dalby Forest to weave the markings for the snake. The weather was brilliant today and we had an enjoyable day.
The first picture is of the Beatrix Potter Garden, Windermere. Richard Lucas, the garden designer, is being filmed for the BBC programme Country File. we were filmed weaving the willow borders.
The second picture is of the Living Willow Snake at Dalby Forest.

Saturday 18 April 2009


Some of our assorted willow weaving pictures can be seen on the link below.

There are also some pictures of our travels around europe.


Friday 17 April 2009


Have been busy repairing some arbours and a tunnel at Range High School, Southport. The structures had not been touched for a year so there was plenty of weaving in to do. The weather continues to be bright and sunny. Tomorrow we will be planting some more cuttings at our new willow beds.

Thursday 16 April 2009

last gasp of living willow season


This week and next are our last living willow projects until November. Today we made a living willow fence at Garston C of E Primary School, Liverpool. Yesterday we were working on the new Beatrix Potter Garden in Windermere. Sunday finds us in The Dalby Forest near Pickering finishing of creating a Living Willow Snake!
Simone is standing in the Beatrix Potter Garden in Windermere and had just finished weaving the panel in the background.
The Beatrix Potter garden was designed by Richard Lucas who also created the Chelsea Flower Show Gold Medal winning Cumbrian Fellside Garden with Kim Wilde. We carried out all of the willow work on that garden as well.

trying out new blog


We have decided to move our blog here as we can no longer post pictures on the geocities blog. The picture is of a willow weaving workshop that we ran in Kendal earlier this month for BTCV.