Diana Robertson

Beekeeper and skepmaker, East Pennard

Diana Robertson has been keeping bees for over 20 years and learnt how to make a skep because she needed one. Her mother had a smallholding in the war years and her grandmother kept bees. Bee skeps are straw bee baskets, once used by villagers as homes for their bees, now just needed by beekeepers to collect swarms. The beekeeper knocks the swarm off its perch and catches it in the bee skep before taking it to a new hive.

Two Rivers Paper Company

Jim Patterson, business owner, Watchet

Two Rivers is the only hand-made paper being made in a water-powered mill in the country. Jim Patterson followed his ancestors into the paper mills in the north of England and spent years running paper machines and managing paper mills. He bought Pitt Mill, near Watchet, in 1986. Jim restored the 400-year-old derelict mill and re-instated a waterwheel to create power. He and his team make watercolour paper by hand using a Victorian rag beater and old knowledge and skills. They have recently expanded to new premises within the East Quay cultural and enterprise venue in Watchet.

Becky Dunnett

Church bell rope maker, Mendip Ropemakers Ltd

Becky Dunnet was ten when she began bell ringing in Kingsbury Episcopi. She received £6 for ringing at a wedding! Later Becky became interested in how the rope was made. She taught herself bell rope making by taking apart old ropes and putting them back together. What began as a hobby later turned into a business. Becky has made bell ropes for local churches and for others as far away as Honalulu. In the past there were lots of rope walks, fields of hemp and flax drying fields in Somerset.

Kevin Toal

Dry stone waller and instructor, Street

Many of the walls on the Mendip Hills were built at least 150 years ago, when there were lots of farm labourers. They would have been made with stone cleared from the fields but some stone would have been quarried on the spot. To maintain and build these landscape features Kevin Toal needs just a few tools. He uses a mattock and a pick to dig out the buried stone and foundation trench, string lines, a wooden batter frame or metal pins with a bar to give a profile for the new wall, a bucket for the hearting and a hammer to shape the Stone. Kevin is careful to maintain them as a habitat for the plants, insects, invertebrates and mammals that make them home.

Jonny Tapp

Brushmaker, tool restoration and handmade woodwork, Bruton

Johnny Tapp makes functional items that are as pleasing to use and as to look at. His father worked as a carpenter and builder. As a child he spent time working with his dad and loved all the old tools. Johnny uses some of his grandfather’s tools now. He also collects tools, that aren’t being made any more, and brings them back to life. Johnny taught himself to make brushes from old manuals and by taking brushes apart. He makes the handles using a rich variety of woods; from old, repurposed oak beer barrels to pear and ash. Coconut husk, or locally-sourced horsehair, is used for the bristles.

Alex Pole

Blacksmith, The Forge, Over Stratton

Alex Pole spent 17 years working on the forge in Australia and the UK. He made gates, railings, furniture and curtain poles. Looking for a new, more meaningful, direction he turned to food and cooking utensils. Alex enjoys the connectivity between his work, the people who produce local food and those who cook it. He and his team now make high-end kitchenware including knives, pans, skillets and ladles.

Explore Further

Exhibition

From 26 March to 5 June 2022 an exhibition of Kate Lynch’s artwork was on display at Somerset Rural Life Museum in Glastonbury.

Book

‘CRAFT – Somerset Portraits and Voices’ is Kate’s fifth book documenting Somerset working people. It features all 30 craftspeople and makers featured in the project. It is available to buy as an illustrated hard-back book from katelynch.co.uk.