A craft teaching centre in the heart of the National Forest has been recognised for its dedication to work in the "largely unsung" woodland sector.
Greenwood Days, an initiative set up by owner Peter Wood in 1998, offers an extensive range of traditional craft courses focusing solely on woodland materials.
Visitors to the National Forest craft centre can embark on a one-day taster session to a seven-day intensive course which sees them create chairs from nothing but a log of wood.
Woodlands.co.uk, which creates and sells smaller woodlands enabling people to own a wood of their own, set up the annual 'Woodlands Awards' to celebrate woodland initiatives.
Greenwood Days won the category 'Best Woodland Courses' after being nominated by those who took part in the course.
All winners receive a certificate along with specially commissioned artwork by Tania Hurt-Newton. Individual winners in certain categories also receive a book and a woodland hand-tool.
Peter, an award-winning Windsor chair maker who regularly teaches design students at Nottingham Trent University, described the win as a "real boost" for Greenwood Days.
The 50-year-old, from Ticknall, said: "It's great recognition. I've been making chairs for 25 years and started running the courses 20 years ago, it's fantastic to see all the nice things people have written in their vote. You realise just how much it means to people when they come out on this course. It's given me a real boost."
Angus Hanton, CEO of Woodlands.co.uk, said: "We have been delighted with the response to the Woodlands Awards. Lots of hard work and imaginative innovation is going on in the woodlands sector all the time – but it is largely unsung.
"We have created an awards scheme which shines a light on this, and give it the recognition it deserves. We had lots of excellent entries for 2017 – and next year’'s Awards will open early in 2018."
For further information about the Woodlands Awards 2017, please email antony@woodlands.co.uk.
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