Winner of the Woodland Award for the Best Woodland Book of the Year
In 1998 the author Barry Mays walked out of his well-paid, comfortable life in London to move to Cornwall and set up as a self-taught craftsman, working with living wood. Fifteen years of learning and discovery later, he wrote this book to share his knowledge of British woodlands and the wonders they contain.
The Green Wood Companion a great collection of revealing articles, pictures and illustrations, charts and lists, tables and instructions, fact and fable – all about our magnificent woodlands. If you want to know the right wood to use for a spoon or a divining rod, how to make beech leaf liqueur, which wood burns best, where to buy a Twybil, the anatomy of an axe, what the Romans thought about Hawthorne, the dye colours you can make from different trees, 20 uses for wood ash, what exactly is a Beetle and much, much more – this is the book for you.
No matter how you use our magnificent woodlands – as a casual visitor, a dedicated conservationist or by earning a living from working with wood – you will want to own The Green Wood Companion and return to it again and again as a source of information and inspiration too.
