Since its inception in 1999, Turners Retreat has focused on delivering the very best customer service available, providing a diverse product range for woodturners and craftspeople. Regarded as one of the UK’s premier woodturning retail outlets, this year marks its 25th anniversary
Established in 1978 and proudly remaining an independent family business to this day, D&M Tools
not only boasts a Twickenham tool empire but also the industry’s No.1 hand, power tools and machinery event. One hard working man is at the centre of it all – MD Paul Dowding – who shares some of the secrets behind the company’s longevity and success
With English hedgerows in decline and the important role they play for wildlife, there’s never been a better time to celebrate the age-old craft of hedgelaying, while ensuring the skills continue to be practised, learned and handed down, as Paul Greer shows here
Pub signs bear their names for sound – if sometimes obscure – reasons, and in total offer a fascinating reflection of English history and social change, as Paul Greer goes on to demonstrate
With a love of timber in his veins and a good business head on his shoulders, David Smyth of Albion Timber has spent many years building up an impressive stock of British species not to mention a wide range of services for customers. As we discover, there’s still much in store...
The number of heritage craftspeople in the UK is dwindling and as a result, ancient skills are in danger of dying out and being lost forever. Here, Johnathan Swann introduces us to two such practitioners, both of whom point to the importance of passing on and teaching these skills to the next generation
Regarded as one of Britain’s finest furniture designer-makers, Andrew Lawton has three prestigious Bespoke Guild Marks to his name, and was lucky enough to have worked with Alan Peters on his last commission
Economists would have you believe this is no time for launching risky new ventures. As for a venture founded on manufacturing techniques similar to those used before the Industrial Revolution, you’d be forgiven for thinking that sounds more than a little ‘risky’. But that’s just what Richard Maguire’s up to with his budding woodwork business, and he isn’t phased whatsoever by the current spate of pessimistic…
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Bold new venture
This past couple of years has seen Richard take to the workshop as a full time occupation, building furniture to order for all sorts of clients – some even prepared to pay well. More recently though, the bulk of workshop time has been dedicated to a new venture: making some of the finest woodworking benches around. Richard has chosen to concentrate on two classic designs, the Dominy…
Having to relocate their thriving Men’s Shed to a new building and start things from scratch, the project is still a work in progress. Here, Clive Handy of Bordon Men’s Shed talks about their recruitment drive and search for new members, to not only help build the workshops, but also carry on the legacy
Currently being undertaken by a team of maritime experts and volunteers, John Greeves talks to Master Shipwright Tim Kirk about building a full-size replica of the Sutton Hoo burial ship
The Old Grammar School, Blowinghouse Hill, Redruth. In a county like Cornwall — famous for its broken-toothed mine workings and the heavy brows of its granite cliffs long before the modern surf culture washed ashore — a name like Blowinghouse Hill conjures a picture all of its own, doesn’t it? Stern, institutional, crumbling and paint-peeling, the Old Grammar School is what Vivian Stanshall would have called ‘Miss…
