Sarah Gilder

All the wood for our charcoal is a by-product resulting from the management of our emerging woodland and derelict coppice on the site of a disused quarry on the Shropshire border. We use coppiced wood or thinnings that would otherwise be burnt as waste when doing logs. It is made up of a variety of species; mainly willow, alder and hazel. In 2020 we started experimenting with a 'retort', where the wood is heated in a sealed chamber on a fire and basically cooks. This is an efficient and more environmentally-friendly form of production as the wood gas that is generated is ignited and used to help the heating process.

The charcoal is produced in small batches and sold in paper sacks weighing 5kg. It is easy to light and clean burning.