The Woodland Skills Centre in North-East Wales offers members of SWOG a 10% discount on all their courses. Attending a course also provides an opportunity to see their woodland, which is part of the National Forest for Wales and has been awarded a gold medal by the Royal Welsh Agricultural Society as the best Community Woodland in Wales.

Courses with current vacancies in early 2026 include:

Pruning and Grafting Fruit Trees – Saturday 21 February – £80

This course is run by fruit tree expert Tom Adams. In the morning we will be pruning trees in our Heritage Orchard and in the afternoon you will learn how to graft the best of what we have cut in the morning and you will take home 2 or 3 Heritage Apple Trees for your garden or to give to friends.

Managing a Small Woodland – Saturday 28 February – £80

If you own a small woodland or are thinking of buying one then this course looks at all aspects of managing a small woodland based our award-winning 50 acre woodland which won the RWAS gold medal in 2025 for the best Community Woodland in Wales.

Home Chainsaw – 14-15 March – £190

Over the 2 days, under the expert tuition of David Scott, you will learn how to service your saw and sharpen the chain and then use your saw to fell, delimb and cross-cut 1 or 2 trees. At the end of the course you will feel more confident to use your saw safely.

Sharpening Edge Tools – 28 March – £80

Bring 2 or 3 tools that need sharpening – axe, chisel, draw-knife, billhook, bushcraft knife etc. Tutor Doug Don will show you how to bring them back to life and how to keep all your cutting tools in the best condition.

Make a Bushcraft Knife – 28-29 March – £250

Expert Bladesmith Gwyl Roche will show you how to forge, heat treat, grind and sharpen a piece of tool steel and you will make and fit a handle for it for your own bushcraft knife.

Please see below for more information about their 50 acre site and wide-ranging activities.

What is Woodland Skills Centre?

– 50 acre site in the middle of the Clwydian Range AONB
– stunning views across the Wheeler Valley
– woodlands, wildflower meadow, ponds, arboretum, vineyard, woodland walks, heritage orchard, apiary, allotments, polytunnels, herb gardens, tree nursery, farm animals, 4 Forest School sites, workshops
– outstanding timber-frame, carbon-negative Centre buildings, extensive workshops
– not-for-profit, community-owned Social Enterprise company
– winner of Royal Forestry Society gold medal and first prize for community woodlands – 2015
– winner Living Woods best community woodland – 2017
– winner Woodlands Awards best Woodland Courses 2018
– winner of Royal Welsh Agricultural Society gold medal and first prize for Welsh community woodlands – 2019, 2021
– Green Flag award – 2019 – 2025

What does Woodland Skills Centre do?

1. Traditional Crafts

• We run :
• a wide range of courses in woodland and countryside crafts – around 60 different courses a year
• courses in countryside management
• a suite of Bushcraft courses
• courses in art and craft
• about 40 days a year of courses, workshops and demonstrations at shows and festivals all over the country.

2. Children and Families

Visits from schools from Nursery to A level.
Home Education groups.
Holiday Club in the Woods.
Birthday parties in the Woods.
Family days, Weekends and Weeks with free camping.
Day visits and overnight camps for Guides, Scouts, Brownies, Cubs, Rainbows and Beavers and other Youth Groups.

3. Social Prescribing – Health and Wellbeing programmes

We run programmes at the Centre for organisations working with children and adults with a wide range of difficulties including :

Special Schools
Social Services Community Support
Adults with learning difficulties
People with autism
MIND
Adults with dementia
Pupil inclusion, Alternative Provision
Private residential care homes
Long-term unemployed
Adults with drug and alcohol problems
Opportunities for volunteering

We are always willing to take new groups and welcome discussions about what we can offer.
All our staff have enhanced DBS, relevant professional qualifications, first aid certificates, full insurance and a range of skills and experience.
We also run sessions in Mindfulness in the Woods

4. Training courses

OCN level 3 course in Wellbeing in Nature Practitioner.
Forest School Leader.
First Aid courses.
OCN level 1 and 2 courses in a wide range of woodland crafts.

We also host training courses for a range of organisations including North Wales Wildlife Trust, Amphibian and Reptile Conservation Trust and Plantlife.

5. Local and National Projects

• We hold a collection of heritage fruit trees for the North Wales Wildlife Trust.
• We are involved in a regional campaign for restoring wildflower verges, receiving locally collected seed and growing the plants.
• We have been awarded “Bee Friendly” status by the Welsh Government.
• We support various projects on behalf of Coed Lleol / Actif Woods Wales
• We work with Wrexham University on a horticulture project.

Woodland Skills Centre contact details
tel day 01745 710626
mobile 07711 472033
e-mail [email protected]