Learn the basic woodworking skills you need for all sorts of shed, van, tiny house and loads of other projects.

WOMEN AND MEN, COMPLETE BEGINNERS WELCOME - OVER 18'S PLEASE

ESCAPE TO THE HILLS? Whether you want to build a forest refuge or convert a van for breaks away, these woodworking skills are some of the most helpful that you could learn. If you have some woodworking experience you'll find it helpful but it's no problem if you are a complete beginner, we'll be going over the basics of cutting accurately and square, and screwing things together with cordless drill/drivers.

HAND TOOLS ONLY We'll be using a range of simple hand tools, saws, measuring equipment, cordless drills and a cordless jigsaw and ripsaw. You'll be pleasantly surprised at what you can achieve without tons of expensive machinery.

SAFETY FIRST Our top priority is working safely, there's a couple of things to be careful of, especially when you're working on a larger project with a group of people.

SUSTAINABLE LIVING AT PERTH COMMUNITY FARM, A LOOK AROUND THE FARM There's lots of different sheds at the farm, so it's a great place to see lots of different designs. You'll see the various problems that crop up with different ways of doing things and also how everything fits into the bigger picture of our environmental/permaculture work at the farm.

WORKING OUT YOUR DESIGN Do please bring along sketches, photos or plans of anything you're hoping to build or convert. (Start with what's fixed and keep it as simple as possible…) Working out where your door and windows will go, space for services etc. We'll have a look at how to make a scale drawing and work from a plan.

OUR PRACTICE PIECE - DUCK HOUSE A bit of a memory lane venture for me as this was one of the first eco projects I made way back in 2008 at Tombreck Farm. I've always found ducks lots of fun too! They're great to have on a small holding as their favourite delicacy is SLUGS :-) TOMBRECK DUCK HOUSE STORY HERE.

MATERIALS We'll be working mostly with new wood: plywood, OS board and lengths of CLS building timber and maybe some reclaimed/recycled wood depending on what I have at the time. Find out about the different specifications and working out your quantities so you know what to ask for when you're ordering stuff from the timber merchants. I use as much reclaimed wood as I can but it's always much more work... we'll look at all that too.

BASES FOR SHEDS the pros and cons of using slabs, concrete and posts in the ground. (We're using charred posts for foundations at our sister project, Inverquiech Farm - it's a simple method that's been used successfully for thousands of years - you do need to have somewhere to have a good fire though...)

FLOOR, WALLS AND ROOF We'll be using a mixture of plywood, OS board and weather board cladding with corrugated bitumen roofing sheets, all on a CLS frame. We won't insulate this duck house fully but may insulate and line a small area so you can see what the materials are like. We'll talk over other materials and construction methods as time allows.

PLUMBING AND ELECTRICAL We won't be covering plumbing or electrical work on this course.

FOOD AND DRINK ETC

Please bring what you need with you, there's no kitchen facilities at the farm - but there is a basic toilet block.

CLOTHES Plenty of layers recommended, also sturdy shoes and building gloves.

DIRECTIONS TO PERTH COMMUNITY FARM

Take the track down from Jeanfield Road between houses number 29 and 27, through the gates that lead to the cemetery - small sign says "Commonwealth War Graves".

Then take another track through the first gates on your left, sign to Perth Community Farm.

We'll be based in the big polytunnel right at the far end of that track. You can park right down towards the tunnel, or there's some space just inside the gates.

That's it! see you on the day. Ian

Description supplied by the event organiser.