This workshop was scheduled to happen in 2020 and will hopefully happen at some point in the future when the world gets back to normal.
Date: 7th – 12th June 2020
Venue: Voditsa, Turgovishte, Bulgaria.
Price: €250 – includes:-
training
practice
6 nights accommodation in our house in the centre of the village
breakfast, lunch, supper and cakes – all vegetarian and using local ingredients.
This will be a small group, around 8 people – €100 deposit will secure your place.
The Project
To extend the existing house by creating a seasonal porch area, incorporating simple seating
; a wood store; an area for plant and seedlings in winter/spring and allowing light through to the main house. It needs to be practical as well as beautiful – working in mud will allow the opportunity to create this.
Throughout the week you will gain knowledge and experience of:
- How to make use of the existing materials and features
- Test to asses soils/clay to use in mud projects, also how to feel the qualities in it
- How we assess the key features we want, and building them into the design
- Planning the stages of the project and which bits to be fluid about
- Seeing potential in mud
- Using recycled materials
- It will be hands on and fun.
- Spending time each day mixing and preparing mud for the different stages, working in small teams to build walls, reuse old windows and frames to make decorative features and much more as the week progresses.
We’ll be building this on top of a brick floor. You’ll be able to see an example of a mud floor in the Purple House, where you’ll be staying and we can tell you what we learned from doing it.
Accommodation is at the Purple House (which isn’t purple, yet) in the centre of Voditsa. The apartment has two twin rooms and a six bed dorm. There’s a comfortable living room and also lots of places in the garden to sit. Breakfast and supper will be held here – lunch will be brought to the site.
Please arrive on before 5pm Saturday 6th June. We’ll have dinner and some orientation on Saturday evening and the course starts at 8.30 on Sunday 7th. The daily programme will be:
8.30 start (it’s about a ten minute walk from the accommodation in the centre to the work site)
10.30 20 minute cake break
13.00 lunch, chill, rest
14.30 restart
16.30 clearing up, reflection, preparing for the next day.
17.30 finish
On Wednesday afternoon,, there’ll be the opportunity to have a guided walk around the village with a local woman who speaks very good English. It’s a chance to see something of people’s lives in rural Bulgaria. It could be learning about preserving fruit and vegetables; making a traditional dish, keeping bees; growing vegetables…….it depends what’s happening seasonally and what people are interested in.
Friday afternoon is about clearing up and finishing off. Check out is Saturday morning unless you’ve arranged to stay on a bit.
Your trainer will be Elly – check out her Mud Bio
If you go over to our Mud Gallery, you’ll see a couple of projects as they have progressed.
Travel details – how to get here.