Beddgelert Woodcraft

Having survived the seemingly incessant rain through April we are pleased to see the calendar page turn to May. (For any of you in parts of the country enduring a hosepipe ban, we would be happy to redirect some rain water your way!) In Beddgelert we are very aware of the seasons changing, not only do we long to see the lighter evening and hopefully warmer (and, please, some drier) weather but living in the heart of Snowdonia you cannot help but be captivated by the natural beauty around you that marks the changing of the seasons.

The dancing throngs of the yellow daffodils have been and marked the beginning of spring and now as you glance up the mountain and travel down the passes you can see the purple beginnings of the Rhododendron flower beginning to unveil themselves, bringing a blast of rich colour amongst the early green leaves around them. Despite their strangling nature I defy anyone not to be impressed by the sea of purple which will have arrived by late May when they stand bright and victorious covering large areas of the mountain.

For those of lucky ones amongst us, who have enjoyed a sunny May day in Beddgelert, there are few things more satisfying than being able to take an early morning walk in the sunshine alongside the river as it dances its way down the Aberglaslyn Pass, seeing the lambs bleating in the fields and looking to the mountains decorated with a purple explosion.

The quick answer to the question is no, unfortunately in today’s competitive market it is not financially viable for us to sustain a year round business relying on only locally sourced woodcrafts.
We are very proud of the heritage and development of Beddgelert Woodcraft, please take a moment and allow us to tell our story.

In 1979 Mike Garside opened the doors of his new shop “Beddgelert Woodcraft” proudly selling his own wooden products, which he hand turned himself on the premises. Over the years Mike enjoyed much success selling clocks and barometers around the country, however as the demand for hand turned high end products diminished Mike needed to broaden his horizons in order to ensure “Beddgelert Woodcraft” could move forward into the next decade.

Mike indulged his love of travelling and after venturing to several places he finally arrived in Indonesia and relished the opportunity to work with and develop ideas with fellow craftsmen, commissioning pieces, buying smaller items and sharing his ideas. Mike arrived back in Beddgelert, closely followed by a container of his wares from Indonesia and set about making “Beddgelert Woodcraft” a sustainable business. Establishing the links directly with the craftspeople Mike was able to ensure that that all the dealings were fair, this was in a time before the term “fair-trade” was regularly coined.

Twenty years on it is now Mike’s son James and his partner who run the business and still travel out to find new inspiration, share ideas, and ensure the production of the old favourites. Many of the craftspeople whom they work with today are the sons and daughters of Mike’s original craftsmen friends and during the annual buying trip as well as the business to attend to there is always a stream of visits to make to Grandparents, new babies and newlyweds!

As well as supporting the community in Indonesia, the way in which we at Beddgelert Woodcraft buy our goods allows us to be open 12 months of the year and provide year round employment in Beddgelert.

In a village where tourism is the lifeblood it is not easy to find work that is not seasonal.

The buying trip is made by Jane and James in October when the shop is quieter and staff members keep the shop open in their absence. The container bringing the stock for the whole year then arrives in January and requires, unpacking, organising, ticketing and polishing, before being put out on the shelves for business. With the shop fully stocked and ready in time for a (hopefully) busy Easter!

So you see when you ask, is this made here? And we say No, it is because we can’t afford for it to be, and we definitely would not be able to carry such a large exciting range of products, so despite not being made in Wales we reckon it’s the next best thing!

The Beddgelert Woodcraft Team

Finally we can start to say it looks as though Spring is on its way, all be it rather damply in Beddgelert. There are signs of plants, animals and residents coming out of hibernation and the evenings are beginning to draw out. The daffodils are slowly showing their yellow bloom and beginning their jolly dance on the river bank.

Here in Beddgelert Woodcraft, in between eating pancakes and welsh cakes, we have had the second container arrive and we are busy unpacking-AGAIN! The shelves are filling up-in fact the shop is positively bursting and we are still uncovering  more new finds to fill the shelves and squeeze into the corners! But we are excited by our ever developing range of goodies and can’t wait to share them with you!

Due to the very seasonal nature of our work, village life follows certain annual patterns and through the quieter months we do like to take every excuse we can for a village get together! We have celebrated Pancake Day by sharing a pancake in St Marys Church- or a crempog as is the welsh translation, despite not being welsh speakers at home we find that using this word to describe our treats that we are frantically tossing around the kitchen always raises a smile!

The village hall was a hive of activity to celebrate St. David’s Day on March 1st, and the village residents devoured welsh cakes and bara brith while the children from the village school, all decked out in welsh costume and (and a few rugby shirts) provided some suitably traditional entertainment.

So, slowly the village is cranking back into life, and soon we hope to be welcoming a more continuous stream of visitors to our pretty little village. Derek from Glaslyn Ices has been spotted painting the signs ready for their re opening in a couple of weeks. Everyone is preparing for the buzz of activity that the Easter holidays bring.

The shop is open every day from 10am to at least 5pm. We are looking forward to seeing lots of our lovely customers then J

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As I look at the calendar in front of me it tells me that it is 3rd February! A month of 2012 has already flown by and despite the streets, ok the street, of Beddgelert being practically deserted we have been very busy here at Beddgelert Woodcraft.  We take advantage of the quiet days to get all of our stock in the shop, tidied, polished and ticketed before we (hopefully) see some customers returning at February half term.

Wayan and Agung

As many of you will know the majority of our goodies here are sourced from Bali in Indonesia, and begin their journey well before Christmas.  Jane and James head out to Bali in November to meet with their local host and very good friend Wayan, and the buying process commences.

In addition to being a fantastic excuse for a month of Indonesian sunshine (while some of us are left shivering in Beddgelert) by traveling out to the country of Bali and working very closely with the artisans Jane and James get a real chance to work on their own designs and incorporate the local skills in their ideas, resulting in some truly unique pieces.

Many of the families they work with have become good friends and it is now the second generation of the trading relationship, so as well as lots of hard work during the time in Bali there is always plenty of socialising to be done, children, grandmothers and new babies to visit as well.

Once all the designs have been agreed, samples approved, new inspiration sought and the suntan topped up Jane and James return to Beddgelert.  In Bali the orders are delivered and the container is all packed up under the watchful eye of our shipping agent Agung.

After a month at sea the container docks on the shores of the Uk and after clearing all of the necessary checks it is delivered to our warehouse in Prenteg.

Container Day

“Container day” is always a big event for us, we gather as many willing, strong looking men as we can find and within the three hour time limit, unpack a full, and I mean full! container.  It is a challenge to get everything out and we marvel at how these items have been so carefully packaged, manouvered and wrapped without the use of any machinery.

The unpacking of the container is a race against time but also a memory test for Jane and James, who look on either enthusiastically saying, “It was a beautiful house where that was being carved….” or more worryingly, “I have never seen that before!?!”   But by far the most heard statement has to be, “it didn’t look that big when we left it in Bali”

With some gentle persuasion and major reshuffling most of the “big” pieces have found homes in the shop, and I am writing this while taking a break from polishing the many smaller items.

The chilly -6°C temperature and the snow covered mountains here in Beddgelert today are a far cry from the tropical climes of the Balinese mountain forests where Jane and James commission their designs but through our long association with our Indonesian partners we have found a mutual appreciation and respect and we are very proud to be bringing Buddhas to Beddgelert.

The shop is open every day from 10am until at least 4pm.  Alongside the Buddhas, we have a huge range of new wooden delights as well as the old favourites.  We hope that you will call in to see us soon.

We are open as usual for the next few days from 10am to 4pm.

Christmas Eve – 10am – 3pm

Christmas Day- Closed

Boxing Day – Closed

Tues 27th – Closed

Wed 28th – 12pm – 4pm

Thurs 29th- 12pm – 4pm

Friday 30th- 12pm – 4pm

New Year’s Eve – 12pm – 4pm

New Year’s Day- 12pm – 4pm

Monday 2nd- 12pm – 4pm

Tuesday 3rd – we will be closing, reopening on Saturday the 14th of January 2012.

We wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, and hope to see you all sometime soon.

James, Jane and the Beddgelert Woodcraft Crew.

As of the 1st October 2011 the Welsh Government has introduced a blanket charge for carrier bags. This means that unfortunately we have to make you pay when we give you our recycled paper carrier bags. We can understand that this is mainly as a deterrent from using plastic bags from supermarkets – and I am sure we all do our bit by buying a ‘Bag For Life’ and trying to remember to take them with us when we go shopping.

In our case, we do not expect people to be carrying bags when they visit the village. This is a tourist destination where most people are heading for a walk down the river when they come across our shop. I think this ruling makes a mockery of the fact that we have our own bags made from recycled paper which we happily give away.

We rely on the goodwill of our customers returning and hope that having to charge for these bags will not leave a lasting impression. We shall be looking for a solution, maybe cotton bags (which are exempt from the charge) at a price we feel comfortable with giving away. Until then we have to comply with this new law.

On to happier news. In a couple of days we will be flying to the other side of the world on our buying trip. We have quite a few new products under development and are hoping to find many more on our travels. Of course we will be continuing the old favorites but there will certainly be something exciting to keep your interest. We hope to see you all soon.

The Team at Beddgelert Woodcraft.

We have recently taken delivery of our new stock for the year and have now begun putting our beaded necklace range up for sale on the website.

We are also looking forward to Easter as it had been quite a long quiet winter here in Beddgelert! We hope to see you soon.

As I am sure you are all aware, this Friday the 18th of March is Red Nose Day 2011.

Please come and spend, spend, spend! We will donate 100% of the day’s profit to Comic Relief.

We hope that you can join us, if  not we are sure that you will be doing something funny for money of your own invention.

Visit the Red Nose Day Wesite for inspiration.

Become a fan of Beddgelert Woodcraft on our Facebook Fan Page.

We have finally lanuched our online shop! So far we only have a small selection of our huge range of products available, but over the next few months we shall be adding many more new and exciting items.

Secure payments will be handled by PayPal, so no need to worry about entering your card details on the internet. Look out for the “https” in the address bar during checkout, this indicates a secure payment server. Postage on all orders will be £2.95 initially, we’ll see how it works out.

Many thanks to those of you who voted on our last post about which products we should make available. We have taken your feedback on-board and shall be updating our website accordingly. Voting is still open.

If you have any further feedback about the look and workings of the website and shop, please feel free to leave a comment. A full website redesign is in the pipeline. Hopefully towards the end of this year.