So, I know we hate to admit it but summer is drawing to an end. Soon we shall have to face the fact that we will be greeted with dark when we wake up, as well as when we leave work, and we will have to dig out those warm winter coats.
But all is not lost! We now get to pick up a new winter hobby, something that the warm summer sun tempts you away from. Put down that half-hearted attempt at your hand knitted scarf because is it ever going to be finished, (the answer is no if you were wondering,) and lets find some weird and wonderful classes happening in London. You can take your pick; be it useful or totally useless, it will be fun!
- Number one on my list is Spoon Carving. OK, not the exhilarating activities on the surface but hey, not a hobby many people can claim they are a master craftsman at. It is run by London Green Wood, with the aim to introduce people to a rewarding and therapeutic activity that connects people to traditional crafts. Based at Abney Park Cemetery in Hackney, they bring heritage crafts to the heart of the city and make these woodcraft skills open to everyone. They use green wood that has come straight from the log and hand tools so you can truly become at one with the wood!
- Something that really grabbed my attention was London Terrariums (a workshop totally up my street). These are great mini gardens that fit right into the urban environment. These little self-contained eco-systems bring the outdoors indoors. Just a little bit of a background to them; they made their first terrarium using what they could source from their surroundings; stones from the driveways, moss from the roof, cuttings from the house plants and handmade tools from things around the house.
During the workshop you not only learn how to build a terrarium, but you get detailed overview of their amazing history dating right back to Victorian London. During the workshop you will be shown all the necessary components to build a terrarium. You get to explore a wide range of plants and mosses and see just how rewarding building a terrarium can be. They also explain how and why the terrarium created its own water cycle and its ecosystem. For more information and dates follow the link below: http://londonterrariums.com/workshops
- Making Cheese sounds very Wallace and Gromit, but on this one day course at a venue in North London they will teach you how to make your very own! The white walls, hairnets and shoe covers that greet you on arrival could fool you into thinking making cheese is a serious business, but Philip Wilton and Keith Sides make sure that you have a fantastic time.
You will have a dairy filled day where you will make various different chesses to a funky disco soundtrack. You will get to follow the whole process from creating the bacteria right up to shaping the cheese. As well as providing pastries, cake and lunch, you will also get to taste many samples from the maturing rooms.
For more information check out their website: https://wildescheese.co.uk/
- Making your own Bamboo bike how cool! These two day workshops are run to teach you how to make your very own bike frame using Bamboo and have been running for 3 years. You can be as creative as you want with help from some master frame builders who’ll provide you with all the skills needed to create strong and solid structures that you can ride home on. Bamboo beer is being supplied at the end of each day, and there will be plenty to go around as there is a maximum of 4 people in a class. For more information and a place to book check out their website; http://bamboobicycleclub.org/build-a-bamboo-bicycle/
