Traditional Skills

The number of people working in the traditional skills sector has reduced enormous over the past hundred years. This trend has coincided with huge changes in the way our countryside has been managed.

As hedgerows have been grubbed out and replaced by fences and woodlands have become neglected the traditional practices that maintained the countryside have diminished.

Recently, however, there has been a slow change in attitudes. The benefits associated with properly managing hedges and the need to manage woods are now widely recognized, with this recognition the profile of traditional crafts has also began to increase.

Hazel hurdles, one of the traditional products produced from coppiced woodlands have now found a new market as a feature in gardens. They are an effective barrier and much more attractive than a larch lap fence. Locally produced charcoal can provide a source of income for those managing our woods whilst offering an alternative to charcoal produced from tropical forests and laying a hedge will provide a thick stock proof barrier whilst greatly prolonging the life of the hedge itself.

The links to the left will provide details of those working in traditional skills within the New Forest and on the Isle of Wight.