‘Wildwood’  Wakehurst Place 27/8/9^th May

As I arrived at Wakehurst after a slow M25 journey on this bank holiday weekend, I was starving and thirsty! I stumbled upon the great local bakers in Ardingly

One of the best displays of bodged work I have seen yet. It was all very well done great design and execution.

Chris Allen’s display

It was a little strange trying to do a bit of a commentary as Mike Gordon always does it.

 

Well done Mike who beat his opponent Andrew Coleman (who had never done it before).

The race attracted lots of spectators – we should do this more often at events and advertise it.

A GREAT BIG NOTICE BOARD COULD BE USED!

I was asked to judge the log to leg race – this must be the first time I have seen it outside of the Ball.

Oak swill basketmaking.

What a treat for me, I have never met Owen Thomas but have met many of his students.

Not sure if I know the old guy in the hat however.

Met Pete Ball a very interesting basket maker using Hazel – the outer for weaving the inner for the main structural elements.

Very sweet wire haired terrier.

The dug out boats are amazing – they were attempting this at Cherry Wood on my last visit.

As if the actual structure was not pretty enough – the internal finishing and carving is truly a work of art.

 

My lunch courtesy of Jill Swan.

The sort of image one might find in a glossy mag.

This was my third visit to this event and without doubt the best yet. Largely due to the following – 

There were loads of public – even when the forecast wasn’t that great. The staff on the ground could not have been more helpful. The main path down to our area was very wet overnight – they re-chipped the whole thing! The management are very clear as to what they want and understand also what we need.

Thank you everyone especially all the members of the APTGW for making this so much fun.