Straw Bail Mini Build

A five-day hands-on straw bale building course led by Barbara Jones, in which participants build a tiny building from foundations to plastering.

The School of Natural Building runs this five-day course teaching the key elements of straw bale construction by building a tiny building. Participants cover basic carpentry such as constructing the wall plate, identifying and dressing bales, infilling around a timber frame, wall compression, and processing clay into natural plasters, plus theory on airtightness, roof construction and natural insulation. The course runs Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm with an early 4pm finish on the final day, and welcomes all abilities, though participants must be 16 or over. Tuition, materials, tools and daily refreshments are included.