IT was the supermarkets that did for stave baskets,’ says maker and forester John Williamson from his open-sided barn high above the Teign Valley, on the edge of Dartmoor in Devon. Not because they started selling cheaper plastic versions, but ‘because the potato pickers used to pinch their wire baskets to use instead’. This little nugget —gleaned from one of Mr Williamson’s customers, herself a former farmworker—is one of the fascinating pieces of social history that he has unearthed in his quest to revive the making of these beautiful wooden baskets.
The son of a woodsman, Mr Williamson grew up in Devon and has a keen appreciation for rural crafts and traditions, but he never set out to make baskets. After studying product design at university in Exeter, he looked for work locally, but the options were limited. ‘There’s really only farming, which barely employs anyone anymore, or pub work around here—but we do have the woodlands,’ he reflects. Many owners of native broadleaf woodlands consider them unviable, but Mr Williamson begs to differ. ‘They don’t know what they’ve got.’
Indeed, he has made his living entirely from the woods, managing them both for others and, since 2016, when he was able to buy 10 acres of ancient semi-natural woodland of his own, for himself. As elsewhere in the UK, his woods hadn’t been managed for some 50 to 60 years; he is now regenerating them in order to coppice them for charcoal, as well as coppicing the oak for cleft gates, the birch for besom brooms and the hazel for hurdles.
Denne historien er fra June 08, 2022-utgaven av Country Life UK.
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Denne historien er fra June 08, 2022-utgaven av Country Life UK.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
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Kitchen garden cook - Apples
'Sweet and crisp, apples are the epitome of autumn flavour'
The original Mr Rochester
Three classic houses in North Yorkshire have come to the market; the owner of one inspired Charlotte Brontë to write Jane Eyre
Get it write
Desks, once akin to instruments of torture for scribes, have become cherished repositories of memories and secrets. Matthew Dennison charts their evolution
'Sloes hath ben my food'
A possible paint for the Picts and a definite culprit in tea fraud, the cheek-suckingly sour sloe's spiritual home is indisputably in gin, says John Wright
Souvenirs of greatness
FOR many years, some large boxes have been stored and forgotten in the dark recesses of the garage. Unpacked last week, the contents turned out to be pots: some, perhaps, nearing a century old—dense terracotta, of interesting provenance.
Plants for plants' sake
The garden at Hergest Croft, Herefordshire The home of Edward Banks The Banks family is synonymous with an extraordinary collection of trees and shrubs, many of which are presents from distinguished friends, garnered over two centuries. Be prepared to be amazed, says Charles Quest-Ritson
Capturing the castle
Seventy years after Christian Dior’s last fashion show in Scotland, the brand returned under creative director Maria Grazia Chiuri for a celebratory event honouring local craftsmanship, the beauty of the land and the Auld Alliance, explains Kim Parker
Nature's own cathedral
Our tallest native tree 'most lovely of all', the stately beech creates a shaded environment that few plants can survive. John Lewis-Stempel ventures into the enchanted woods
All that money could buy
A new book explores the lost riches of London's grand houses. Its author, Steven Brindle, looks at the residences of plutocrats built by the nouveaux riches of the late-Victorian and Edwardian ages
In with the old
Diamonds are meant to sparkle in candlelight, but many now gather dust in jewellery boxes. To wear them today, we may need to reimagine them, as Hetty Lintell discovers with her grandmother's jewellery
