SpoonTown


Welcome to Spoontown 2025!

We’re back for our fourth incredible year, bringing you an immersive weekend of greenwood carving, community, and craftsmanship. Hosted at the beautiful Knowler Farm in Stelling Minnis, Kent, UK, Spoontown 2025 runs from Thursday, July 24th to Sunday, July 27th.
For those wanting the ultimate experience, Pre-Town runs ahead of the main event offering a series of two and half days intensive courses. See the Pre-Town page for further details. (These courses tend to sell out very quickly!)
How to Participate:
To take part in the workshops, plan to arrive on Thursday afternoon. That evening, our main marquee opens at 8 PM, where ticket holders can meet the tutors and book their classes. This year, we have improved our course booking system to make the process smoother and more efficient, ensuring everyone gets a fair chance to participate in their preferred sessions.
What to Expect:
Join us for a long weekend filled with hands-on workshops, expert-led tutorials, delicious food, and evenings of games and music. Whether you’re an absolute beginner or a seasoned carver, there’s something for everyone. Our workshops include:
- Spoon carving for all levels
- Axe work and sharpening techniques
- Kolrosing and decorative carving
- Basket weaving, stool making, and kuksa carving
- Live demonstrations from top greenwood experts
All of the Pre-Town tutors will be staying on to offer additional short courses during Spoontown and a host of additional experts will offer workshops throughout the event. Details will be added to the Spoontown page over the coming weeks and announced via our social media channels.
Sustainability & Facilities:
Spoontown is a low-impact event, so please bring your own chair, plate, bowl, mug, and cutlery—there will be no disposable options. Washing-up stations will be available around the site. If you’re cycling or arriving by public transport, let us know, and we’ll provide you with seating.
Food & Drinks:
Our chef Harvey will be serving up fresh, locally sourced meals daily. A food van will offer high-quality meals at reasonable prices, and our evening bar will keep the drinks flowing.
Getting Here:
We encourage carpooling—check the Spoontown Facebook page for lift shares. Detailed travel directions are available on the Venue page.
Limited Tickets Available:
Spoontown is an exclusive, prepaid ticket event with only 200 spots available.
See you in the field!
Spoontown – Courses
Tutor | Course Name: Click for details | Time | Price | Places |
Adam Ashworth |
Etching sloyd knives |
Friday PM | £50 | 6 |
Adam Hawker |
A day of spoon carving with master craftsman 'Mr Precision'. |
All Day Friday | £70 | ~ |
Aimee Bell |
Leather coasters with decorative stamping techniques |
Friday PM | £35 | 8 |
Ali Asardi |
Plate turning on a pole lathe with renowned tutor Ali. Some physical fitness required. |
All Day Friday | £80 | 5 |
Amy Leake |
Bowl or cup turning on a Pole Lathe with renowned tutor Amy Leake. Some physical fitness required. |
All Day Friday | £80 | 5 |
Anna Barker |
From log to shrink pot - making a shrink pot with a fitted lid |
All Day Friday | £65 | 6 |
Deborah Schneebeli Morrell |
Carve a pocket spoon, measuring with your eyes, drawing without a template. Blanks provided |
All Day Friday | £70 | 8 |
Diana Brook |
Block printing. Devise, cut and print a unique design that might promote your brand or just be a beautiful creative experience. 3 hour sessions give plenty of time for prints, cards, totes, gift tags. Get lost in the process and love what you achieve |
Friday AM Friday PM |
£35 | 10 |
Ellie Morgan |
Bread basket for beginners - £4 additional charge to cover materials. Suitable for total beginners (including children 12+ if accompanied by an adult) |
All Day Friday | £35 | 9 |
Emma F V Smith |
Sharpening course for sloyds, axes and hook knives. I'll be teaching hand sharpening technique with lots of time for troubleshooting and technique refinement. Factory fresh Mora 106 knives provided for practice. |
All Day Friday | £70 | 4 |
Georg Schulte |
Ginko leaf copper smithing for beginners |
Friday PM | £35 | 5 |
Jan Harm ter Brugge |
A roundwood straight spoon in 5 clear steps (beginners/advanced) |
Friday AM | £35 | 8 |
Jan Harm ter Brugge |
A roundwood straight spoon in 5 clear steps (beginners/advanced) |
Friday PM | £35 | 8 |
Jane Mickelborough |
Learn how to chip carve with international tutor Jane. |
Friday AM | £35 | 6 |
Lee John Phillips |
The focus on this course is to fully prepare yourselves to carve a successful utensil
before you pick up your axe. You will learn the fundamentals of rigorous idea generation
for utensils and how to to develop successful templates. |
Friday AM | £35 | ~ |
Lee John Phillips |
Join Lee John Phillips for a half day introduction to chip carving. You will learn the
basics of single-wall and three-wall chips and how these can be used as building blocks
to construct intricate patterns. |
Friday PM | £35 | ~ |
Martin Rutherford |
Total beginners , cooking spoon , teaching as much as possible in a day to cover safe axe working , making a spoon blank to safe knife work learning 5-6 knife grips, a guide of balance and proportion in shape. Some discussion as the day goes about wood choice/ sharpening .Enough to get you going in the art of spoon craft, Friday only . |
All Day Friday | £65 | 6 |
Maryanne McGinn |
Learn how to elevate your items by using paint and oil stains in Maryanne's contemporary style. |
Friday PM | £35 | 8 |
Mikey Elephant |
Mikey will be teaching you how to design and make an asymmetrical eating spoon in his own unique style |
All Day Friday | £80 | 7 |
Mr The Creature |
Create something amazing from (almost) nothing! Learn how to make beads from raw clay. These will be fired Saturday morning, weather allowing. |
Friday AM | £35 | 10 |
Mr The Creature |
Drop in session to learn to carve wooden beads - no need to book. |
Friday PM | £10 | ~ |
Nic Westermann |
Various options, from hollow grinding your own sloyd knife, or I grind it for you, to purchasing a new hollow ground sloyd blade. You will then be taught to hand sharpen the final edge when the all important hollow ground geometry is perfectly set up. We will then move on to sharpening flat bevel sloyds. |
Friday PM | £45 | 10 |
Nico De Wispelaere |
Kolrose like a tattoo artist: Finish your given spoon and decorate your own key/doorhanger with the kolrosing technique. We will introduce some design elements, talk tools and pigments. You get: a eating spoon and key/doorhanger |
Friday AM | £40 | 8 |
Nico De Wispelaere |
Facetted Cooking spoon, knifework: During this workshop we will focus on knifework and the important role of crank, facets, form and function. We will discuss how small elements can change a whole spoon. You get: Start with a blank |
Friday PM | £40 | 8 |
Oren Hetzeroni | Chicken Scoops | Friday PM | £35 | ~ |
Paul Adamson |
Resting Spoon - Carve a Cooking spoon and a spoon rest. A great introduction and improvers session in spoon carving with a fun extra project to carve a place to rest your spoon during stirring sessions in the kitchen. Tuition can be tailored to all levels and there will be lots of useful advice on the skills needed to carve with an axe and knife efficiently and quickly. Plenty of discussion on different spoon forms and functions. |
Friday AM Friday PM |
£35 | 7 |
Peter Kovacs |
During this workshop I will walk you through how to create universal templates for spoons
that will help you develop your own style. |
Friday AM | £35 | 7 |
Robbie Vashak |
Square shrinkpots with milk paint and spirit stain finishes |
All Day Friday | £70 | ~ |
Samuel Alexander |
Twca Cam Undercut Hollowing - essentially how to use the double edge twca cam and form the hollow to then take forward to carve into a cup. |
Friday AM | £35 | 6 |
Samuel Alexander |
Axing Demo - Following on from the hollowing course, Samuel will demo his process for axing out a blank. |
Friday PM | £~ | ~ |
Shannon Berry |
Dive into the craft of frame basketry with this workshop focused on split hazel and willow. Whether you're a beginner or experienced maker, this course welcomes all skill levels. Learning heritage techniques to create baskets from natural materials. Connect with nature, discover traditional methods, and leave with your own handmade piece and a deeper appreciation for craft. |
All Day Friday | £70 | 8 |
Snowy Tree |
Learn how to make practical and beautiful brushes for you home, workshop, car… |
Friday AM Friday PM |
£35 | 5 |
Tutor | Course Name: Click for details | Time | Price | Places |
Adam Ashworth |
Etching sloyd knives |
Saturday PM | £50 | 6 |
Adam Hawker |
A day of bowl carving with master craftsman 'Mr Precision'. |
All day Saturday | £70 | ~ |
Aimee Bell |
Spoon Holsters - for carrying your spoons! |
Saturday AM | £40 | 8 |
Ali Asardi |
Plate turning on a pole lathe with renowned tutor Ali. Some physical fitness required. |
All day Saturday | £80 | 5 |
Amy Leake |
Bowl or cup turning on a Pole Lathe with renowned tutor Amy Leake. Some physical fitness required. |
All day Saturday | £80 | 5 |
Anna Barker |
From log to shrink pot - making a shrink pot with a fitted lid |
All Day Saturday | £65 | 6 |
Deborah Schneebeli Morrell |
Finishing Cuts, How to make your spoon elegant and refined before burnishing and oiling.
Bring a recently dried spoon that is nearly finished as well as a small finishing knife
and we will finish it again! |
Saturday PM | £35 | 8 |
Diana Brook |
Block printing. Devise, cut and print a unique design that might promote your brand or just be a beautiful creative experience. 3 hour sessions give plenty of time for prints, cards, totes, gift tags. Get lost in the process and love what you achieve |
Saturday AM Saturday PM |
£35 | 10 |
Ellie Morgan |
Bread basket for beginners - £4 additional charge to cover materials. Suitable for total beginners (including children 12+ if accompanied by an adult) |
All day Saturday | £35 | 9 |
Georg Schulte |
Ginko leaf copper smithing for beginners |
All Day Saturday | £35 | 5 |
Jan Harm ter Brugge |
A roundwood straight spoon in 5 clear steps (beginners/advanced) |
Saturday AM Saturday PM |
£35 | 8 |
Jane Mickelborough |
Learn how to create beautiful fan birds inspired by the Slavic tradition with renowned international tutor Jane. |
Saturday AM | £35 | 6 |
Lee John Phillips | ProCreate for Spoons | Saturday PM | £~ | ~ |
Maryanne McGinn |
Learn Maryanne's elegant techniques using detail knives and gouges to enhance your wooden utensils. |
Saturday AM | £35 | 6 |
Mikey Elephant |
Crank Works - Bored of flat spoons? Learn the mysterious art of the crank in this workshop whilst improving your axework. |
Saturday AM | £40 | 7 |
Mikey Elephant |
Mini Spoons with Mikey - quick, fast and fun projects for when you only have a couple of hours but want to complete a whole project! |
Saturday PM | £40 | 7 |
Mr The Creature |
Drop in session to learn to carve wooden beads - no need to book. |
Saturday PM | £10 | ~ |
Mr The Creature |
Carve and decorate a needle case with lid. |
Saturday AM | £35 | 10 |
Nic Westermann |
Various options, from hollow grinding your own sloyd knife, or I grind it for you, to purchasing a new hollow ground sloyd blade. You will then be taught to hand sharpen the final edge when the all important hollow ground geometry is perfectly set up. We will then move on to sharpening flat bevel sloyds. |
Saturday PM | £45 | 10 |
Nico De Wispelaere |
Dancing with the axe: You don't like the axe part of spooncarving? Or always have to much knifework left? Then this is the workshop you'll enjoy. We will focus on efficiency, but mostly dynamics. And how to axe more safely. During, you will get a confidence boost and become a real sloyd machine. You get: spoonblanks |
Saturday AM | £40 | 8 |
Oren Hetzeroni | Forks | Saturday PM | £35 | ~ |
Paul Adamson |
Leaf Scoop carving. Carve a pair of short handled spoons great for supplying a table spoon sized measure of coffee, flour etc from one branch. We can have the option of carving the handle into a leaf pattern aiming to finish one scoop by the end of the session and for you to finish the other one around the festival or when home, if time runs out. |
Saturday AM Saturday PM |
£35 | 7 |
Peter Kovacs |
During this workshop we will design and carve a house totem, a small wall hanging wooden
artifact that brings luck into your house. |
Saturday AM | £35 | 8 |
Rachel Bainton |
Off the live edge with Rachel We'll create spreaders and spoons with a live-edge vibe. Leaning into asymmetry, and eschewing templates, we'll explore using curves to create forms. There will be time to make at least two utensils, and develop skills to make many more. Of course we'll also chat spoons and grips and wood, and probably fall down a couple of rabbit holes along the way. For improvers and confident beginners. |
All Day Saturday | £70 | 8 |
Robbie Vashak |
Square shrinkpots with milk paint and spirit stain finishes |
All day Saturday | £70 | ~ |
Samuel Alexander |
Balancing Coffee Scoops - These are coffee scoops that balance and wobble on the ball of the back of the bowl like a wagtail bird! It's a fun little course. It'll start with hollowing a small coffee scoop bowl from a pre-adzed surface with the twca cam and then axe-ing the blank to find a balance point before carving a refining. Ideally aimed at those with some experience but those without will get there too. |
Saturday AM | £35 | 6 |
Samuel Alexander |
Miniature Apple Sculptures - Feeling over spooned! It's a little, slow, tactile course to make little apple sculptures and a really fun way to tap into realism. We will be studying apple forms and asymmetry and looking at how to achieve this on a small offcut of wood. |
Saturday PM | £35 | 8 |
Shannon Berry |
Dive into the craft of frame basketry with this workshop focused on split hazel and willow. Whether you're a beginner or experienced maker, this course welcomes all skill levels. Learning heritage techniques to create baskets from natural materials. Connect with nature, discover traditional methods, and leave with your own handmade piece and a deeper appreciation for craft. |
All day Saturday | £70 | 8 |
Snowy Tree |
Learn how to make practical and beautiful brushes for you home, workshop, car… |
Saturday AM | £35 | 5 |
Spoontown – Timetable
Thursday 24th July 2025
Gates Open: 3pm – 8pm
Registration: Collect Your Wristband
Pitch up: Tent or Campervan
Induction: (8pm – 8.30pm)
Workshop Bookings: (8.30pm)
Friday 25th July 2025
Morning Workshop Session: 9am – 12pm
Afternoon Workshop Session: 2pm – 5pm
Tools down + Campfire + Music: 7pm
Saturday 26th July 2025
Morning Workshop Session: 9am – 12pm
Afternoon Workshop Session: 2pm – 5pm
Tools down + Campfire + Music: 7pm
Sunday 27th July 2025
A day to Chill and Carve
Group Photo: 10am – 10.30am
Craft Market: 10.30am
Spoon Circle: 12.30pm
Finish: 3pm
Site Closes: 4pm
Facilities
– Parking included
– Area for Campervans (Offgrid)
– Compost toilets + Washing facilities
– Solar showers
– Water supply
– Kettle constantly on the boil
– Free tea and coffee!
– “Spoon Fed” Food Van onsite for mealtimes at reasonable rates.
– Large selection of sustainably sourced fresh wood for carving
– Access to carving stumps
– Communal marquee
– Two evening fire pits
– Evening entertainment (largely of your own making) on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights
– Skilled spoon carvers will be demonstrating during the event
– Pathcarvers: A space for your mental health to carve, drink tea, and talk or just be
– Sunday Morning Craft Market
And last but not least … lots of other Spoon Carving enthusiasts!


