27 April 2009

Just finished the three-day coracle-making course, led by Olivia Elton Barratt. A coracle is an ancient form of boat usually made from a variety of materials such as woven willow or cleft ash or oak and covered with animal skin or tarred material. The one Olivia helps people to construct here is patterned on that found on the River Boyne in Ireland and consists of willow and tarred calico.

First of all we drove long willow rods into the soft grass of the old kitchen garden in an oval, boat shape, then we bent them over and tied them to their opposite numbers thus forming the structure of the boat. Having woven thinner willow rods around the base to form the gunnel, the next step was to fold the calico around the whole thing and sew it in place, finishing with a coat of black bituminous paint to dry overnight. After another coat of tar, we made a rough paddle and were ready to launch on the mill pond on the final afternoon.

Olivia does a remarkable job in getting all eight students afloat by the end of the course, but what was particularly inspiring this year was the presence of Ian, who has only partial sight, and who managed the variety of tasks just as well as anyone else. His guide dog, Talbot, was beautifully behaved, as you would expect, except that he would sneak off quietly when he thought no one was looking to tease our free-range chickens, resulting in much squawking.

The next course will be on 7-9 May 2010.