What a Treat! I was invited back to RHS Wisley for another residency throughout spring.
This year I brought together a drift of woven bullrushes, a village of giant pine cone dens and a Huge acorn producing a sapling:

- Week one of the Easter holidays I worked with visitors on site in Seven Acres, weaving the bullrushes and acorn components and with the weather on our side we were able later install these soon after, near the Pagoda which were then framed with a hazel loop border made from some of Wisley's own hazel freshly coppiced on site!

- Week Two of the holidays I worked in the Pinetum, creating pine cone dens which were then installed inbetween some very tall Scotch Pines towards Howards Field.

All the pieces seemed well recieved by Wisley visitors young and old.
It was also great to see some faces from last years residency.

Special thanks to RHS Wisleys education team, logistics onsite : Simon and Andrew, Art Fabrications and everyone who came along and paid such high praise!

Wakehurst sheep

Blimey what a year! Wakehurst Place, Kews Gardens country gaff commissioned a flock of sheep to replace the original ones that I'd made as part of the Big Draw '07 with visitors from the Royal Botanical Gardens Kew .

After a couple of late nights weaving in the shed, here they are arriving on site 7am may 1st.

jostling for position to get onto the juicy grass..

they were very keen to get out of the van and make their way to the new meadow exhibition opposite the Millennium Seed Bank.

The timber frame buildings on the left here were built on site by Wakehurst staff and all the hurdles were built with the gardens own hazel top marks Ian! very inspiring.

At last, the tasty green stuff!

Thanks to Spencer Jenkins for back up with the weaving and a big thanks going out to Annette and Glyn for putting me up for the night!

Willow planting!

It's been so long since I wrote on this pretty little blog as I've been working on a very secret project (if I told you, I'd have to kill you etc.), but it's a biggie and all will be unveiled soon.

For now, I thought I'd just jot down some words and show some pictures of my new plot of land that I've 'borrowed' to grow some willow on. That's right growing my own willow!

In a couple of years, this should all be good to go, I'm very excited.

Step one, get the membrane down to stop the weeds taking over the willow twiglets.
It was actually very windy when we did this, this is a moment of photo calm.


Step two, get friend (Ed Garland) to cut over 900 sticks to plant in your soon to be forest.



Step three, plant out over 900 sticks and in no time you'll have your very own willow forest!

Action shot of willow taking root in their new home, you might have to get real close, if you can't see it, your screen resolution is too low!

Thanks to the willow, Ed for pitching in a day before he was due to fly to New York when he should have been packing etc. and Mother Nature.
Incidentally, I also organised 2 willow forests in miniature at Barley Croft School in Leicester during the same period, thus my tree planting over the last 7 days has been over 1,000!

Project X Church/Slum Goths yurt build in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire.

I was invited by the 'X Church' and 'Slum Goths' of a Victorian 'former' church in Gainsborough, Lincolnshire (run by Marcus Hammond) to build a yurt type structure in this grand old building, funded by CFBT - Lincolnshire School Improvement Service. The structure has to provide a space for a warm, comfortable practice room also suitable for workshops and meetings etc.... 'warm' was the operative word as we found out, a church doesn't hold its heat too well.

Willow mock-up.

Freshly chopped willow sponsored by builder John Courey, from Ratby, Leicestershire.

Prepping the twigs!

'Bruising' the twigs

The finished dome/yurt now requiring covering to keep the heat in and the sound contained.

After a midnight finish I find sheep running round the lanes, that kept the local bobbies busy for a while!

Special thanks to Marcus Hammond, Frazer Johnston and Leigh Adams.

Herrick Primary School, Leicester

I've recently completed an amphitheatre for Herrick Primary School in Leicester with my good friend Peter Wood and the whole of Years 5 and 6!

Together we created a very large gateway arch and a sturdy boundary screen for their new outdoor performance area.
Apple and plum trees have been planted around the willow and sweet chestnut construction to give height, shade, beautiful blossoms and fruit for years to come. There are a few cooking apple trees, russet (my personal favourite) and various types of plum were planted with care and love from members of each year group, which is highly appropriate as the area used to house an orchard before they were cleared to make way for a new housing estate.

White's Wood Lane Junior School, Lincolnshire.

This is the first part of some work for White's Wood Lane Community Junior School in Lincolnshire.

Mowmacre Hill Primary School/Creative Partnerships and Leicester botanical gardens

I started working with Mowmacre Hill Primary School in November 2007 with workshops with Year 6 to instigate a design process, which then progressed into an exhibition of the children's work and their ideas for new spaces/areas within school grounds. After this stage, parents, staff and children of the school voted for their favourite.

Then the build began! A large watertight shelter/eco-dome for use as an outdoor classroom with a large staged area for performance with seating next to it.

This is the performance area, a 4 metre pentagon makes up the stage and seating all made with oak decking while the seating also has willow backing.

Inside the dome before the weather-proof membrane is attached.

The dome from the outside before the membrane is attached. Plants will be planted around the dome and allowed to grow up and over the dome which will help to make it even prettier!

Finishing off the inside of the dome, with the membrane now attached, more pictures to come...

These are shots from Cloud Wood from where the oak decking came from, all felled and planked to size on-site!

The Boston Hakusan friendship garden in the Giles school, Boston, Lincolnshire.

This was a wonderful project I started with my friend and colleague Peter Wood in March this year for the Giles school in Boston, Lincolnshire.
They have an exceptional Art Department who had the vision for this beautiful Japanese garden which all importantly had living willow as part of the structure.

The garden with finished structures, just waiting for the living willow to take hold..

Just a few months later, the willow has rooted and introduced lots of lovely greenery to the garden, a splendid sight to behold!

The garden was unveiled in July by the Mayor of Boston, Councillor Peter Bedford and Japanese exchange students from Hakusan City - who were incidentally brilliant at weaving willow, despite my very poor grasp of the Japanese language!