The Elderwood Project

04/11/2026

🌳 OUR NEW WORKSHOPS & EVENTS PAGE IS LIVE!🌳

We've been busy behind the scenes at The Elderwood Project (like that ever changes...) and we're delighted to announce that our website now has its very own Workshops & Events page!

With Christmas fast approaching, we've got a whole host of festive workshops planned, from making rustic wooden reindeer and Christmas tree decorations to wreath making, Yule logs and more!

🎄 What's new?

You can now browse our upcoming workshops, check dates and times, and book your places directly through our website!

❌ If you have already booked in with us, you don't need to do it again, we have you! ❌

No more hunting through Facebook posts to find the right date. Everything is now in one handy place.

As always, our workshops are all about getting creative, learning something new, having a laugh and, wherever possible, giving reclaimed materials a new lease of life.

Spaces are limited, so if something catches your eye, don't leave it too late!

👉 Take a look at our new events page here:

https://theelderwoodproject.co.uk/events/

Thank you all for continuing to support our little charity. We've got plenty more planned, and we're only just getting started! 🌳

Wreath Making Workshop | £35 per person November 25 @ 12:00 pm - 2:00 pm The Elderwood Project Imperial Works, Menston, West Yorkshire, United Kingdom Get into the festive spirit with our Wreath Making Workshop at The Elderwood Project! Create your own beautiful Christmas wreath to take home, using...

03/11/2026

New thicknesser blades.

I’ve never been this emotionally invested in a piece of smooth wood. 😂

03/11/2026

LITTLE HANDS, BIG IDEAS!

One of the things we’ve always wanted to do at The Elderwood Project is get more children involved in making things.

We live in a world where it’s becoming increasingly easy to buy something new, throw something away or spend hours looking at a screen.

But there’s something special about making something with your own two hands.

Learning how to use a hammer, measuring a piece of wood, figuring out how things fit together and seeing an idea turn into something real.

These are skills that stay with you.

And we believe children should have the opportunity to learn them.

That’s why we’re starting to introduce more woodworking workshops for younger makers. Nothing complicated, nothing intimidating. Just a chance to get stuck in, learn something new, make a bit of sawdust and hopefully leave feeling rather proud of themselves!

And because this is Elderwood, we’ll be using reclaimed timber wherever possible. It’s a great opportunity to show children that something destined for the skip can become something worth keeping.

We’re kicking things off this December with two festive workshops!

Rustic Reindeer Workshop | £20
Ages 6–16
2nd, 7th and 13th December
10am or 2pm

Christmas Decorations Workshop | £15
Ages 5+
9th, 14th, 16th and 19th December

All tools and materials are provided, and children must be accompanied by an adult.

They’ll also get to take home whatever they’ve made.

We’re hoping these will be the beginning of something much bigger, with more opportunities for children to discover woodworking and practical skills throughout the year.

If you’ve got a little maker in the family, we’d love to welcome them to Elderwood.

To book or enquire:
[email protected]

The Elderwood Project
Murphy’s Yard, Ellar Ghyll, Menston, LS29 6AA

20/10/2026

🎄✨ CHRISTMAS WORKSHOPS AT THE ELDERWOOD PROJECT! ✨🎄

Christmas is coming, and we've got some wonderfully festive workshops lined up for all ages and abilities!

Whether you're looking for a fun family activity, something creative for the children, or a chance to make your own beautiful Christmas decorations, we've got something for everyone!

🦌 RUSTIC WOODEN REINDEER WORKSHOP – £20

📅 2nd, 7th & 13th December
⏰ 10am or 2pm sessions
👧 Ages 6–16 | 1–2 hours

Build and decorate your very own wooden Rudolph!

🎄 CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS WORKSHOP – £15

📅 9th, 14th, 16th & 19th December
⏰ 10am or 2pm sessions
👧 Ages 5+ | Approx. 1 hour

Make three lovely handmade Christmas decorations to hang on your tree.

💚 GRINCH TREE WORKSHOP – £45

📅 Saturday 5th December
⏰ 10am or 2pm sessions
👤 Ages 16+ | 2–3 hours

Create your own wonderfully wonky wooden Christmas tree!

🌿 CHRISTMAS WREATH MAKING – £35

📅 Wednesday 25th & Monday 30th November
⏰ 12 noon or 6.30pm
👤 Ages 16+ | 1–2 hours

Get creative with festive foliage and natural materials to make a beautiful door wreath.

🕯️ TRADITIONAL YULE LOG WORKSHOP – £30

📅 Sunday 29th November
⏰ 10am or 2pm sessions
👤 Ages 16+ | 2–3 hours

Discover the ancient pagan traditions of Yule and their connections to modern Christmas while creating your own festive Yule log.

🪵 EVERYTHING IS PROVIDED!

All tools, equipment, materials and decorations are included in the workshop price. There's no need to bring anything along!

❤️ AND THE BEST PART? EVERYTHING YOU MAKE IS YOURS TO TAKE HOME!

You'll leave with your very own handmade creation, something to proudly display at home or give as a thoughtful Christmas gift.

🌲 Our workshops take place in small, friendly groups at The Elderwood Project in Menston, with guidance throughout. No previous experience is necessary!

Children attending our younger workshops must be accompanied by an adult.

📍 The Elderwood Project
Ellar Ghyll, Menston, LS29 6AA

📩 TO BOOK YOUR PLACE:

- Email: [email protected]
- WhatsApp: 07546 089 780
- Message us on here

Please let us know which workshop, date and session you'd like to attend.

🎅 Spaces are limited, so book early to avoid disappointment!

Come and get creative with us this Christmas. Make memories, learn something new and take home a little bit of festive magic! 🎄

19/10/2026

🔥 BONFIRE NIGHT – LET’S KEEP THE TRADITION, NOT THE WASTE!

Long before Guy Fawkes and the Gunpowder Plot, our ancestors gathered around fires to mark the changing seasons.

From the ancient festival of Samhain to modern Bonfire Night, fire has long brought communities together.

But there’s one thing our ancestors understood…

WOOD IS TOO VALUABLE TO WASTE!

Every Bonfire Night, perfectly reusable timber ends up going up in smoke. Wood that could become furniture, planters, birdhouses or materials for community workshops is reduced to ashes.

SO WE’VE GOT AN IDEA! 💡

🔥♻️ THE ELDERWOOD BONFIRE SWAP! ♻️🔥

Got good, reusable timber destined for your bonfire?

BRING IT TO US!

Where suitable, we’ll swap it for wood from our stock that’s less useful for our projects but still safe to burn.

- Good timber gets a second life.
- Our community projects get valuable materials.
- You still get your bonfire.
- Everybody wins!

❌ WHAT WE CAN’T ACCEPT

- Furniture
- Assembled pallets (please dismantle them first)
- Rotten or insect-infested timber
- Wood that’s damaged beyond practical reuse
- Painted, chemically contaminated or otherwise unsuitable materials

Please message us with photos BEFORE bringing anything down! All swaps are subject to suitability and available stock.

We’re not trying to stop anyone enjoying Bonfire Night. We just believe there’s a better use for perfectly good timber!

A bonfire lasts a few hours. Reclaimed wood can last generations. ❤️

📍 The Elderwood Project – Menston, West Yorkshire

🌳 Reclaiming wood. Sharing skills. Building community.

Know someone planning a bonfire? Give this a share! 🔥🪵

05/10/2026

We’ve been a little quiet on here lately… but Elderwood certainly hasn’t been. 😅

The last couple of weeks have been absolutely rammed with commissions, building, making and generally covering the workshop in increasingly impressive quantities of sawdust. So we thought it was about time we gave you lovely lot an update on what’s happening behind the doors at Elderwood.

🎥 We’ve got a camera crew coming!
Later this month we’ll be welcoming a camera crew into the workshop to start helping us put together a documentary about The Elderwood Project, what we’re doing, why we’re doing it, and where we hope all of this is heading. Slightly terrifying. Very exciting.

🎃 Halloween has well and truly arrived.
We’ve been making loads of wonderfully weird, witchy and spooky pieces, many of which are already available over in The Hearthfire Trading Post. As usual, reclaimed timber has been turned into things it probably never expected to become.

🎄 And yes… we’re already thinking about Christmas.
But this is Elderwood. You’re not going to suddenly see us churning out identical little wooden Christmas trees and reindeer by the hundred. 😂 We’ve got some ideas brewing for a slightly different Elderwood take on Christmas…

🪵 Workshops are coming back too.
We’ll be posting the next batch of workshop dates later this week, with plenty of opportunities to come down, make something and leave with considerably more sawdust attached to you than when you arrived.

And finally…

🌿 WE’RE NEARLY AT 1,000 FOLLOWERS!

That number is genuinely a bit bonkers to us. Elderwood is still growing, changing and finding its feet, and having so many of you following along, sharing what we do, buying what we make and generally cheering us on means an enormous amount.

Thank you for sticking with us even when we disappear into the workshop for a fortnight. 😂

Plenty more coming.

17/09/2026

🎃 SPOOKY SEASON AT ELDERWOOD

We’ve been having far too much fun with the darker side of the workshop lately…

The first of this year’s spooky creations have started appearing, including our crooked black cat and a rather appropriately shaped coffin shelf. 🐈‍⬛⚰️

Both handmade from reclaimed timber, both deliberately a little dark and strange, and both exactly the sort of thing we enjoy making when we’re given an excuse to embrace Halloween.

And these definitely aren’t the last.

We’ve still got plenty of ideas rattling around for autumn, Halloween and all things witchy, gothic and weird.

But we’d love to know what you want to see us make next.

Something for the home? A ridiculous Halloween decoration? Witchy storage? Haunted furniture? Something you’ve always wanted but can’t actually buy anywhere?

Give us your spooky ideas in the comments. 👇

If it’s weird enough, it might just end up on the workbench. 😂

🌳 Where old wood tells new stories.

14/09/2026

🍂🎃 Spooky season has arrived at Elderwood…

Autumn is here, the evenings are getting darker, the leaves are starting to turn, and frankly that gives us an excellent excuse to make weird things out of wood.

So, once we’ve worked our way through the commissions currently keeping us busy, a lot of what comes out of the Elderwood workshop over the next few weeks is going to take a decidedly more autumnal, witchy and spooky turn.

Think crooked little houses, lanterns, apothecary shelves, potion storage, gothic pieces, strange woodland creations, Halloween decorations and whatever else crawls out of our heads while we’re standing in front of a pile of reclaimed timber.

As always, we’ll be using rescued and reclaimed materials wherever we can. Because apparently even haunted houses can be environmentally responsible. 😂

Some pieces will be going up for sale, some will become ideas for future workshops, and we’re also very open to spooky commissions if you’ve got something wonderfully peculiar you’d like us to build.

So keep an eye on the page.

Elderwood is getting weird for autumn. 🍂🌲🎃

And, to be fair…

we weren’t exactly normal to begin with.

11/09/2026

🌳 From forgotten timber to something with a new purpose.

I fancied making something a little different this week, and this is what came out of the workshop.

A proper old-world, wall-mounted Elderwood post box, handmade entirely from reclaimed materials.

And when we say entirely, we mean it.

The timber is reclaimed.
The hinges are reclaimed.
The latch is reclaimed.
Even the nails have had a previous life.

Nothing new was bought to make it.

We haven’t tried to hide the marks, knocks or imperfections either. They’re part of where these materials have been before, and now they’ve all come together to make something that hopefully gets to hang beside someone’s door for many more years.

Practical, slightly medieval, and unmistakably Elderwood.

🔥 This one is now for sale exclusively through The Hearthfire Trading Post group

And because something like this should belong to your home, we’ll engrave a name, house name, address or wording of your choice completely free of charge before it leaves the workshop.

One box. One collection of rescued materials. One completely unique piece.

Old wood telling new stories. 🌳