Step into our ancient Hampshire woodland and discover the dark art of the charcoal burner — learning traditional skills, firecraft, and the timeless process of turning timber into beautiful British charcoal.
This hands-on course is designed to give you the practical skills and confidence needed to successfully produce your own charcoal using traditional or modern methods.
Each course can be tailored to suit the experience, interests, and goals of the attendees, making every session a unique woodland learning experience.
We offer a range of course options:
Our introductory course focuses on the use of our oil barrel kiln and Hookway retort, providing an excellent foundation in small-scale charcoal production.
For those wanting a deeper understanding of commercial and traditional charcoal making, we also offer an intensive 3–5 day course covering both the Ring Kiln and Exeter Charcoal Retort. From loading and firing through to grading and bagging, this immersive course explores the full charcoal-making process in detail.
During the course you will cover:
Set within our ancient Hampshire woodland, this is a rare opportunity to learn the craft of charcoal burning from experienced woodland workers in a real working environment.
The art of making charcoal has been practiced for at least 8000 years, we call it an art because it uses every human sense to get it right.
While the techniques we teach date from the 19th and 20th centuries the skills go all the way back to the first charcoal burners.
As well as the History of charcoal making we will look at the landscape and how it can help and hinder the charcoal burner.
You may also be interested in some of our other courses
You will also have a chance to look at our own Grown in Britain certified woodland here in the heart of Hampshire and how we manage it, the importance of that management to the woodland and the charcoal process.
The course will be run in our own woodland based in the heart to the Hampshire Southdowns, nr Petersfield.
The course runs over 1-2 days depeding on the content and your requirements. These are truly despoke courses.
Costs
for costs and to book a place on one of our course please click over to our shop
Answer: All of our woodland based courses are run in our own piece of ancient woodland, nr the village of Clanfield in Hampshire close to the A3 and A272.
Answer: No, we do not provide food; however, tea and coffee are available throughout the day.
Answer: Yes, all our courses are beginner friendly, we aim to tailor our course to the person joining us to make it a truly unique experience
Answer: No, we always aim to teach from the ground up, so no previous experience is needed on any of our courses
yes, we aim to carter for all ages. Some of our more physical course may require some adaptation but with notice this can be catered for. While we try and make access for all possible this has to be tempered with the natural state of the woodland so it may not be ideal for manual wheelchairs or mobility scooters. We can arrange disable accessible course space for our leather work courses by prior arrangement.
Answer: Yes, although those under 18 require an adult to attend for insurance and safeguarding purposes
Answer: While we try to carry on as much as possible sadly sometimes rain and wind do stop play for safety reasons, because our woodland causes are run in the great outdoors the weather can affect how and if we are able to run, gale force winds and trees are not a good combination, if we have to postpone a course we will try and give as much notice as possible and arrange an alternative date.
Answer: Yes, we regularly send out gift vouchers to participants where a relative wishes to give a gift. Please use our contact us page to ask for more details.
Answer: yes, generally park course attendees in an area just of the road as access to our work and training area is by 4x4 only.
For our leather work course over road parking is available
Answer: yes, we encourage our participants to take photo’s and share the love on social media, the only time this may change is if there are safeguarding issues with under 18’s present.
Answer: Yes, we provide all tools and materials for our courses although if you have you own tools you are welcome to bring them along.
Answer: There are a good number of local hotels and b and b’s in the area for which we can give you detail on application.
Answer: Please wear sturdy outdoor clothing suitable for the weather and strong footwear. Avoid loose clothing, jewellery, or anything that could become caught in machinery.