Last weekend we returned to Wooplaw Community Woodland, to repair some of the walls there. We've been here many times (see previous blog posts), but not for a while. I was pleased to see that the dry stone bridge was still standing.

The low side walls of the bridge are actually built on flattened logs, and it was these that I was worried would have rotted over the decade or so that they've been there. However, they were in pretty good shape, presumably because even though they'll get wet, they're high enough above the usual water level to dry out again each time. There was no water at all in the ditch on this occasion.

It was decided that it would be easier just to bridge the gap with a lintel rather than attempting to rebuild the arch, so we set about finding suitable long stones for the job. There were only a few stones a couple of feet long in the stone pile near the wall, which didn't seem long enough to me, and as I knew there was a big stone pile in the next field a few of us set off to see if there was anything better there. And so it turned out there was - a big lump of stone about three feet long.

It took four of us some effort - and time - to carry it back, and when we arrived we found that the others had just made do with the stones they had.

Having seen what it gets like when there's been a lot of rain, the resulting gap seems a bit small to me, but we'll see how it does. There's a lot of stone above it, so hopefully it'll stay up even if the water backs up a bit.

The big stone didn't got to waste: there was another repair required a few yards further down the wall, and it was incorporated into that.

Another feature we'd previously built at Wooplaw was a three-pronged seat, designed with the idea of providing shelter from the wind no matter which direction it was coming from. In actual fact, the seat backs aren't really high enough to provide much shelter, but it makes for an original design at least. It was still standing, but some of it had obviously come down and been put up again by hands perhaps more enthusiastic than experienced.

We tidied it up a bit, but it really needs some proper attention on a future visit.

The forecast had been for heavy showers, but for the morning it stayed dry. At lunchtime the rain started, so we repaired to the cabin for lunch. And miraculously after lunch the rain stopped again, so we sallied forth to effect some repairs to the walls near the cabin.

Mid afternoon the rain started again and very quickly became heavy, so we abandoned work at about 3 pm.

We'll be back next month, so further updates then. Thanks to everyone who came along, and to Karen and Stephen from Wooplaw for organising the visit.

Last weekend we held another training course, at Merryhill in Fife. Seven trainees (including one from Philadelphia) one instructor and his dog (called Barra) built two dykes, and none of the forecast deluge arrived.

The dog approved the build ...

Thanks to Bruce for bringing the dog and providing the photos, and of course for once again providing the training.

Last weekend saw our first project of 2025, a dry stone* seat on the Cramond foreshore, for the Crammond Association Woodland Group.
They'd arranged for 3 tons of Denfind stone, plus copes plus slabs for the seat area, to be delivered, and had cleared and levelled the chosen spot for us (they also provided us with tea, coffee and hot chocolate and a big box of Quality Street, the lovely people).

* Well, dry-ish. Because it's in a public space, and because people will be sitting on it (and most likely, children will be climbing on it) we discretely mortared anything that wasn't built in beyond any chance of coming out again.

The stone had been dropped a short distance from the build site, so while the guide rods and strings were being set up the rest of us got to work moving the stone up.

​Denfind stone is generally quite square with level layers, so it looks like it should split easily - and sometimes it does. However, sometimes it splits too easily - here I am trying to knock a small lump off the side of a stone:

And here's what happened.

Once we'd got the foundation in right the next few courses went up quite quickly. However, we soon discovered there had been a mix up with the slabs - rather than three 600 x 500 mm slabs, we had one 300 x 300 and one 300 x 500. There would have been enough other flat stone to make a patchwork job of the seat area, but that wasn't what the Woodland Group wanted (or, indeed, had paid for) so the decision was taken to leave the seat slabs for another day, when the correct stone had been delivered. By mid afternoon we'd got it up to sub-slab level, and we decided to call it a day.​

On Sunday we started on the back and arms of the chair. It's basically a big stone sofa, really.

I feel it's important to test your work as you go along ...

By the end of the day we'd got the copes on the back, and were as close to finished as we could be without the seat slabs.

Thanks to the Cramond Association Woodland Group for having us and for looking after us so well.

We'll be back at some point to finish the seat off.

Last weekend we had another beginners' training course, at the Scottish Lime Centre in Merryhill, Fife. The course was initially sold out, but a couple of participants had to pull out at the last minute. However, those that remained did a sterling job of rebuilding the training wall, and all feedback received has been very positive.

Thanks to Richard and Stevie for running the course, and to Stevie for the photos.

Last Saturday we did our annual demonstration of dry stone walling at the Haddington Agricultural Show. There were fewer of us there than usual this year, but the quality of the stone provided had been improved, and we managed to build the usual size of demo wall (with, as ever, some help from budding junior dykers). Thanks to Sam for the photos.

We'll be doing a similar demo at the Peebles show on the 17th of August, if you missed this one!

Update from Richard, 13th July:

Dave, Stevie and I completed the end of the wall started the previous month. As before we were assisted, fed and watered by members of the village community and managed to finish early afternoon. I’m not sure if there will be any further stone structures required, such as a seat, so we’ll wait and see. As far as we can tell, the wall has met with universal praise from the residents, which is very pleasing.

Last weekend saw the first of this year's beginner's training courses, held at the Scottish Lime Centre in Fife. They had great weather - looks like they've done a great job, and all feedback so far has been positive. Thanks to everyone who came along and to Richard and Stevie for leading the course, and additional thanks to Stevie for the photos.

We've got two more courses this year, both in September - the first of these is fully booked, but there is still space available for the course on 28th/29th. Use the form on the Get in Touch page if you're interested in coming along!

Last weekend a few of our members went to Penicuik House, a few miles south of Edinburgh, to repair one of their retaining walls. I'm assured it was a good day out, and the wall repair looks good.

Thanks to Kenny for the photo!

Last weekend we ran another beginners' training course (our last of 2023), repairing a wall at Harlaw in the Pentland Hills Regional Park. The weather turned out to be less than clement, but it doesn't seem to have put off our trainees.

Thanks to Stevie Gordon for the photos!

On the first of the month we were once again at the Haddington Agricultural Show to give a demonstration of dry stone walling. It was a fine day, but there was a warning of high winds later on (not that this is usually too much of a worry to a dry stone waller).

As usual they had provided us with a pile of stone - in fact, I think it was the same stone they provided us with last time. It was certainly very similar.

We had quite a few members (seven, in fact) including professionals Stevie and Rosie (t/a Lothian Dry Stone Walling), so it wasn't long before the wall began to take shape.

We had a bit of a challenge with lack of long stones to make the cheek end with, but our professionals were up to the task and made a pretty neat job of it.

And by lunchtime it was built.

This was good because it gave us lots of time to talk to passers-by, but it left us with a question of what to do with the left-over stone ... Richard suggested we build a cairn, so we gave it a go. It turned out quite a bit smaller than I'd envisaged when I put the bottom course in ... and there was still lots of stone left.

Richard decided he'd show us how a professional would do it, but before he'd got very far some aspiring young dykers joined in, make up in enthusiasm what they lacked in experience.

There was still plenty of stone left after the two cairns were built, so we filled the space in between to make a barrow. 

By this point the wind had picked up and there had been a few squally showers, Stevie and Rosie had gone in search of some well-earned liquid refreshment, John had headed home as well (having partaken of some liquid refreshment the night before). and most of the punters seemed to think it was time to call it a day, so Sam and I went home leaving Dave and Richard to man the demo for the last hour or so.

I expect we'll be back next year, building with the same stone ... perhaps we should do a round wall, so we don't feel the lack of long corner/end stones so much ...

Thanks to Sam and Stevie for the photos.