Growing up amongst the Beech Woods of the Chiltern Hills in Buckinghamshire, has given me a passion for wood, woodworking and woodlands, I have spent most of my life working in native broadleaved woodlands, managing and utilizing their timbers. Working with my family and many master-craftsmen over the years, sharing their knowledge and learning their skills, these skills include, Coppicing, coppice management, timber felling, pole-lathe turning, charcoal production, wattle and split ash hurdles, garden products, besom brooms, wooden rakes and forks, thatching products and many more.
Other skills I have learnt include, boat building, wheelwright (turnery), blacksmithing, stone walling, hedge-laying, timber construction, cob walling and more.
Many of the products produced with these crafts can be seen in my gallery page. Perfecting and honing these diverse skills over the years has enabled me to work on a number of private and public projects, the largest of these being the refurbishment of The Irish National Heritage Park, working as project manager, chief carpenter and interpretive designer, this project involved rebuilding the existing archaeological sites.
This was achieved by interpreting the latest archaeological information (supplied by the School of Archaeological UCD and Crane Beg Consulting) and using my knowledge of native materials, traditional tools,