I don't know about you but I really love the thought of cutting a piece of wood from a hedgerow or a tree and turning it into something of use instead of burning it or shredding it.
I remember years ago when I worked at Lower Roundhurst farm at the bottom of Blackdown hill, between Haslemere and Lurgashall, in West Sussex.
I was an under keeper on a 300 acre estate looking after pheasants for the shoot, conservation of the estate including vermin control and taking care of the garden.
Dick Collins, who had worked at Lower Roundhurst for fifty years, was employed by the previous owner Colonel Messel, became a great friend who I took to very quickly. Dick showed me so much and I enjoyed many evenings in his company.
Vera, Dick's wife would make great home-made steak and kidney pies and cakes and Dick and I would tuck in as we talked about gamekeeping and country ways.
One of Dick's pastimes was walking stick making and he would walk the estate and single out ideal holly and hazel sticks for future use.
One of his old tricks was to wind nylon bailer twine around a young hazel, ash or holly shoot. As the shoot grew into a stem and swelled, the twine would bite into the fleshy wood. The older the stem got, the tighter the twine and the deeper the effect on the wood.
The result, after three to seven years was a corkscrew and this became a perfect walking stick.
Sometimes Dick would slip a steel ring, that he cut from a rabbit purse net, over a young stem and this would also create an effect in the restricted wood.
Dick died of a heart attack while tending his sheep in a field, owned by Polly Messel (daughter of Colonel Messel), that was once part of the Lower Roundhurst estate - I still have a walking stick that Vera gave me after he died.
On the road down to Lower Roundhurst farm, just below Aldworth House (the former home of poet laureate Alfred Lord Tennyson), there was a rather fine owl that hat been carved into a holly tree. I have no idea when or by who it was carved but it remains a memory etched in my mind.
I find the thought of carving something or creating a feature from a piece of wood that is taken from a hedgerow or woodland for a meaningful purpose, most appealing.
If you also like the thought of taking a holiday in France and carving or making something from wood while on holiday then why not consider a holiday here at Jean Blanc this summer.
My mate Mark will come in and spend some time on a very informal basis and teach you the basics of carving.
Spend the day (or more) down in the woods whiling the time away with a wood chisel.
At the end of the course (depending on how many days you opt for) you will have carved your own caricature with your own bare hands - and had some great fun to boot.
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