Birchcanoes

Paddle Making during a canoe building course

You can buy perfectly serviceable aluminium and plastic paddles from most  Outdoor Shops, but you may feel that your wooden canoe deserves a proper wooden paddle. We sell a nice plastic and aluminium paddle here for £40.

We used to offer several paddle options, but now only offer our  glorious laminated paddle, which you can make here, or buy one ready made by my son Tom.  These are £120 ( the same price, whether you opt for a complete paddle, or decide to make one here)

If you opt to make your own paddle during a canoe building holiday, these are the prices which apply. You will be measured for your paddle and a paddle blank will be cut out for you. You will then be shown how to shape the paddle using a range of traditional and modern tools. After sanding your finished paddle to your heart's content, you will finish the paddle in oil or varnish, ready for use with your new canoe. The whole process should take about 4 hours for a simple hardwood or softwood paddle.  If you opt to build a laminated paddle  you will need an hour extra on the previous day to lay out the lamination, plus 4 hours completing the paddle the next day.

Paddle Making Course

We sometimes run stand alone paddle making courses. These are ideal for groups, families, or individuals who can come and spend half a day or so with us making their own paddle.  We can put these on at short notice, and for groups of from one to six paddle-makers. It clearly makes more sense to us if there is a group of 4 or 5 of you, so we try and reflect that in the pricing, which starts at £100 for a single paddle, and gradually gets cheaper as you add more people. We have not had more than 6 making paddles with us as yet... we feel it is important to keep the groups small as we can then give you the any attention you may need along the way, but we could in theory ( and Covid permitting) take a larger group if, say, a Canoeing Club wanted to come and have a day here, or even stay over in one of the cabins.

Have a quick paddle on our river during your day 

Most people seize the opportunity to take one of our canoes up the river here while they are with us. Here a group are trying out the paddles they made with us. The river is rather swollen on this photo;  normally we can see the bottom of the river, and watch the fish.

Spring and Summer 2023 Canoe building

We are very flexible regarding dates for canoe building, paddle making and other events, but the following dates are currently available ( as of 2 May 2023)-- please check with me to ensure your chosen date is still available before making arrangements.

8-13 May ( Vine Cabin)

7-12 June 2023 ( Vine Cabin)

26 June -1 July 2023 ( River Cabin and Vine Cabin)

10 July-14 July 2023 ( Vine Cabin)


17-20 July 2023 ( River Cabin and Vine Cabin)


There is considerably more flexibility and availability from September 2023, and into Summer 2024 if you want to book ahead





 


 

Please note, you can opt for a 3 day or a 6 day option within these dates, to start on a date of your choice. In some case, arrival earlier than the first date shown might be possible, do let us know what you would prefer

Text me on 07922 164061 or email me at jclohesy@gmail.com