Today, thanks to the lovely wonderful Edinburgh Rangers, Team TCV got the opportunity to take part in a wattle weaving workshop. The job was to create a hazel weave fence around the walled garden project at the Hermitage, to keep any passing dogs, cats or wombles out. Unfortunately, it was possibly the wettest day in the history of the universe ever throughout the entire of time and space- at one point I was beginning to consider abandoning the fence and building an arc instead.
Over a cup of tea in the rangers tool store, the leader of the workshop, Pete, explained what it was we would be doing and also issued everyone with a pair of plastic goggles to prevent any eyeball kebabs being created; the weather being so wet we wouldn’t have even been able to light a fire to cook them on.
When we had plucked up the courage to venture out into the rain, the first job was to hammer the posts in (Pete had already been out and marked out where they needed to go), using a post basher-inner and a Comedy Hammer.
The Post Basher-Inner
Once the posts were in, we were able to start weaving. The thick end of the hazel (the butt) was placed behind first post, and then woven in between the posts- with a thick length of wood this could be slightly tricky. A hammer was used to knock any of the hazel along if it had slipped back during the weaving, then the ends trimmed off. Great fun was had stamping down on the part built fence, to ensure that the weave was packed tightly. However, the first weave was slightly more complicated as it was a double weave- two lengths of hazel were woven in on opposite sides to each other.
Weaving the Hazel
Stamping on the Weave to compact it-note the purple wellies accesorised with matching black knee pads- the must have look this year
The process was then started again at the next post along the line, then the next and so forth. To keep the ends at the same height as the middle, shorter lengths of hazel were woven in at either ends, known as ‘packing out’.
Once we had gotten the hang of this, we split into two groups, with group A starting, then group B starting when they got halfway down, the theory being that group A would reach the end and start again by the time group B had gotten halfway along. Well it sort of worked…
Progress being made
Unfortunately, our bit of fence was on the edge and then going down a rather steep slope, which with all the rain had turned into a treacherously slippery mud ski slope. Great care had to be taken to prevent anyone falling down the hill and dashing themselves on the perilous rocks below…
The perils of the slope
The mud
Construction continued apace until the top of the fence was reached. The final weave was another double weave, using specially selected very straight bits of hazel, chosen to make the top of the fence look all lovely and neat. Pete then showed us how to secure the weave, managing to twist a piece of hazel right around the last post and threading it back through the fence. Apparently, people who do this sort of thing a lot don’t have wrists- their hands merge straight into their forearms.
In spite of the weather (have I mentioned that at all?), everyone had a fantastic time and really enjoyed themselves, and we’d all like to thank Pete and the Rangers for such a brilliant day.
Us and the Finished Fence
To see a selection of photos from past and present projects, please click here