2011: Dates for the diary

As you’ll see if you visit the courses page of Scytherspace, Steve Tomlin and I are now taking bookings for a series of teaching courses this year, in south and east Cumbria. We’ll both be teaching some beginners’ mowing courses, and Steve will also be running peening and snath-making courses. We can promise attendees a fun, practical immersion into the world of mowing, in beautiful surroundings. We can even sell you a scythe kit. Please form an orderly queue …
There are other events to look forward to in the northwest of England too. The second Cumbrian Scything and Rural Crafts Festival will take place on the weekend of 2nd/3rd July, at the Cylinders Estate in Langdale. Last year’s debut festival was a real success, despite the persistent rain. Perhaps the highlight was an impromptu demonstration of how to really use an English scythe, from Cumbrian farmer Jim Capstick. We hope for better weather this year, and we’re looking forward to a weekend of teaching, demonstrations, rural crafts, music and good conversation. There’ll be more on this on this site when we have it.
We’re also hearing rumours of an urban scything event, to be held in Liverpool this summer. We’ll keep you posted. Happy mowing.