Learn how to weave a beautiful, useful willow basket!

On this course we will be making a small frame basket, perfect for foraging or collecting eggs. You will learn how to bind the frame and introduce ribs as you weave to create the shape of the basket and the handle.

We will be using Somerset grown willow.

This course is suitable for complete beginners.

It will be a full-on but enjoyable day. Weaving with willow requires manual dexterity and strength in your hands and fingers.

We recommend wearing clothes that cover your knees and won't catch on the willow rods (i.e. no loose knit jumpers).

All tools and materials are provided.

We work outdoors in all weathers, please come prepared.

The class with run from 10am-5pm with a an hour for lunch and coffee breaks in the morning and afternoon.

Basket Weaving at Abney Park Cemetery

Antonia Collyer

Very impressed with how my very first basket turned out! Love it!

Gianna Cipponeri

Sharon  Reid 

Super! Evie paced us through the very satisfying process of producing gorgeous, sturdy baskets. Her clarity in teaching the technique allowed time for snippets of historical and social context and for relaxing focus, delivering a very enjoyable introduction to this craft, in beautiful surroundings.

Rose O'Brien

A fun day basket making in London Green Wood’s peaceful workshop. 

Kate Poland

Evie is a great teacher - both skilled and immensely patient.  We all made beautiful baskets in a convivial and peaceful green space.   

Sally O'Keeffe

Had a great time Evie is a really good and patient teacher . I’m very pleased with my basket I would love to do the 2 day course.

Mirjam Johansson

I loved it! This is an amazing community space with a welcoming creative atmosphere.  The facilitator explained really clearly and was clearly passionate about the craft, but not at all precious about the materials which helped me as a beginner feel it's okay to make lots of mistakes.

Lizzy Hassay

Great one day course making a willow basket! Lovely setting and great teacher to guide you through the day. It was a wonderful day and so satisfying creating something with your own hands! 

Frame Basket at Abney Park Cemetery

Spend a few hours in our beautiful outdoor workshop making your own spatula from locally grown wood. Suitable for complete beginners.

We will take you through the steps to create a beautiful and useful kitchen utensil. You will be using a drawknife and a shavehorse to go from freshly split wood to a handcrafted spatula.

This is a great taster course for anyone who's considering our longer courses. 

This is a seated course, we will be working on shave horses, so it's suitable for people who are unable to stand for long periods of time. 


Make a spatula at Abney Park Cemetery

Lynne  Eva

Had a brilliant afternoon learning to carve a spatula.  Excellent tutor and I came away with 3 unique cherry wood spatulas.

Ruth Bonazza

Thank you for the relaxing afternoon of spatula making. A really knowledgeable and patient teacher! Perfect for myself as a beginner and now I have two lovely spatulas to remember the day!

Christopher Darby

Really enjoyed this! Graham was a great instructor. Would love to do again!

Ben Manning

A lovely way to spend an afternoon, working under Graham's excellent guidance.  Would recommend this to anybody even vaguely interested!

Kate Frew

Absolutely loved it. Made 2 spatulas, very happy with them and learnt a lot. Would defo come back for another course! 

Constance Littlehailes

Really enjoyed this! Graham was ace, friendly, clear in his instructions and attentive. I finished the session with two fresh new spatulas and a sense of achievement.

Rachel Parr

A chilled morning under the awning making spatulas. Great instruction from Ed talking us through the stages, a mug of tea, a chance to chat with others and 2 spatulas made. Many thanks we’ll be back! 

Amara Thornton

Concessionary rates available. 10% discount on courses scheduled on weekdays

Abney Park, South Lodge

Please take note of the **location for the course you are booking**. We run these courses at both our workshops (at Abney Park in Stoke Newington and at Hackney City Farm). It will say on the booking page which venue that particular course is taking place at.

Spend some time together learning safe whittling skills. This workshop is for children and young people (aged 9-18) with an accompanying adult to learn whittling together.

**Please note - Each ticket admits 1 Adult and 1 Child together**\
Each child must be accompanied by an adult who is willing to supervise and work with them at all times. 

Using locally grown green wood we'll practice safe carving knife grips and make wands, wooden knives, marshmallow forks and other small projects.

For families that want to start whittling at home, this is great introduction for both adults and children to learn how to work safely with knives. We recommend that parents join this course so that they can keep their child safe when whittling at home and be confident in their child's abilities to work with knives and wood.

To make our family courses accessible to as many people as possible we have launched a 'Pay it Forward' ticket. This enables you to book a space for your own family whilst making a donation to fund a space for a family on a low income.

*Wood can be used for all manors of things. Mostly, and certainly in that case of London Green Wood, beautiful wood is used to create an array of stunning objects. However, did you know that wet wood, unlike dry wood, could also conduct electricity? That’s what we call versatile!*

This workshop is for children (aged 8-12) with an accompanying adult to learn whittling together. Using locally grown green wood we'll practice safe carving knife grips and make staffs, wands or wooden knifes. 

For families that want to start whittling at home, this is great introduction for both adults and children to learn how to work safely with knives.

* Whittle away to your heart's delight
* Practice your skills and make your own projects at home
* Supervise your child to use a whittling knife at home.

You get to take away all your creations from the day, whatever they may be!

Places book up fast, so book now to ensure a spot!

Abney Park Cemetery

Hackney City Farm

Ruth

Great experience, definitely plan to go back. Lovely activity & lovely location.

Gemma

Fantastic. Lovely surroundings, and nice to do something calming and learn a new skill!

An inspiring afternoon workshop from which we not only took away our wooden creations but sound knowledge of types of wood and safe whittling tips. Getting to work on the  'shaving horse' with a two handled knife was an added bonus.  Great to be outdoors working with our hands - we loved it! Thank you.

Family Whittling Workshop 9yrs+

Kim Slade

It was fantastic! Jo showed us, in stages, what we needed to do and let us get on with it. My son, Harry, loved it because he was able to be really hands on with the tools and you also get to take your piece home with you at the end. I especially loved it and we are now looking forward to our next workshop together with Jo. Highly recommend London Green Wood CIC and Jo for her lovely calm and informative approach.

Grainne McNeill

Both 9 year old Dermot and his grandad loved the session and plan to book another one very soon!

5 stars!

Emily Poole

This was a great workshop, we both really enjoyed it. It was really good to go to a workshop for a parent and child to learn a new skill together. I was hoping for a hand carving course though so we could continue at home after the course, so a little more information about the content before would have been very useful.  We will probably try and book another one in the summer though, the venue was good as was the instruction. 

Vitor

Jessica Neil

We really enjoyed it.  Well organised and in a great location.  It's good to learn something new and have something to take home with you.  My daughter wants to go back and do more.

Jennifer Johnston 

My 10 year old son and I loved this workshop. He was given so much independence to use the tools himself and great guidance to use them safely. He learnt loads and felt really proud of what he achieved. 

Luíza Chandy

This was a great class. Our girls are 10 and 15 years old. and in our class they both got to use the axe, the saw and the shave horse, all taught really well and safely. We came home refreshed after our time outside without screens and enjoyed it so much that we will be booking again sometime next year. 

Alice Toomey

We had a wonderful day, and came away wanting more, so already planning our next session. Thanks so much!

Esther Oxford

My 13-year-old son and I really enjoyed this session at Hackney City Farm. We made a butter knife and a marshmallow toasting fork - sitting by a fire. Jo and her colleague are charming and precise teachers. I highly recommend. 

Julian Madams

The session was well structured and lasted two hours outside under the trees.  We used green wood that had been freshly cut that day. We learned various techniques on knife holding, types of wood, what part of the tree to use to make different utensils, what to do to preserve the wood if you need to pause the project for a while. We worked on a marshmellow stick and a butter spreader. We didn’t finish.
Ben was a great teacher; we had a lot of fun.

Maeve Barclay-Brown

We didn’t really know what to expect but everyone absolutely loved this, a big groan went up from kids and adults alike when the teacher said we only had a few minutes left. The teacher was lovely, endlessly patient and good-natured. We all want to do it again. 

Noah Schenato

Sorry, We missed the lesson because of external event !!!

Vanesa van Vlerken

We had a lovely time whittling. The place is lovely and the person teaching as was super nice. I wish they had a regular weekend course for kids. 

Agi Tsang 

We really enjoyed the class and hope to be back regularly from spring.  The class was well organised, the leading lady ( bad memory to names 🤦‍♀️ Sorry) was very friendly, knowledgable and with positive attitude and approach to kids. We were lucky to have a small class of only 2 families. Thoroughly enjoyable experience.🙏 

Matthew Godfrey

Zach King

Esther was fantastic - really patient and helpful when there was something the kids were finding tricky. Zach was teaching his sister how to whittle yesterday and they were busy with it most of the day!! Thank you - would recommend

Madeleine  Bowyer

Great day out so nice to be whittling in nature in the middle of Hackney what a brilliant group very welcoming and felt safe at all times. Very much look forward to doing another workshop soon. 

john wagener

Me and my daughter really loved the class. thank you so much . we both learnt a lot and the tuition was very relaxed and we got to know the rest of the group a bit as well which was fun. well done. 

I think setting up the seats beforehand would have given us a bit more time to whittle  - then would be 5 stars

Laura Redman

This was a great workshop.  It really inspired my daughter and was fun to do together.  Wish there were more things for kids and families!

Janice Macaulay

Great tutor who gave us a wonderful introduction to whittling. It definitely made me want to do some more courses with them. Lovely location as well. 

ELEANOR RENNIE

We learned so much in our whittling session. I feel confident that we can embark on some home whittling now, having been inspired by what we can create and also how to make safely. Thankyou so much!

Robert Webster-Shaw

Really nice couple of hours, we both learnt some new skills from the very nice teachers. Most importantly my son has gained some safety techniques when using the knife. Very much recommend

Sarah Sim

Kate  Mayer

This was a great family activity, really well organised and paced. Lovely to do something that we all enjoyed equally, and it has inspired my son to keep whittling since the class too!

Weiwei Yang

My husband and I attended one of their Saturday family workshops at Hackney with our two children as absolutely beginners, and it went very well! Dave was very patient and kindly helped everyone working on their chosen project, and we also had the chance to interact with other families. Great experience!

Valentina Mengarelli

My 9 year old son and I attended a 2 hour whittling workshop with Dave and Oliver. We really enjoyed it and have booked to go again. Dave and Oliver were extremely welcoming, friendly, patient and gave a lot of attention to all participants. We both learned a lot and have been practising at home feeling safer and more knowledgeable. Thanks so much. See you again in July.

Cathy Feng

It's a wonderful experience for my son. He enjoyed the course and learn a lot from it. I would highly recommend this course to anyone. 

Conor Doyle

I am 10 years old and I came to the whittling workshop with my Dad. It was brilliant. The staff were really helpful and friendly. Great facilities. Thank you for a really enjoyable afternoon. 

Sarah  Howe

Such an amazing experience.  Lovely instructors, so patient, and they tailored their advice according to the individuals in the group.  Never thought I would find it as enjoyable and relaxing as I did.  An activity to be enjoyed by parents and children together.  Less than 24 hours later, we’ve already ordered a couple of scout knives and can’t wait to get started at home.  Huge thank you to our instructors!

Jana Eggink

Great experience,. Friendly and very patient instructors, having tow of them for only 4 kids was amazing. Thank all!

Elizabeth Kewell

Very good class, great teachers and lovely setting 

Naszra  Poese

Highly recommend Family Whittling Workshop, we had a amazing time.

Tanis Taylor

Wonderful, Dave protected our container through wind and rain and as a teacher engaged with every kid and adult on their level. My precautious kid got to ask every single one of her pedantic questions (which made her feel emboldened and safe) and I got to ask him for a bandaid in private when I cut myself by acting impulsively and not listening to what he wear saying. Next time I will bring my teenager because this stuff is too good for just the small kids!! There was a  corporate group next to us working who said (overheard) they had never in their life felt so ‘locked in’. 

Inga Simaite-Islam

My son and me had fantastic time together and learn something useful. He love it even with a little bit of the rain. We will be coming again

Kate Rogers

My daughter and I had a great time! 
We had plenty of time to create two pieces each and the instructor encouraged us to be creative whilst providing good grounding in using the tools safely.  
It was really fascinating and I hope to be able to visit again. Thank you! 

Thank you for lovely time and provided guidance. It's a great experience to teach me and my son to slow down and be patient

Charlotte Story

Great session, daughter really enjoyed it and got stuck in. A relaxing way to spend a couple of hours in good company. Will come again.

Guy Rawlings

A very rewarding and enjoyable time spent Wittling with my son. Weather held out so made a difference. A very nice instructor gave solid  brief on health and safety and tool handling. Regular encouragement and if required guidance. Highly recommended, looking forward to coming back one day. 

Stephen Fay

Georgia was a marvellous teacher - the perfect mix of inspiration and calm. Thanks so much.

Family Whittling Workshop - 8-12 yrs

Question 1

Child's name

Question 2

Child's age

Question 3

Accompanying adult name

Turn a wooden bowl outdoors on a foot-powered pole lathe.

Learn how to turn a wooden bowl using a *foot-powered pole lathe* at our woodland workshop in the city. Suitable for beginners and improvers.

Learn a heritage craft at the London Greenwood workshop. 

You will use a foot-powered pole lathe to turn your own wooden bowl from locally grown wood. 

Starting by learning good axe technique to prepare your bowl blank then how to set up a pole lathe you will move on to master the use of bowl turning hook tools. 

Powering your lathe by foot you will create a functional wooden bowl to take home with you. 

We will also talk about drying, oiling and caring for your bowl as well as selecting materials and how to continue. 


Turn a wooden bowl outdoors on a foot powered pole lathe

Valerie Hazan

I've done a number of classes at London Greenwood and have enjoyed them all. This new wood turning course was no exception. It is the only manual pole lathe class available in London and taught in the outdoor workshop within Abney Park. Our teacher Dave had prepared the blanks and the tools so we were able to get straight down to using the pole lathe. We all completed very handsome bowls (for a first go!) by the end of the day and I feel i have acquired a good understanding of the process. This class is taught in small groups  (4 of us on this occasion) so there was plenty of individual attention. As Dave had warned us, it's a physical day (foot-powered!) but there were plenty of stops for lunch/tea/coffee and a great feeling of satisfaction on completion. 

George Chapman

Great course with helpful knowledgeable teacher with small class size so you were never left waiting for guidance.  Lovely location and atmosphere.  Pole lathe bowl turning is a fun challenge.  Highly recommended

Thida Eng

Amazing class! Dave is a great teacher, he was really helpful and patient with us. I would definitely recommend it to anyone interested in doing something crafty :)

Alice Tyler

This class was a great day (despite the rain!), we learned a lot under the excellent teacher Dave. We had a lot of fun, got a bowl out of it and were totally exhausted after (in a good way :). 

Heini Schneebeli

I certainly learned new ways to work with a foot powered lathe and Dave was an excellent teacher with lots of skill and patient. 
Green Wood Abney Park is a great set up and I will be back again.
Heini  

Jessica Bell

This was a great day, and had the best time - definitely want to come back to make more. Thanks very much!

Ben Harvey

We loved the course and the bowls! Dave was very knowledgable and patient, and the location at Hackney City Farm was beautiful. Highly recommended!

A hard but rewarding day with excellent tuition. So pleased with my bowl 🙂  Thank you!

Jenny Baker

Really enjoyed this day. It's hard physical work but very satisfying. Dave, the tutor, explained things clearly and demonstrated what to do. He was really patient and encouraging. would highly recommend this course

Jane Myat

Fantastic day: well organised, great setting, clear, focused and personalised tuition in a friendly supportive environment. Huge gratitude to Dave, Graham and the team at London Greenwood

Hedley

Great course.  Lovely location.  Very sensible and attentive instruction just when needed, but very hands on without too much standing around.  

Keith Clarke

Great day with excellent teaching and lots of fun

Rachel Alabaster

It was a fantastic day. Really well taught by lovely guys. Will definitely be coming back! Thanks to all. 

Jeff Jackson

I really enjoyed the day, the the process and technique were explained very well and I would definitely recommend this course  to anyone interested in learning an ancient craft. 

Sean 

Fantastic - really enjoyed it and would recommend

Alana Jelinek

Brilliant fun. Actually achieved a pretty good bowl. And a good workout

Yoav Ronat

Had a great day and a wonderful experience. Dave is an excellent tutor and I’m very pleased from the result. Definitely recommended!

Emily Knight

Brilliant course, with a very kind and knowledgeable instructor. Highly recommended

Chris Turpin

Fantastic course - professionally (and patiently) instructed by Dave. A really good day - I learnt a lot.

Nicholas Clegg

Really great day. Well structured, really nice instructor. Left feeling tired (it's a physical day) and really happy with my bowl. Would definitely recommend it.

Belinda Edwards

Fabulous course!  Supportive and helpful teacher. Lovely place. I really enjoyed the whole day 

Justine Henry

This was a brilliant day! The whole experience with an idyllic setting on a spring day, with all the helpful people involved, friendly staff & yummy food served in the on site cafe. Wood Turing on foot powered lathe was so much fun. It felt like peddling a bike with one leg, whilst scoring a wooden record, to carve the bowl. Definitely requires some co-ordination & concentration to get right. David the tutor made it look easy. Am looking forward to oiling the finished bowl, once the green wood dries out. Have already recommended this course to friends. Just do it! 

Eleanor Turner

Great day! Super helpful teacher and a lovely setting.

Jem Roberts

Excellent course, really great pace and calming direction. 

Borja Lorente

An amazing workshop, through and through.
Aided by the great weather, the quiet day spent in the tranquil respite of London Green Wood was as enjoyable as it was didactive.
And we ended up with nice bowls to boot!

Sara Karlsson

Turning my own bowl was a great experience! It made me inspired to turn more bowls and other things in the future!

Mat Jones

Really fun day learning how to turn a bowl on a pole lathe

David Young

A really great course - just what I was looking for to get back into pole lathing after a break of two decades! It was good to see complete novices doing just as well as self proclaimed carpenters like myself, and tantamount to the skill and care our trainer took with each of us. Thanks Dave!

Mike Dallimore

Enjoyed the class. I would recommend all the classes at Green Wood London.

Stuart Walker

Fabulous day learning bowl carving in hottest weather ever. Exceptional instruction. 

Laura Sedgwick

Fantastic workshop in a beautiful location. Anyone wanting to spend a day crafting would highly recommend!

Very intense, but fabulous day! We wee working in a stunningly beautiful setting. Tutor is very patient and helpful. I totally recommend this course.

Yahia Elgamal

The class was great. Was very intensive, starting with axing a piece of wood that was prepped slightly for us. Then we started turning the wood for many hours. At the end, we used a carving knife to get the stem out of the bowl. 

Dave, the instructor, was very patient and helpful. I definitely recommend this course, but be prepared from some physical effort. The place was fabulous  in the middle of hackney farm, was a great experience overall.

Michael Johnson

I had an excellent day turning a wooden bowl on the foot powered pole lathe.  I was rather pleased with my finished product - greatly assisted by the advice and instruction given on the course.  I would recommend. 

Tessa Booth

What a great day! The setting is utterly delightful, all of the equipment and tools beautifully cared for, and the instruction was amazing- thank you Dave, we had a smashing day!