A one day workshop turning the ground under our feet into a wood fired oven to bake pizza in!

The course will introduce the durable building material, ‘cob’ which has been used in traditional cultures across the world since before records began. In the UK alone there are hundreds of cob homes built up to 500 hundred years ago that are still inhabited today. Added to this list are a more recent flush of new houses built as this wonderful material experiences a renaissance at the hands (and feet!) of dedicated craftspeople who appreciate the properties and process of cob building.

During the practical workshop we will explore the different kinds of cob required to build the oven dome and get our hands and feet dirty mixing up the raw materials. We will build the internal mold, sculpt layers into the dome, carve the doorway and make sure we leave time to understand the foundation structure, roof and finishes. We will leave the workshop with an understanding of how to design and build a functional cob oven for ourselves at home.

What will I do and learn?

• Explore a brief history of cob and the nature of the material
• Learn about the different types of cob needed for a cob oven and their properties
  
• Practice making cob mixes and using our bodies to build with
  
• Enjoy using mindfulness and awareness to observe and sculpt the material in situ

Key Information

Date - Saturday 29th April 2023 from 9am – 5pm

Location - Troed-yr-Harn Farm, meet at Talgarth Car Park, LD3 0PQ. Our Farm campus is a car free site, and we encourage participants to meet at 9am at Talgarth carpark to walk up to the campus ready to start the course for 10am. This is a moderate uphill walk of 35-40 minutes. If you are unable to do so we will organise lift-shares from the Car Park.

What you need - You should wear suitable, weather-dependent PPE including gloves, and good, sturdy boots. Please bring a water bottle and a packed lunch for a picnic at the farm. Tea and coffee facilities available. Please bring a towel and some flip flops as you will be encouraged to mix the cob barefoot!

Age limit - You must be 16 years old or above to take part in this course for safety reasons. Under 18s should be accompanied by an adult.

Who will I learn from?

Louise Southwell

Louise is a cob builder, market gardener and facilitator who aims to live in balance with the world and strives to inspire and assist others to do the same. As a former architect, she left a successful career in practice working on designer homes and high end condominiums to pursue a more meaningful connection with the spaces we live in. She now focuses on designing and building homes that champion our basic right to create shelter in a holistically beautiful, healthy, nurturing, and uplifting form. She also loves a homemade, wood-fire baked, sour dough pizza.

https://mudlove.wixsite.com/home

How much does it cost?

We would like our short courses to be as accessible as possible cost-wise, whilst ensuring we are still able to cover material and teaching costs. We, therefore, ask you to pay what you can towards this event based on our tiered system. For this course, we have 12 spaces. We have tickets available at £50 (reduced rate), £75 (actual cost), and £100 (pay it forward).

Consider contributing more on the scale if you:

• have the ability to comfortably meet all of your basic needs
• have investments, retirement accounts, or inherited money
• travel recreationally
• own the home you live in
• have a relatively high degree of earning power due to level of education (or gender and racial privilege, class background, etc.)

Consider contributing less on the scale if you:

• have difficulty covering basic expenses
• are supporting children or have other dependents
• are an elder with limited financial support
• have unstable housing and/or limited access to reliable transportation

If you select an amount at the higher end of the scale, you will make possible future offerings and support our volunteers who are generously contributing time. Thank you!

If you are unable to pay for the course and would like to be considered for a free place, then please complete this form. You will be contacted by a member of our team 2-4 weeks prior to the course starting. Please note that once tickets are sold out, we can no longer accept bursary applications. 

Tickets are non-refundable. Depending on the uptake of the course we hold the right to cancel it, in which case you will be refunded.

Please note that spaces on this course are limited. We operate on a first-come, first-serve basis. 

Accessibility

This course is rated as 3 (least access) on our scale of accessibility.  Read more about our accessibility policy here.

Please see our booking terms & conditions upon checkout for more information.

We will follow the most recent COVID measures and protocols in order to keep everyone safe and healthy for the duration of the course.