Things to do in Sheffield - a crafty Christmas idea you 'wood' not want to miss out on

Located four miles from Sheffield city centre, the JG Graves Woodland Discovery Centre in Ecclesall Woods is a magical campus of timber-framed buildings: a quirky cafe and a gift shop with a wonky roof, surrounded by sprawling and peaceful woodland.

Inside, the centre offers space for meetings, exhibitions and events and outside there are Ecclesall Wood craft courses – spanning from spoon and bowl making, to blacksmithing and tool sharpening.

On this occasion, it was one of the Christmas traditional crafts days using wood and traditional tools to make a, surprisingly large, Christmas reindeer.

Upon arrival at the centre, nestled behind an array of verdant Christmas trees on-sale, you are taken outside to a cosy fire and immersed in only a fraction of the 142 hectares of ancient woodland.

The tutor on the day was Dave Jackson, who has been running courses such as this at the Woodland Centre for seven years.

He said: “When I came up here there was nothing here, so they asked if I could help set it up and run some of the courses.

"I would recommend it - it's a nice way to work. You’re working in an outdoor environment and working with traditional tools.

“It is good physical exercise for people that want to get fit and you can learn the skills and make your own products.”

He is joined by Kay and Pete, two of ten volunteers handpicked by Dave for their expertise.

Many of the volunteers and individuals that work at the centre are qualified tutors or former wood-tech teachers and are extremely enthusiastic and passionate.

Kay, an artist, told me: "There's a lot of things going on here, it's really busy.

"We are thinking about doing a well-being Wednesday."

It is clear from the experience that working in nature, away from offices, phones and everyday life, is good for personal well-being – physically and socially.

Many of the people on the course are retired, and received the day as a gift from family or friends to put them outside of their comfort zones, forcing them to try something new and quirky.

You are given tools such as a ‘draw knife’ to use as you go about perfecting the wooden log offered to you for the reindeer head and body, whilst sitting on a traditional ‘shave horse’.

Everybody is clearly immersed in the reindeer-making project, moving around sections of the woodland to whittle antlers, drill holes for the legs and, if that is not enough, you are even shown how to make a useful kitchen implement.

“I bet you didn’t think you’d be doing this last night”, said Pete, one of the many committed and knowledgeable volunteers, as I carved the blade of a kitchen spatula sat on a shave horse.

The centre works with the council and woodlands officer for Ecclesall Woods.

Dave said: “We buy in a certain amount of plankton for making stuff like stool tops and table tops.

“As part of the woodland management we do around here, we are trying to get some of the coppice areas back.

“We then use that for various courses.”

After finally putting on the antlers, you are given ‘googly eyes’ to take home to perfect your crafty Christmas reindeer, a great momento from a day of learning and enjoyment.

Ray Lawrence, a writer whose daughter bought the craft day as a present for his birthday, said: "It was a good way of getting outside and away from everything.

"Dave and the volunteers were excellent, actually and they made the day really interesting.

"I live just up the road but I don't quite know what else they do so I will certainly look into that."

The centre caters for all walks of life, including professionals, amateurs, corporate groups, schools and families.

Courses such as this are currently for 16-year-old’s and above, but plenty of kids and family activities go on around the centre, and they are even going to put on one or two kids craft courses in the new year.

There are 32 courses on offer between January and June, and one more reindeer-making course left this year on December 14. See here for details.

For more information, or to book, visit www.ecclesallwoodscraftcourses.co.uk or email [email protected].