Pine Needle Baskets
2025 dates tbc
10.30am – 5pm
£140
Venue: open air woodland setting in a 70 acre ancient coppiced wood on a family-run working farm: peaceful and beautiful Dernwood Farm Nr Heathfield, East Sussex.
Come to the woods and make a small basket from locally-foraged pine needles, as we sit around the camp fire. You’ll learn how, where and when to harvest useful pine needles and how to stitch them nto a basket. Your basket will be fragrant and sturdy, with beautiful texture and subtle colouration that will change over time. Perfect for storing things like garlic, eggs or lemons or small precious items.
Pine needles are widely used across the world for making baskets and the coiling technique is an ancient one. As an option there’ll be bone needles available for you to make your basket the way our Stone Age ancestors may have. An added extra on the day: bone basketry needles (made by Ruby) will be available to buy.
A simple but hearty vegetarian lunch is provided, we’ll have have a kettle on the camp fire, plus a huge tarp on hand for cover in case we need it. I aim to offer you a satisfying learning experience as well as an enjoyable time away from it all. To support you in getting the most from the days, we’ll connect to the woodland surroundings through a short and simple, guided mindfulness-based practice.
I will treasure my first basket… one of the things I was most grateful for was being together making and creating, sharing the work in community and good company. Thank you so much for the warm, intentional container you created. Jennie
Follow-on course: Grass Baskets
You can read FAQs here.
See you in the woods!
Featured in the Guardian lifestyle section. National Geographic & Toyota put Native Hands in their top 125 UK adventures.
