Nettlecombe Craft School

We are a craft school hosting a variety of different basket making courses. Courses include pounded ash splint baskets, split hazel whiskets, sweet chestnut bark baskets, rush hats... as well as a host of other woodland craft skills.

Nettlecombe Craft School was born of a long-held desire to provide a space for people to come together in community and craft. We have felt first-hand the vast and broad benefits that are derived from craft, community and nature, and wish to enable as many people as possible to learn about natural materials and craft skills in this environment. Craft is so much more than just design and manufacture, it is deeply rooted in a slower pace, a more attuned existence and a delicate approach to the natural environment. These principles are extremely powerful in creating peace in an increasingly chaotic world, and it is this that we hope to share with as broad a variety of people as we can.

Situated on the eastern edge of Exmoor National Park, Nettlecombe Craft School is nestled amongst a young but beautiful woodland. The workshop was crafted by hand from coppiced roundwood Sweet Chestnut in a method sympathetic to its surroundings, it is the realisation of a long-held dream to create and provide a space for community and craft to flourish. 

We believe firmly that engagement with craft can not only serve to maintain and develop heritage skills and traditions but can also act as an extremely effective tool in supporting the wellness, connection and mental health of individuals. When we slow down and notice the world around us, we make more sense of it and begin to feel a part of it, rather than at odds with it. The modern world can be fast and loud. We intend to provide a slower, quieter means of existence, sensitive to and in harmony with the natural world. 

Spaces such as these can suffer from a lack of availability to the communities which would benefit the most from them. We believe that everyone should have access to the restorative and creative space that a woodland provides, and it is our intention to make our space available to as wide a range of people and communities as possible.

Founded in 2023, Nettlecombe Craft School is a multi-disciplinary centre, whose main priorities are to revivify the knowledge and understanding of heritage crafts, provide a safe space for people to engage in these activities, and create a community around these mutually held principles.

• Basketry
• Natural Fibres
• Rush (Basketry)
• Splint Wood / Oak
• Swill
• Willow (Basketry)