Fibre Experience @ Fernhill Farm
Fernhill Fibre Experience - to identify, grow, harvest, process and utilise natural, native, regenerative, real, organic fibres, food and fuel
Fibre Experience will showcase the Wonder of Wool, with displays of many British wool products, available for everyone to benefit from each and every day.
Previous Fibre Quest events lead us on our journey from Farm to Yarn in conjunction with South West Stitch Fest and in 2024, Fernhill Fibre will deliver a decade of wool research into innovation and product awareness, to include acoustic drapes, insulation, packaging, carpets and underlay, bedding, furniture, mulch, historic re-enactments etc
This one day event will continue to focus on the inclusion of many natural fibres alongside our wool harvesting systems, with a key focus on holistic agriculture. As well as talks and films focussed on reviving natural fibre industries, we will be discussing how to rehabilitate the land with animals grazing in rotation, conserving soils and enhancing biodiversity whilst harvesting replenishing resources that can benefit water, plant and mineral cycles.
Willow coppice rotations happen annually here, creating kindling and fireside supplies of dried firewood, all grown from nutrients from toilet flushes here - growing our own fuel is as key to survival as growing our own food and fibres too.
2024 will see the newly refurbished Horseshoe Barns as the main hub, with traders, café, bar and relaxed seating situated around our nature pond. Talks and Films, Workshops and Farm Walks will also be available around the farm and fields throughout the day.
This is a continuation of our Farm Open Day, be held at Fernhill Farm during our Spring 2024 Blade Shearing season and will enable you to observe some of the top blade shearers in the Northern Hemisphere do their master craft and choose your fleece as it falls onto the boards in our 4 stand sheep shearing shed.
The Blade Shearing Tournament will take place on Sunday 17th March - details here
Saturday 16th March - a full day @ Fernhill Farm:
Welcoming tutors and exhibitors with natural, low-impact plant & animal fibres, natural dyes and earthy crafts - applications open from 1st Feb 2024 here
Full programme of traditional skills, talks, films and textile workshops to be announced on our newsletters and social media accounts
Event Horizon, The.Coffee.Box and our Fernhill farm “off the Hoof” café will be open around the site from 10am - 4pm - exciting band and bar details coming soon too!
Local food and drink traders will complete our relaxed food and fibre market areas here on site
Demonstrations include “Natural Fibres at Sea from Flaxland, Black Smith Ollie Somerville, and Sheep Dogs with Mike Dowden, plus how to butcher a pig - times announced throughout the day
After harvesting approx. 800 freshly BLADE shorn fleeces in March 2024, we will be offering you the opportunity to browse our fleece collections. - these fleeces will not be available online, are the cream of our crop and available to purchase in bags ready to take away on the day
This Fernhill Fleece Sale will be running all day, where after you have seen how we throw each fleece from the boards and onto our grading tables for hand picking and sorting, we label ready to takeaway - all this happens in the shearing shed, next to the sheep being shorn on this day
Fleeces include:
Romney X Shetland - cream, white, coloured - ewes, shearling and lambs in full fleeces and sample boxes
Lustre fleeces - blends of BFL, Teeswater, Leicester Long Wool, Wensleydale breeds in bright whites and native shades of extra long curls - full fleeces, part fleeces, shearling, lambs and sample boxes, mini craft options etc
Bargain bags - range of skirt curls, VM curls, 2023 fleeces, felted fleeces, peg loom fleeces etc - all within the sale range
The Fernhill Fibre shop will be selling craft items, natural yarns, felts, sheepskins, socks, jumpers, blankets, scarves etc - We will also have our own leather goods and meat boxes for sale from our mini farm shop here on site, alongside many finished ready to wear products made from our verified regenerative wool fibres.
Wool Workshops include Beginners Spinning, Advanced Distaff Spinning, Wet Felting and basic peg loom weaving - full details and booking here
Workshops in Wool Handling / Adding Value to Fleece are available in our programme of events - please book your time slot here (Currently all spaces are sold out, please contact us if you wish to book a slot and we will see what we can do to help, thanks jen@fernhill-farm.co.uk)
Blade Shearing - shearers will be in the shed shearing all day - with commentary explaining the process and benefits of using blades
Blade Shearing workshops will be available on Saturday, where expert tutors will guide you through shearing a sheep using traditional hand shears we call blades - please book your slot here
NEW - Gear Courses - Sharpen your own set of blades - available for the first time this year, lead by the expert Clive Hamer - maximum 3 participants per session from 10am and 2pm - please book your slot here
Jen’s new booklet the “Wonder of Wool” will be available @ £5/booklet
Fred the Chef will be adding flavours to the pig butchery demo as we prepare supper for the official after party with live music from the Skimmity Hitchers - Tickets for the evening which starts at 6.30pm are £10 from https://skimmityhitchers.bigcartel.com/.../fernhill-farm...
You can also pre-book a delicious farm-sourced supper when ordering your gig ticket. Just state your preferred meal (meat, vegan, gluten free) in the notes box upon purchase and you will pay £10 cash on the night at Fernhill Farm.
Those of you wanting to make it an overnighter can bring a camper van or caravan for £10, to be paid in cash on the day.
Good to know information:
We can accept cash or card here on the day and come prepared for all weathers
Please do make contact if you wish to be involved in the new Fernhill Fibre Experience that is an evolution from the fabulous Fibre Quest event held here in March 2022 and 2023
This event has been partially funded by the Mendip Hills AONB under their new initiative Farming in Protected Landscapes (FiPL) project and its a huge help to continue to offer this as a Free Farm Open Day - Thank You Mendip Natural Landscapes - an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty
We can welcome you here from 10am - 4pm and please leave your dogs at home - we are a working livestock farm with sheep onsite at all times
We shall have one of our own Aberdeen Angus beef animals back here on the day - to pre-order you meat box to click and collect www.fernhill-farm.co.uk
After harvesting our freshly BLADE shorn fleeces throughout March 2024, we will be delighted to offer you another opportunity to come to the Source of the Resource @ Fernhill Farm to browse our fleece collections on the 29th March from 10am - 4pm at our Good Friday Fleece Sale - this is a simple day, hosted in the sheep shearing shed where fleeces can be browsed onsite.