\u00a0 <\/span>The buildings represent a realistic interpretation of how people lived and worked in Wales up to and including the 20th Century.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n
This family friendly event welcomes several of Carpenter Oak\u2019s carpenters and their families each year, who get involved with demonstrations and lectures throughout the weekend.\u00a0 <\/span>The event offers an opportunity to share and learn skills and knowledge, from spoon making to ground breaking architectural design, all based around wood craft and design.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>Members of the public can experience traditional timber framing techniques, axe throwing, complex roof layouts, cleaving, wood with unusual properties and the firing of a medieval style trebuchet.\u00a0 <\/span>Children can even build a miniature oak frame house in the form of \u2018Astrid\u2019s House\u2019, a project by Touchwood Southwest.\u00a0 <\/span>There are also various other activities aimed at children allowing room for adults to talk to the experts.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The weekend is an educational and inspiring experience, one that myself and family have enjoyed for several years.\u00a0 <\/span>Being amongst people who are enthusiastic about history, design, architecture and working with wood opens up a wealth of knowledge that people are only too happy to share at any level.\u00a0 <\/span>My son (9) spent almost an entire day building a miniature timber framed house whilst making new friends and learning maths and history in the process.\u00a0 <\/span>I went to a lecture on \u2018Advanced Fabrication and Experimental Architecture\u2019 whilst my daughter (4) enjoyed viewing the photographs during the lecture whilst (much to the amazement of the lecturer) drawing some pictures under the light of the screen.\u00a0 <\/span>Don was also busy giving scribing demonstrations.\u00a0 <\/span>My son also made a wooden keyring and my daughter a bird.\u00a0 <\/span>We all reconvened in the afternoon for ice cream whilst learning about cold-bend<\/span>TM<\/sup><\/span>, a compressed solid hardwood that can be bent without steaming.<\/span><\/p>\n