I have to admit, the whole meeting and drive to Bore Place was a bit surrealistic for me... in a very wonderful way. The culmination of months of dreaming, planning and emails! And I'm not ashamed to admit it either, but, I had watched that Woodlands TV video enough times that in my mind John Waller had become sort of celebrity to me! And, I had formed a pretty high opinion of him. Which is risky to do because, then, when you finally meet them they may not live up to your expectations.
In this case though, I'm pleased to report that I was right to form that high opinion and it holds true.
John is very easy going, gracious, personable. He strikes me as the sort of person who seems to intuitively know what to say in every situation, how to handle things tactfully, how to put people at ease. He has got kind of a mischievous sense of humor... something I picked up on from the video and am so pleased to discover that I was right about that! He laughs easily, and often. He also holds such a depth of knowledge about all that he does in managing the woodland and the traditional crafts he makes. If I manage to carry even a small portion of that knowledge home with me, I'll be thrilled!
The drive from the train station to Bore Place was over what I'm going to label as 'typical' English roads... two-laned roads which are paved and narrow, mostly without 'shoulders' like we have in the states and frequently with a hedges and/or walls right up to the traveled way! Definitely wide enough for two cars to pass but when you meet something wider like a bus or bigger truck, you hold your breath. (At least I do :-). Plus, as you probably know, they drive on the opposite side of the road here and the driver and passengers are on opposite sides of the vehicle as well. Up to now, I've only ridden in the back of a station wagon with a fairly cautious American driver (who is driving in a more authentically British manner more and more each time). So, it was a different experience altogether riding with John. Before long we turned off the two lane and were now on a more or less one lane dirt road. I don't know why, but when I see another vehicle coming at me my heart skips a beat or two... doesn't seem to bother these folks... they pull off the road and let the other by. I asked what happens if you meet another vehicle in a spot where you can't pull off, and John said someone backs up until there is a pull off area. OK. But how do you decide who is going to back up? Are there some unwritten rules that people going north-east-down the hill back up and those going south-west-up the hill get to keep moving forward? I don't know. There seems to be alot of waving and nodding and they manage quite well. I'd be in lots of trouble, not being the best at backing up under the easiest of conditions! Definitely have no burning desire to drive while I'm here, but, I would like to figure out what all the 'rules' are. More on that in the future.
Anyway. We arrived at Bore Place and had to pass through a gate which needed to be opened and closed behind us. I can't remember why exactly... were we keeping something in, or out? Not sure.
Straightaway, I was introduced to Mike, a person who has been volunteering with John for many years. He was getting things set up in the courtyard at Johns shop for what would be our first task that day, making apple cider. But first things first, a cup of tea! We were still making tea when Brian arrived. He had been a student in Johns chair making workshop in October, and was going to be working in the shop that day making some alterations to his chair. So, we settled in to drinking our tea and having a bit of conversation. Then being refreshed, John took me for a quick walk about Bore Place while Mike finished set-up for apple pressing and Brian got back to the the pieces he was turning on the pole lathe. This is not Brian, but, it is someone using a pole lathe at another of John's workshops...
Our tour over, it was time to tend to the 2 wheelbarrows full of Bore Place 'cider apples'.
We first sorted the apples - those that were rotten went to compost, the others into a 5 gallon bucket for a quick wash and wiped down, "to get the worst of it", Mike said. The cleaned apples went into an electric chopper. When we had a 5 gallon bucket about half full of the chopped apples it was time to get them in the handmade wooden press. This is a pic off the web of a similar design...
This took two people, one to get the netting in place inside the slatted wood pressing tub, and hold it in place while the other person scooped in the chopped apples until the tub was about three-quarters full. Then the cloth was folded down over the apples and a round piece of wood fitted on top of that. Next, on were several blocks of wood and then it was time to turn the handle on top to press the apples. It was important, Mike said, to stop every so often to let the apples fully release their juice before continuing to crank the handle down tighter. In our setup, the juice was released into a wooden tray, about 14" x 18" x 4" high, with a spout at the front that let the juice flow into another 5 gallon bucket. All in all, the two wheelbarrows full of apples produced an almost full, 5 gallon bucket of apple cider. It was a fun and very rewarding experience. I had never had opportunity to see a small scale pressing operation such as this before.
It was about 1 o'clock when we finished cleaning up and so we all sat down to eat our lunches and have another cup of tea. The shop is divided into a couple of rooms, and i'd not spent much time in this one. Eating, gave me an opportunity to look around. There were alot of tools in this small space. The video above actually shows the room from pretty much the same perspective I had where I was sitting. There's a little sink over in the far back, right corner. Shelves to the right of that hold examples of John's baskets, including (a moses basket) that was used by all three of his children! He brings samples to shows etc and people place orders for "bespoke" items. Under the shelves, a few chairs were stored, including that famous chair from the video I watched so many times!! In keeping with this whole experience, it was a thrill to see it it in real life! The big door was open behind me, that's where the pole lathe was set up that Brian was using. There was a work bench with shelving above it along nearly the full length of the wall to my left... plenty of storage for books and a multitude of handtools. There was another tool cabinet in the back left corner. Three shave horses found there home along the back wall. And a small woodstove- though I can't remember if it stands ready to provide heat this winter or if it is just sitting in storage there.
Bodies rested and tummy's satisfied Burt the dog, John, Mike and I headed out to Bushy Wood for the rest of the afternoon to work on hazel coppicing, leaving Brian behind to finish work on his chair in peace and quiet.
Please check out this Wikepedia link if you don't know what coppice means: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coppicing
We were going to be cutting hazel coppice, harvesting all the wood at each stool, and separating it out into piles for three different purposes: hurdle making, pea stakes and 'alternative Christmas trees'.
We used hand saws to cut the hazel which averaged, I'd say, roughly between 1 to 1.75 inches diameter. Then, the hard part. Look at each piece and decide then and there which product or combination of products that particular piece was best suited to...
hurdle making... it needed to be straight and at least 4 meters, that was a challenge for me right there. How many feet is 4 meters?
pea sticks... needed to be at least waist high with branches on opposite sides. And alternative Christmas trees... well, sort of whatever the other two weren't, if you get what I mean.
So, once the hazel was cut we used a billhook to clear away the smaller branches (some of which would become pea sticks). This is a new tool for me and it was somewhat challenging to use. When John was demonstrating he made it look completely effortless. When it was my turn... not so much. As a matter of fact, I was using great effort and sweating my brains out too. I found that if a branch didn't come off the first time, I had a heck of a time hitting the same spot the second (third-fourth-fifth time). Some of mine were pretty hacked up by the time I was done with them! Oh dear!So. Each product went into it's own pile. One very cool method that John uses to maximize productivity is this, when he is removing the branches and preparing each piece he stands in one place near the cut wood and makes each of the (in this case 3) product piles near so that he doesn't waste time wandering from pile to pile.
John and I were working near each other, so had a chance to chat some, though, I have to say I was concentrating pretty intently on what I was doing, and trying hard not to cut something off of my body that I'll be needing for the rest of my life. I had made some comment when we were loading up the truck to go into the woods, don't ask me now what it was, I don't remember, but John went in and got the First Aid Kit. Thankfully, it didn't get used.
All in all, it was a great afternoon. I managed to get maybe a half of the stool I was working on cut and processed, and felt pretty good about it. As it was getting dark, we packed up and left Bushy Wood, heading back to the shop to put the tools in their rightful place and have another cup of tea and a piece of yummy cake that Mike had brought along before it was time to head to the train station.
I think I got on the train about 5:30. There was a slight delay at the first stop, Redhill. I recognized a fellow passenger from the morning, and we struck up a conversation. She and I ended up sitting together on the train and it was nice to have someone to talk to for at least part of the trip back home.
Stuart collected me at the train station in between chauffeuring the girls to and from each of their school Halloween parties. That was most appreciated, because I was tired to the bone.
So, there you have it. That's my account of The Long Awaited Day... and what a tremendous day in my life it was!!
Wonderful!
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