Mere Brow Makes is based at Mere Brow Permaculture Farm, in the peace of the Cheshire countryside.
We grow and harvest our own willow and bulrush here on the farm. As well as using some of it to mulch our trees, with it we create beautiful and functional items for the home and provide space for others to come and do the same.
We didn’t plant the willow for the purposes of basketry, it was planted because of its incredibly strong root network and its love of wet ground!
The discovery of and passion for weaving and basketry has grown as organically as the farm and the willow itself.
Mere Brow Makes is a collaborative effort by the community that lives, works and volunteers here. From the planting, maintenance and harvesting of the weaving materials to the growing of the delicious organic vegetables that we use in our workshop shared lunches. All of this makes community and sustainability at the heart of what we do and makes it a deeply personal project!
I am currently working towards my City & Guilds Level 3 Basketry qualification and have been hosting workshops at Mere Brow for around five years. What started as lessons for the farm’s volunteers, who come from all around the world, has grown into regular workshops for all.
For me, weaving is a complete escape, where hours fly by like minutes and I get to see something beautiful born from plants that grow freely all around me.
I love to share my love of weaving with the groups that come to my workshops. We create a peaceful space where everybody works together but at their own pace and we all share in each other’s pride and sense of achievement when the projects are completed. It is very addictive!
I love to apply my basketry skills, using willow as my canvas, in creating unique wall art and bespoke pieces of basketry that incorporate whatever is growing in the fields around me. At the moment I am using birch and hazel branches, sorrell, broom, knapweed, poppy seed heads, plaintain heads, larch and willow bark! This means that my work is unique to me and to the changing seasons and landscape.
We hope to have our online shop open soon. In the meantime, commissions are welcome, so if you see anything you love, or have an idea of something specific, please get in touch.
