Fibre Experience Workshops - 21st March 2026

Choice of workshops throughout the day:

• 10.00am - Distaff Spinning

• 10.00am - Wet Felting part 1

• 10.00am - Colour Ecology and Solar Dyes

• 10.30am - Herbs for Livestock and Farmer wellbeing

• 11.00am - Needle Felt a Sheep

• LUNCHTIME

• 1:30pm - Natural Dye Workshop

• 1.30pm - Rigid Heddle Loom workshop

• 2pm - Wet Felting - part 2

• 2.30pm - Tuffet weaving

Throughout the day:

• Sit & Spin in the Shearing Shed (free) - simply turn up with your own wheel / spindle & spin in company of sheep, shearers, fleeces & folks here on the day

• Demo (free) - Fancy Art Yarn spinning with Sue Kimber from Farm Crafts - Location - Horseshoe Barn 

Workshop details:

10am - 1.00pm - distaff spinning with Jane Hunt

*fully booked - if your interested in this workshop, please email jen@fernhill-farm.co.uk as we may have cancellations thanks 

This 3 hour workshop is being held in a ground floor, private, heated workshop room we call the Saloon and teas and coffee with easy access to the toilets and café

This workshop is aimed specifically at those who can already spin and have a basic understanding of how yarn is made.

The distaff and spindle is a frequent sight in historical illustrations over many centuries, with the long distaff in particular being used for spinning wool, as well as flax, from at least the 12th century right up until the Industrial Revolution. At a time when all yarn was spun by hand, efficiency was important and this particular hand spindle technique is capable of producing 100m/hr+ once proficiency is achieved.

In this workshop the tutor, Jane Hunt of A Distaff Spinners Diary, will show you how she dresses her distaff with hand combed wool, before teaching the in-hand spinning technique followed by the short suspension technique, using a medieval style spindle.

We will also look at using wool combs to prep fibre for worsted spinning from the distaff.

All tools and fibre will be provided on the day and distaffs and spindles will be available for sale (£25-£30) at the end of the workshop.

Examples of distaff spinning can be seen here:

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61571256551754

https://www.instagram.com/granny.jane/

10.00am - 1.00 - Wet Felting Laani Takaha - wild wool collar workshop - part 1

Learn how to make a Viking style wool collar from Laani, a felt maker from Dartmoor.

Spend the day learning the ancient craft of felting with freshly shorn Fernhill fleece and curls, where we will make a wild wool collar.

Using wet felt and needle felt techniques, craft yourself a collar in whatever size and fleece you choose

The workshop will be 10am - 4pm with a lunch break in the middle

This workshop is being held in the Hay Shed, next to the Saloon workshop room, café and toilets

Instagram is: @hamamacrafts

10am - 1pm Colour ecology and solar dyes - with Anna Willoughby

We gather at the spring equinox, as the sun crosses the celestial equator, creating near equal hours of light and dark. It is the threshold from which the hours of daylight in the northern hemisphere overtake the hours of dark

Working with this rhythm, we will co-create solar dye jars to take away and allow to slowly transform our yarn into beautiful colours as the hours of light increase

In this 3 hour workshop, we will source and warm water, prepare our plant materials, and make mini-skeins of yarn courtesy of the Fernhill stock

One of the dyes we will work with is the grand teint Rubia tinctorum, otherwise known as Madder, one of our most ancient dyes. We will have fresh roots, grown on an allotment in Bristol, and will meet them in hands-on fashion, cleaning and chopping, and separating the new growth from the old; we will dye with the old, and pot up the new, so you can take some home to grow on for the future

We will also have seeds of Woad, Isatis tinctoria, for you to take away and propagate

You will take away with you three incubators of colour and yarn to mature on your windowsill at home

This 3 hour workshop is being held in and around the polytunnel space and we will spend some time out in the elements, so please dress for the weather

This workshop is priced at £50 per person, which includes 3 fermentation jars (to mitigate the risk, albeit rare, of jars cracking or exploding) and each participant will be provided with 30g of Fernhill yarn to make into mini skeins

No experience is necessary to participate in this workshop

10.30am - 12.00 - Herbs for Livestock and Farmer wellbeing - with Medical herbalist and farmer Kate Scott BSc (Hons) Herbal Medicine

Kate says “As a farmer and shepherdess I have always had a keen interest in self selection in ruminants, and when I studied herbal medicine it gave me a much greater understanding of how the phytochemicals contained in plants work within not just the human body but within animals too.

I started to understand how for example tannins help control worm burden with their astringent properties, and how other plant chemicals and micro nutrients in diverse pasture can help boost immunity within the flock or herd.

This 1.5 hour workshop workshop will encompass native British plants found in meadows, fields and hedgerows and explain how they can help ruminant and farmer health - we will then learn how to use them and make a simple herbal vinegar and salve, with a comprehensive handout to take home too”  

The workshop is priced at £35 per person, which includes your freshly created jar of herbal medicine and salve to take home, plus a small contribution to the farm for administration and delivery - the workshop will take place at Kate stall in our Hay Shed Venue, close to the café and toilets - more information about Kate and her products are below:

www.thedroversdaughter.com‍ ‍www.roundhillagriculturalconsultancy.com

@thedroversdaughter‍ ‍© Kate Scott Bsc  (Hons) Herbal Medicine MCCP 2026

11am - 12.30pm - needle felt a sheep with Lesley Hill Textiles

Needle felt a sheep workshop is a 1.5 hour workshop in a small group setting in the main Horseshoe Barn, where Leslie will take the whole group* step by step through to the creation of a sheep - ideal for beginners, these sheep will be felted purely from washed wool and decorated with washed curly locks - no wires will be used in this short workshop and sheep will be lying down and fit inside a Human hand

Not suitable for anyone under 12 years thanks

Sheep make ideal shelf ornament or participants can turn them into key rings if they wish to do so - keep away from pets

The workshop is priced at £35 per person, which includes washed fleece from the farm, plus a small contribution to the farm for administration and delivery

*If we fill all these spaces we will run this workshop again in the afternoon so please do let us know if you wish to book and spaces are limited / not available thanks

LUNCH TIME

1.30pm - 4pm - Rigid Heddle Weaving with NEW TUTOR Saffie, as Jade Ogden can no longer be with us on the day 

2.5 hour workshop in a small group of 3 in the main Horseshoe Barn, where Saffie (textile graduate weaver working for FernhillFibre) will assist you to hand weave a panel, table mat or runner in a variety of wools, onto a pre-warped loom. 

Enjoy experimenting with colour, pattern and texture using a variety of weft yarns, some supplied by Fernhill Farm for home-grown goodness

Complete beginners welcome as well as those with some experience

This workshop is priced at £40 and all participants will take away their own weaving pieces, with a small contribution going to Fernhill Farm for the weft yarns and administration costs

Saffie graduated from Chelsea a few years ago, is part of Frome Weavers and teaches weaving at the Fernhill Farm Woolly Weekends 

1.30pm - 4pm - natural dyes with Ria Burns from Ria Burns Knitwear

This 2.5 hour workshop is being held in a ground floor, private, heated workshop room we call the Saloon and includes access to teas and coffee with easy access to the toilets and café

We’ll use natural dye plants gathered on the farm, plus fresh flowers from Ria’s Bristol garden to dye Fernhill wool yarns in a range of vibrant colours, using a variety of different natural dye techniques

The workshop is priced at £50per person, which includes 60g of yarn to dye (in the form of 6 x 10g mini skeins)

2pm - 4pm - wild wool collar workshop - part 2

Finishing your wild wool collar, using wet felt and needle felt techniques

The workshop will be 10am - 4pm with a lunch break in the middle - lunch is not provided

This workshop is being held in the Hay Shed, next to the Saloon workshop room, café and toilets

Instagram is: @hamamacrafts www.hamamacrafts.co.uk

2.30pm - 4pm Peg-loom tuffets with Lesley Hill Textiles

Taking place in the Sheep Shearing Shed, suitable for every age and ability

This simple form of weaving uses our raw fleece to create a textured tuffet that can be used as a cushion for sitting by a campfire or on a picnic. Use our naturally coloured fleece to create patterns of stripes or gradients

Using fleece from our sheep's wool to make a tuffet on a peg loom, and you can still be amongst some of the sheep that provide the wool and see how and where they're shorn

Full Fibre Experience event details here: Fernhill Fibre Experience — Fernhill Fibre

Please contact us for accessibility discounts - suitable for students etc as we aim to make everyone welcome to our events and educational programmes