Lorraine Ellery Matthews

My name's Lorraine Ellery Matthews and our business is called Hedges and Hurdles, Country Skills and Crafts.

My name's Lorraine Ellery Matthews and our business is called Hedges and Hurdles, Country Skills and Crafts.

We can see quite far ahead into the distance here and it's a beautiful day today. We've got some lovely blue skies. We can see the hills of the North Downs. We can see farmland reaching quite far ahead of us. We're just surrounded by green trees.

We can see quite far ahead into the distance here and it's a beautiful day today. We've got some lovely blue skies. We can see the hills of the North Downs. We can see farmland reaching quite far ahead of us. We're just surrounded by green trees.

We're on the Tarrington estate, which is a huge site, but the tenant farmers nearby, in fact, my neighbour tenant farmer, informed me that this was actually where his grandmother used to keep the pigs. And you can see that because we've got a walled garden area as well as quite a large barn area.

We're on the Tarrington estate, which is a huge site, but the tenant farmers nearby, in fact, my neighbour tenant farmer, informed me that this was actually where his grandmother used to keep the pigs. And you can see that because we've got a walled garden area as well as quite a large barn area.

We've got some gorgeous colours here, particularly that big pile of willow leaning against the wall here.

We've got some gorgeous colours here, particularly that big pile of willow leaning against the wall here.

It is.

It is.

It looks so fiery, doesn't it? And this particular willow is just a common willow that's been grown locally, in fact, just five minutes up the road. in somebody's garden that contacted me last year and informed me they had this willow and they knew that I created lots of plant supports with common willow like this, a sort of a Vimalaris, you should say.

It looks so fiery, doesn't it? And this particular willow is just a common willow that's been grown locally, in fact, just five minutes up the road. in somebody's garden that contacted me last year and informed me they had this willow and they knew that I created lots of plant supports with common willow like this, a sort of a Vimalaris, you should say.

Yes, and we call it a curly willow. This is from our tree in our own garden. And we pollard it and use this gorgeous curly willow for decorative purposes. So it's great in our Christmas wreaths. And at this time of year, people are using it in the trellises that we make.

Yes, and we call it a curly willow. This is from our tree in our own garden. And we pollard it and use this gorgeous curly willow for decorative purposes. So it's great in our Christmas wreaths. And at this time of year, people are using it in the trellises that we make.

So over to the right here in this very long trough, I've stood all different types of willow. There's three different stages of willow. So you have green willow, which is freshly cut, which is what we've just looked at here. And we have semi-green where the saps come out of the willow. It's still supple, still able to weave with it. And then we have brown willow.

So over to the right here in this very long trough, I've stood all different types of willow. There's three different stages of willow. So you have green willow, which is freshly cut, which is what we've just looked at here. And we have semi-green where the saps come out of the willow. It's still supple, still able to weave with it. And then we have brown willow.

And these are the brown willow bundles that I buy in from the Somerset Plains. So this is a cultivated willow. It's what... specialist basket weavers use for weaving because I also do basket willow crafts. I make sculptures like the duck for example.

And these are the brown willow bundles that I buy in from the Somerset Plains. So this is a cultivated willow. It's what... specialist basket weavers use for weaving because I also do basket willow crafts. I make sculptures like the duck for example.

Well actually this particular duck is life-size because it's based on a Cayuga duck which is an effervescent colour duck which we have on the Burley Estate where I also have another studio. Fantastic.

Well actually this particular duck is life-size because it's based on a Cayuga duck which is an effervescent colour duck which we have on the Burley Estate where I also have another studio. Fantastic.