The first course of 2023 gave participants the skills to transform locally-sourced wood into a hand-carved spoon. As well as working with green wood, we were delighted to welcome Jo Sadler to Kingcombe to teach participants how to sculpt beautiful owls from willow. Kingcombe Meadows is well known for its lowland meadows and so it was a pleasure to welcome botanist, Leif Bersweden in July to learn about grasses including crested dog’s-tail, and flowering plants including betony, common knapweed, and bird’s-foot-trefoil. Well known for his foraging, John Wright led two mushroom forays in October, and discovered a range of fungi including parrot waxcap and amethyst deceiver.