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fforest chief

fforest chief

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The best outdoor shower in Wales? fforest shower block inspired by Australian architect Glenn Murcutt

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'Layering and changeability: this is the key, the combination that is worked into most of my buildings. Occupying one of these buildings is like sailing a yacht; you modify and manipulate its form and skin according to seasonal conditions and natural elements, and work with these to maximize the performance of the building.' 

- Glenn Murcutt, 1996

Known for his smaller scale residential buildings, Australian architect Glenn Murcutt's projects blend a modernist design approach with an ever-present consciousness of the environment; qualities that have inspired fforest chief his entire career. The picture shown above is probably his smallest work, but the simplicity, modesty and respect for context make it a personal favourite.

A hero and reference point for Chief, the shower block at fforest is a 'homage' of the most humble sort. Choosing materials that can be produced easily and economically; from glass to stone to concrete, brick and metal, Murcutt's buildings evoke a distinctive Australian flavour that are in constant harmony with their natural surroundings, much like the majority of our buildings at fforest. Murcutt has resisted expanding his staff and has remained as a sole practitioner with the minimum of assistants. 

fforest chief invited Glenn to the 'Do' lectures at fforest in 2009 but unfortunately he was unable to travel the long distance due to old age. His hand-written response to the invitation will continue to be a prized possession. 

 



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Ecotherapy

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fforest has always celebrated the pleasures of living, working and playing in the outdoors.
For some people this is truly life changing. 

What is ecotherapy? This short film explains how using nature and the outdoors can improve mental wellbeing, particularly for people at risk of developing a mental health problem - or those who need support to manage an existing problem. Filmed at four Ecominds-funded projects in summer 2013.

Credit: Ecominds
 



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The Bwthyn - our spiritual heart


These small steadings had long been known in wales by the term tyddyn, and the tyddynwyr – the crofters as they may be called- formed in a very real sense the nucleus of the welsh nation.

- from The Welsh House by Iorwerth Peate, first published 1940


When we were first planning fforest, building the lodge as the centre of our idea, the Bwthyn was close by, but hiding. Obscured by trees and ivy outside and in, the building was close to being fully reclaimed by the land that had yielded the slate blocks from which its walls had been built. No roof, less than 3 walls, 18 inches of earth covering the slate slabs we would eventually uncover and re-lay.

We could have let it go. Easier to knock down what remained, use the slate as hardcore for a new building. But this building had a voice that I started hearing. The voice was reminding me of what this building meant and of the lives lived there. This was 2006. Four years before, Sian’s parents had given me the book from which I took the quote above.  Beautiful little cloth-bound first edition from 1940. An anthology of Welsh house types from the iron age to roughly the eighteenth century, and a chapter there confirmed what this building was and meant. A fold -out illustration describing exactly the floor-plan, position and size of windows, doors, hearth and tiny dairy (kitchen).  This little building was an important thing- it had meaning. Its type was called a Bwthyn Croglofft. It was remnant of a society and agrarian culture in Wales that was ancient.  A smallholding of 4 acres (the tyddyn) would provide for some basics for the family of 8 or 10 to supplement the income father would bring from his trade or labour.

The acts of union between England and Wales gradually subsumed the old Keltic system of landholding and the enclosure movement of the 19th century, where land was consolidated into larger holdings, led to thousands of the small steadings being eliminated. ‘...a large part of the social system traditional to the Welsh countryside was deliberately destroyed.’  An ancient way of life ended.
The Bwthyn is a monument to a way of life in general, and the family lives lived there in particular.

When we were re-building it I knew why I was doing it, but didn’t know what it would be for. Cottage, store, showers? No, not right. The builders decided for me. On a morning tea break they told me they’d decided it should be a pub. I laughed then realised they were right. 

A place for gathering and celebration in honour of generations past. 
The Bwthyn is the spiritual heart of fforest.

CONSTRUCTION

USE



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'Camps' by Charlie Hailey

A book that inspired fforest.
"Personal experience is an inextricable and important part of the story of camps; but rituals, communities, and memories of camping practice supersede nostalgia and personal narrative.  Camping is place-making."

Charlie Hailey writes about the space and idea of camp as a defining dimension of 21st Century life in his book, 'Camps'. 

Find out more here



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The Beast of beer

 

"After realising the simplicity of draft dispensing and frustration of the family & I having to walk to the local pub whilst staying at fforest over the festive period I had an epiphany..."

Conceived under the influence of beer (7.7% Blueberry Sour Wild beer aged in oak barrels by Mikkeller/Three Floyds breweries) and my calling, the beast was born on Christmas eve, in the dark of a drizzly night under the light of a head torch, with the wrong sized screws and a hammer. Using the components of the Pizzatipi bar and some old floorboards I cobbled together 4 taps hanging off the back of one of our 10ft 4x4 service mules in roughly 8 hours, a job that would have taken any normal person 1...

This wasn't any old beer bellied beast...

The Taps went like this:

Tap 1 (Dinner) - Buxton Brewery's 'Rednik stout'- a deep fruity Stout full of solid flavour but only 4.1%. You could session on it with the sensation of gorging a kilo of Cadburys fruit and nut without the guilt or hangover.
Tap 2 (Lunch) - Beavertown Brewery's 'Gamma Ray', a big hoppy session pale ale. A contemporary classic, one of the best.
Tap 3 (Breakfast) -  Buxton x Lervig Brewery's 'Trolltunga', a Gooseberry IPA! Forget the coffee this is a zinger but not just a slap in the face, the IPA is a soothing kiss on the forehead.
Tap 4 (all day) - Mantle Brewery's 'Cwrw fforest', beer made from trees especially for us. This potion is most like a lager but not technically a lager. Its crisp and refreshing and only 4%... all though it always feels like 6. We're really proud of this one.

It goes without saying we drank all the beer on Christmas day in the top field of the farm...

'PART 2: BEER STALKING' Coming soon.
 



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Polished for 100 years

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The small chapels and churches of rural west Wales are places of unique community and cultural significance; built to serve small communities and to nourish their spiritual life. They are a defining component of the rural and cultural landscape of Wales. 

Fifteen years or so ago we started buying these chairs. We were buying with half an idea, not yet a project. Much like the small chapels, they had a simple spare beauty, constructed with a hard wearing beech seat & a light weight elm wood frame. There is usually a storage slot on the back called the 'Bible Box'. 

The availability of these chairs grew, unfortunately, once the chapels began to fall into a cycle of disuse and disrepair. 15 years ago they were cheap. £4 a chair was the alternative to the skip or bonfire. But now, thanks to the style watchers of pinterest, the decent ones now cost up to £60. However, the unique combination of practicality, materials, comfort (really) and patina of use, means they are still worth it. We are looking after our last 200 now, using them indoors or for special events only. 

If you are interested in looking at this disappearing domestic architecture, have a look here www.welshchapels.org



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Wooden & Woven

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Latest casting of a bark edged Limewood vessel after polishing. Elbow grease 💪🏼 ⚪️

A photo posted by Wood~Woven (@woodwoven) on

Alex Devol is a fairly new friend of ours. In early 2015 he asked if he could run a spoon carving workshop at our first Gather event. He showed up with his brand new rescue dog and slept in the back of his pick up. Since then he's become a good friend of ours and although we don't get to see him very often we see something new he's crafted every day on his Instagram. He started with wooden spoons and in only a year he's casting vessels out of metal. Whilst creating such beautiful object his experimentation with technique and medium are what we find so inspiring. His body of work is already impressive we can't wait to see what Alex will make next week, month, year.

Alex will be returning to this years Gather. Get tickets here.

www.woodwoven.com



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New year 2016

Over 50 friends and family descended on us at fforest for this New Year (some of whom were invited).

Walks, food, drink, rain, wind, mud, shoes, dogs, fire, damaged vinyl, full contact board games, intelligible conversation, intelligible dancing, parents setting bad examples. Grandparents, grandchildren*, dogs. (*not ours-yet)

Structural & spiritual integrity of farmhouse fully tested.

Special thanks:
To the inglenook d.j.’s: ‘scarfy’ king, Island ‘why don’t you do it?’ Joints and ‘I didn’t scratch it, I made an intervention’ Turk.

Capt. ‘pyro’ Phil for creating the napalm dripping torches for the pub to house procession. No-one caught fire, although there were some spontaneous combustions later. A new tradition that we will now claim has been going on at fforest for at least a two centuries.

The youth for their dedication to endurance testing the comfort of the beds.

The sauna boys for bringing out a side of me I never knew existed. You know who you are, I’ll never forgetthat precious afternoon x. (nick I accept your price for the pictures)

Aplologies:
 to jack and holly for asking them to go out before midnight with coal, whisky and bread to ‘first foot’ (Scottish tradition) but then forgetting about them till they were banging on the windows at 12.15 (could’ve been worse).

Dictated to nurse Tucker during interruption to my bed-rest remedy in a sanatorium somewhere in the Swiss alps 7/01/2016.

Thanks to all our friends for the pictures.



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spirit of place - Ty fforest

Ty fforest

fforest is built from the land it stands on...from Ty fforest (fforest farmhouse) we've scraped away 50 years of damp plaster, leaky rads, woodchip (on the walls), avacado toilet suites, suffocating cement render. Now we are left the revealed bones of the beast, the slate walls full of memories quarried 200 years ago from the river gorge that the house stands above, together with all the original timber features that we could preserve. The house will be recreated with bones exposed, tradition respected, modern mechanism hidden. Embers once again glowing in the massive inglenook, hams and fish slowly smoking in the chimney.  Warm, atmospheric, elemental, evocative. Ty fforest will accommodate groups of up to 14 people (30 combined with the adjoining croglofts)in 5 ensuite rooms with dining for up to 40. 



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