Thatching in some form is arguably one of the oldest crafts that still remains today. Ever since shelters were being made by hunter gatherers away from the cave, plants such as reeds, grasses, bamboo and palm leaves have been used globally as roofing material.

Today, the cob and thatch vernacular remain integral to the heritage of many of our villages in Cornwall. With the help of an influx of outside money, many of these iconic buildings are now being carefully restored, replacing many years of bad practices and methods that have been detrimental to these ancient structures.

There are currently no thatching schools left in the UK and only around 800 full-time Master Thatchers. All that is left are informal apprenticeships which can quite often not see a young person finishing their training due to a lack of financial support out there. This signifies a real need for a dedicated, equipped learning centre like ours to ensure the ongoing conservation of the craft in Cornwall and beyond.

Dar Durra’s ethos revolves heavily around sustainability and no other craft showcases this as well as green woodworking. With wood grown and managed on site or in close proximity to us, a whole host of household objects, furniture and even structures can be produced in the traditional way using hand tools rather than heavy machinery, each item being bespoke.

The connection between nature and our everyday items can be better understood through gaining an appreciation for hand crafted objects.

With once a working forge in every village and a rudimentary set up on most farms, this craft would have been abundant in Cornwall with its rich agricultural and mining heritage. The once ‘village blacksmith’ was relied on heavily for all things farming, tools for all the trades, horseshoes and plenty of everyday items.

Due to the shift into mass production, now unfortunately the story is very different. The vast majority of the products we buy as a nation are sourced on the other side of the world and are generally speaking, substandard in quality. But there is hope. With the surge in popularity in hobbyists and people interested in blacksmithing, part or even fulltime as a career. There is now a call to open up a custom built forge for learning. We have the beginnings of this at Dar Durra and in time will be opening its doors for the community to come and learn.

There are stone walls all around us here in Cornwall. In some parts they are thought to predate the pyramids. The art of creating a wall out of stone is one, that if done right, can last thousands of years and be a great asset to bio-diversity. The remnants of those still standing are excellent wildlife corridors and house many endangered species of flora and fauna. 

Ongoing hedging projects here at Dar Durra mean there is always a chance to take part in building natural walls that will be admired for generations to come

Old pottery and knapped flints discovered on site suggest settlers as early as neolithic times were active here in this valley. We have used clay dug on the edge of the pond here to use on our wheels, which we have in the past also then fired on site in an archaic sort of fashion.

The therapeutic value in working with clay is immense, the journey, as with all these crafts, can quite often be more valuable than the finished product.

We live in an age where uneconomic, hugely unsustainable, poorly built, homogeneous property development runs rife, hindering our landscapes and wildlife. 

We see far too many sites cleared of what was once a hugely valuable resource - clay. Instead, developers choose to import carbon heavy materials with a hugely reduced lifespan, resulting in a great cost to our environment.

We need look no further than the local historic architecture for the answers to the ever-growing housing crisis. Natural materials when managed properly can be cheap, local and infinitely renewable.

The on site Willow beds are coppiced annually to provide us with a bountiful crop of withies to create anything from foraging baskets to lampshades to living fence material.

We are here to support the resurgence of this craft. As a mindfulness exercise which can be utilised, year round in all weathers.

We have a special interest in creating living structures and our own willow dome can be used as a classroom itself.