The Great Craft Retreat
Premium Retreat
August 14th-16th
A creative retreat like no other!
Craft Film, The Great Craft Retreat
Spend 3 days in the Stunning Chiltern Hills AONB and learn 4-5 traditional rural crafts from experts who live and work in the industry sharing with you their skills and wisdom of their ancient craft. This fully catered weekend will see you experience the mouth watering delights of our open fire chef as they bring you organic local produce from farm to plate! Camp in our luxurious bell tents and gaze at the stars from around the campfire in the evenings among new friends!
Limited Availability left - Please Read Above, we cannot take a booking of 2 females in tents.
Starts Aug 14
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Craft Itinerary
Craft Itinerary
Tailor made for this event each of our crafts people will run a half day workshop session where you will get hands on with the tools and techniques of the craft. Under the guidance of your tutor you will take raw materials and transform them into handcrafted treasures. These sessions are all designed for beginners who are new to each craft and wish to explore the realms of practical, traditional creativity! Take a look below to see what you will be making!
Blacksmithing
with
Frontier Forge
Forge a copper and stainless steel Spoon
Use heat, hammer and hands to forge your way to a functional piece of Art that will last the test of time. Spend 3-4 hours in the forge with Stu and Blake and learn the basics of creating food safe cookware from incredible properties of stainless steel and the timeless beauty of pure copper!
Focusing our time on the forge on a few specific blacksmithing skills: Twisting, spreading, planishing, dishing and riveting! At the end of your session you will have a hand forged spoon to admire, use and show off!
Willow Weaving
with
Dave Jackson
The Stick Smith
Weave and wrap traditional Catalan bowls
Weave, wrap and snip your way to a gorgeous multi weave Catalan bowl. Perfect as the centre piece to any table or hang it on the wall to show off this timeless ancient piece of art.
Across this 3 hr session learn the fundamental skills of willow weaving by making brilliant seldom seen creation. learn to use multi coloured weave of white, greens, browns and reds to enhance look and highlight certain areas. Under the expert guidance of the stick smith himself get to grips with the tools of the trade; snips, awls, secateurs but must importantly your hands!
Stained Glass
With
Mona Marnell
Create a stained glass Leaf or Feather
Explore the ancient art of stained glass in this hands on workshop where you will learn how to cut and shape coloured glass safely with traditional methods and tooling before being introduced to cooper-foiling and the precise and all important skill of stained glass soldering to hold your works of art together!
At the end of our 4 hour workshop you will have created your very own glass feather or leaf, a lasting piece resembling the beautiful surroundings of The Great Craft Retreat!
Silversmithing
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Design and Create your own rings
You will work with Jen in small groups to design and make two unique rings each using mixed metals: recycled sterling silver and brass.
Using traditional silversmithing techniques and hand tools you will learn to cut, shape, solder and polish your designs into two truly unique rings All under the canopy of The Great Craft Retreats woodland workshop! Combining metals offers a simple but modern way to create jewellery. Whether you like sleek lines and geometric shapes, or something a bit more rustic or boho, Jen will help you bring your designs to reality. No previous experience of silversmithing is necessary.
-Friday evening workshop / entertainment
More details to come
The Craftspeople
From hammer to chisel, hide to steel. They transform matter with knowledge, skill and no small amount of creativity. Our crafts people live and work in industries that most people believe is a dying way of life, however our crafts people are keeping the skills thriving, passing them on to others with their own courses.
Billy Goodworth
&
Stuart Lynch
&
Blake Proctor
Frontier Forge
About Frontier Forge
Starting life in an old shed Frontier Forge quickly developed into a bespoke wood and Blacksmiths workshop with owner Billy Goodworth the sole operator of the business. In recent years the success of our experience days and courses has seen us teach over 100 students in 2024 and 2025 the ancient tradition of blacksmithing. We have also evolved from solely bespoke commissions into a small production forge that produces high end forged stainless cookware.
Since its beginning Bills Workshop has been devoted to truly handmade quality items expressing what a creative and colourful medium metalwork can be! Teaching our workshops at The Great Craft Retreat are the right hand men in Bills Workshop: Stu and Blake, highly decorated 'smiths in their own right with endless passion and knowledge for the craft.
Dave Jackson
The Stick Smith
About The Stick Smith
Also based on the Hardwick Estate Dave Jackson, aka The Stick Smith, has been willow weaving and making willow furniture since 1999 and has been based on the same estate as the craft retreat since 2018. He started off his time served career teaching rural crafts to excluded school children, quickly expanding to teaching adults. Dave has now been teaching for over 20 years and delights in showing people how to turn a humble bundle of sticks into objects of beauty with utility.
Mona Marnell
Mona Marnell Glass Studio
About Mona Marnell Glass Studio
Mona Marnell is a contemporary glass artist and designer located with the Hylands Estate in Essex.
With other two decades of experience she is a seasoned creator of bespoke art, interior accessories and architectural installations. Her work spans private and commercial spaces.
In addition to pursuing her creative practise she's teaches stained and warm glass in her studio and is a visiting tutor at other studios.
Jen Morant-Smith
Pine in the Valley
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About The Pine in the Valley
Inspired by nature and the need to protect our planet, Jen handcrafts jewellery from recycled sterling silver and found treasures like sea glass and scrap pottery.
Jen is inspired by the concept of bringing new purpose to unwanted materials: working with found objects and recycled/repurposed materials enables her to share her joy for all things eco in jewellery form.
She has been silversmithing since 2017 years and runs The Pine in the Valley from her garden workshop in south Oxfordshire, where she crafts her jewellery and teaches classes.
Friday Night
More details to come
Itinerary
Day 1 - Friday Evening
Arrive at 3pm and be welcomed to your home for the weekend, settle into your bell tent meet the team and relax in nature. After a bit of a meet and greet with everyone you will be given your personal itinerary and shown the site and locations of our workshops. Our chefs will prepare a beautiful meal for the evening, afterwards enjoy our Friday night evening session and get warmed up for the craft sessions the next day. Once finished around 8/9pm all that's left to do is chat around the campfire and get ready to jump into crafts the next day!
Day 2 - Saturday
After a simple but scrumptious buffet style breakfast you will begin your first craft session at 9:30am at one of our teaching spaces. With 7 people per group you will receive plenty of personal tuition and be guided through the session under expert tuition. At 12:30 you will head back to our main field where a hot lunch will be served by our chefs giving you a chance to show off your new creations. After an hour lunch break the next session will commence at 1.30 where you'll be learning more traditional skills at a different artistic medium until the early evening.
Dinner will be a 3 course help your self style banquet of the most sumptuous variety! A serious feast! Among new friends, afterwards you can take a evening stroll in the countryside to explore the beautiful Hardwick estate, or sit round the fire and relax.
Day 3 - Sunday
Our second day of craft will begin much the same with a simple and energising breakfast before our 9am Art workshop session begins. Under the wing of another crafter you will walk away with a finished piece to adorn the home. Lunch at 1:30pm with be our last meal together once again prepared by our chef. Your final 3.5hr session will give you the opportunity to get you hands mucky and embrace your final activity. We will round up for a farewell at 6pm where its over to you to discover more mediums to try for yourself or better yet speak to the instructors about perusing a subject specific course that they teach!
Accomodation
Accommodation & Facilities
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Our Accommodation for the 2 nights will be spacious bell tents with 3 people per bell tent, in same sex arrangements.
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Couples/friends can book their own tent together (limited availability, at extra cost) and groups can book with up to 4 in a private tent (limited availability)
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You are expected to bring all the sleeping kit you will require, roll mats, air beds, sleeping bags, blankets, pillows etc
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Photo of our Bell tents at the bottom of the page
Facility's
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Environmentally friendly compost loos are located on site.
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Hill-billy showers located onsite.
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Tea and Coffee and snack station available 24/7.
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Our outdoor kitchen is located in the 'cathedral', a cedar shingle building in our main camping field, this will also be our dining and feasting space.
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All the teaching areas are under cover (although are not fully enclosed) to protect from any wet weather or intense sunshine!
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Phone signal is usually good on site although no Wi-Fi is provided.
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No power is onsite for charging devices or personal equipment - battery packs recommended.
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Parking is located onsite.
Food
Food
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All food is cooked by a seasoned open fire chef and will be concocting a variety of sumptuous meals for us with local produced from local farms and small businesses supporting the local area while enabling us to use the highest quality produce imaginable! Including using forged utensils and grill from Bill's Workshop to cook all your meals!
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Our chef will be assisted in his open fire kitchen by the rest of the team when our Saturday night feast is in preparation. All prepped in our outdoor kitchen and served in the 'cathedral'
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The menu is a down to earth approach to open fire cooking with simple ingredients that will pack a flavoursome punch for all. The menu is subject to change due to the availability of local produce.
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Most dietary requirements can be catered for however please get in touch with ANY severe allergies before booking. To see if we can cater to your needs. After all the outdoor kitchen is outdoor, and some allergens are unavoidable in this environment.
Menu
With our 2026 menu in preparation until February please view last years to get a mouth watering taste of what you may be served!
From grilled halloumi and charred peppers to beef roasting joints 2025's menu was the real star of the weekend!
Our Saturday night feast will see a ladened table of flame roasted goodness, check the menu here!
Dietary requirements
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All dietary requirements and allergies must be stated beforehand - Yes, before booking to avoid disappointment
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We can cater for: Veggie, Vegan and Gluten Free (not coeliac)
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Please get in contact before hand to enquire about severe allergies including nuts, lactose, wheat.
Accommodation - What to bring
What to Bring
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All sleeping kit, roll matts, sleeping bag, blankets, pillows - please no double sized air beds
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A set of clothes for getting mucky during workshops - including a warm layer and shoes
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A set of clothes that aren't so mucky for the evening if you wish
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Warm layers and waterproofs are recommended
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Towels and toiletries - All must be biodegradable and environmentally friendly
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Any personal medication
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Walking boots recommended
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More info will be sent closer to the time after purchase of a place
More Important Stuff
Need to Knows
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Adults only due to the nature of our crafts using sharp tools and very hot steel.
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You need to reasonably healthy and able to come of this retreat, it's a full day active on your feet and walking between workshop locations with you hands kept very busy crafting!
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Only the date shown is the one available this year, sign up to our newsletter for future dates when they are released
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Unfortunately our chefs cannot cater to specific dietary requirements including sensitive allergies due to the nature of our outdoor kitchen.
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All PPE is provided
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Crockery and cutlery provided
What's included?
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2 Nights in a spacious bell tent
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All food, including our Saturday night feast provided by Al Halfpenny
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5 different Crafts/Arts sessions with professional artists and makers
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50 hours in the beautiful Chiltern Hills
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Car parking on site
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All PPE and safety equipment
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Tea / Coffee and Snacks
Our Nordic Style Bell Tents
Getting Here
Getting Here
Located on the edge of the Chilterns Hills in on the border of Berkshire and South Oxfordshire:
Address
Path Hill Farm, Path Hill, Goring Heath,
Reading RG8 7RE
Parking will be available on site for the duration of the weekend. This is a private estate and working farm so please do not come for a mooch before the event!