The Great Scottish Craft Hoolie
The Stonking Great Scottish Craft Hoolies 2025
It’s the Hoolie like you’ve never seen it before!
For 2025, we’re running events on two back-to-back weekends in August, with guest workshops in between. The first weekend will focus on wood-based crafts - from carving to turning - and the second weekend will feature other crafts - from blacksmithing to screenprinting. We hope it will be an extravaganza of traditional crafts, all in a woodland setting.
Wood crafts: Friday 14 to Sunday 17 August
Guest workshops: Monday 18 to Friday 22 August
Other crafts: Friday 22 to Sunday 24 August.
We've been running glorious events since 2017, starting with the Great Scottish Spoon Hoolie and now extending to a whole host of opportunities to explore traditional crafts and learn new skills. These events are small-but-perfectly formed intimate affairs, where participants get to take part in a range of activities, eat locally-sourced food cooked over the fire using our own charcoal, and have loads of fun. We also invite the best trainers from wherever we can find them to share their craft.
Whether you’re an expert or a complete beginner, you'll learn new skills, hone existing ones, or gain the techniques you need to move on in your crafting journey.
For regular workshops, click here.
What to expect
Weekend workshops
All tickets include free access to weekend workshops: 2 if you purchase a day ticket; or 3 if you buy a full weekend ticket. Workshops are usually around 3 hours, and you’ll be learning from some of the best experts and teachers around. You’ll book your workshops before the event, via our online booking system, so you’ll know what you’re doing before your arrive.
Food
We have a range of catering options designed to suit different needs and different budgets. If you’d rather not worry about catering for yourself, you can purchase a fully-catered ticket, which includes all meals from Friday evening to Sunday lunch. If you’re only staying during the day, you can purchase a part-catered ticket, which includes lunch. Or you can cook for yourself, with our non-catered option.
Camping & facilities
We work on our site all-year round, so we have some pretty established facilities, despite being off-grid. We have allocated camping spots on our site, as well as space for campervans. Camping is included free in the weekend tickets. There are 3 composting loos, a shower heated by a wood-burning boiler, and solar power to charge your phones.
People
Our events attract an exclusive crowd! With only 35 weekend tickets and 10 additional day tickets, the Craft Hoolie is a very intimate affair. You’ll spend your time with like-minded crafty folk in a small and cosy setting.
Social time
We think that social time is just as important as learning time, so we build plenty of opportunities to mingle, from communal dining to gathering around the fire of an evening. And we’re blessed with our very own Spoon Dragon, and experience not to be missed.
Location
Our site is on the Cardross Estate, nr to the Lake of Menteith, in rural Stirlingshire, Scotland. It’s off-the-beaten-track and very quiet, so we don’t get many (if any) passers by! We back onto a large forest, and you can access the Lake of Menteith for a dip in about 40 minutes on foot, or 5 minutes by car.
Our trainers
We’re still finalising the programme for both weekends, but have no doubt that it will be a smorgasbord of spoons, bowls, figures, screenprints, fibres, weaving, ceramics, forging, and more! Here’s a taste of who you can expect (and when they’ll be here):
Jamie and Mary Carr, bringing a whole range of wood, steel, and fibre crafts (both weekends)
Mike Craig, the ultimate Spoon Doctor (wood weekend)
David & Romana Farrar, owners of Mobile Print Studio and master screenprinter (other crafts weekend)
Werner Fuchs, our friend in Germany and maker of the sexiest spoons (wood weekend)
Rick Giujusa, aka Scarecrow Woodcrafts (wood weekend)
Emma Harrison, archaeologist turned potter and crafter (other crafts weekend)
Caitlin Hegney, award-winning (and all-round marvellous) Scottish jeweller (other crafts weekend)
Dee Leckie, hand-weaver extraordinaire (other crafts weekend)
Owen Thomas, amazing pole lathe turner and woodworker (wood weekend)
Wooden Tom, Scottish cup-making lover of Birch! (wood weekend)
We’re chatting with a few other trainers, so may be adding to this list! And - we’ve invited all our trainers to run longer workshops in the week between our two weekend events, and we’re buidling a great programme for you. Details to follow soon!
Meet the Hoolie Team
-
Paul - the Guvnor - Cookson
Green Aspirations and the Hoolie were all Paul’s idea. He’ll be up to no good making mischief somewhere.
-
Jo - the Doctor - Edwards
Some say the brains to Paul’s brawn, Jo does the behind-the-scenes work. You’ll find her by the charcoal kiln.
-
Craig - fae Borrheid - Ramsay
Somehow, Craig puts up with Paul and Jo and keeps everything running to plan. If you need an answer, ask Craig!
-
Denis - the sparkle - Lockhart
Denis brings the glamour and glitz to the Hoolie, with his amazing costumes and second-to-none bar tending skills.
-
Raymond - the Soap - Harrison
Raymond is kitchen worker numero uno, helping out wherever he can (and especially at the sink!).
-
Katherine - the Fixer - Raffkin
Katherine is the one to get us out of a kitchen fix, rustling up amazing gatronomic delights and keeping us all calm in the process.
-
Mia - the Teenager - Douglas
Poor Mia has grown up with this chaos! They can be found at the forge - usually when they’re supposed to be in the kitchen!
-
Aimee - the Giggler - Morison
It’s Aimee’s first time at the Hoolie, so let’s all be gentle with her! You always know where Aimee is - just follow the giggling.
FAQs
-
We’ve introduced a range of ticket types for this year’s Hoolies:
Fully catered weekend ticket: includes free camping and parking, access to 3 weekend workshops, and all meals from Friday evening to Sunday lunchtime
Part-catered weekend ticket: includes free camping and parking, access to 3 weekend workshops, and lunches on Saturday and Sunday
Non-catered weekend ticket: includes free camping and parking, access to 3 weekend workshops
Day ticket: includes access to 2 workshops on that day plus lunch
All tickets include free tea, coffee and snacks!
-
Yes! You’ll automatically get 10% if you buy a ticket for both weekend events. And, if you buy a guest workshop later on, we’ll also give you 10%. Just let us know before you book and we’ll give you a booking code.
-
In a word, yes! Weekend tickets include access to 3 workshops; and day tickets include access to 2 workshops. We heard from participants that 4 workshops over the weekend can be a bit much, so you have one session of free carving, where you can hang out with other people and have a bit of downtime.
-
Guest workshops aren’t included in the weekend tickets; you’ll need to buy a separate ticket for those. We pay our trainers for their workshops over the weekends, and these workshops help them make a bit extra.
-
We do a fully catered, part-catered or non-catered ticket weekend ticket:
The fully catered version includes all meals from Friday night through to Sunday lunchtime.
The part-catered version includes lunches on Saturday and Sunday.
We’re a registered food business and do our cooking over the campfire, using charcoal we make on site. We can cater for most dietary requirements, but please let us know in advance. If you don’t buy a catered ticket, you’ll need to bring all food and a means of cooking with you. Day tickets include lunch.
-
We’ve been through different shapes and sizes, but the Craft Hoolie is now a very small and intimate affair. We offer 35 weekend tickets plus 10 day tickets for each day. This means that you’ll get to meet and talk to all the other participants (if you want to), including the trainers. If you want a big event, this may not be for you!
-
We use an online booking system so that participants can book their workshops before the events start. We’ll be in touch before the event with details on when and how to book your workshops, so please keep an eye out for emails (from hello@greenaspirationsscotland.co.uk). We’ll add details of the workshops on our website before we open the bookings, so you’ll have time to think about what you’d like to do. Workshops are booked on a first-come-first-served basis.
-
We have three composting toilets and a wood-powered shower, fed by rainwater. We’re fully off grid - no mains electricity or access to the water mains. However, we do collect rain water for the shower and we do have solar power, so you can charge your phone! We bring drinking water to site and it can be accessed through the taps in kitchen.
-
Both weekend events start on the Friday night with a BBQ and social evening. You can arrive on our site any time from 3pm. The BBQ will happen around 7pm.
-
Kids can come - if they’re under 12, they can come for free. However, the event is aimed mainly at adults, and kids under 12 can’t usually take part in the workshops (and if they can, they need to be supervised by an adult). Please get in touch and we can chat through options.
-
We’re based in rural Stirlingshire, on the edge of a Forestry and Land Commission block of woodlands. Our site has some established oaks as well as a lot of regen birch. It’s small and compact, but we make the most of what we have!
-
We’re a woodland site, so the paths are quite uneven under foot. This might not be suitable for those using mobility aids, so please get in touch and we can chat things through.
Get in touch
If you have any questions about the Craft Hoolie or guest workshops during the week, please just get in touch.
The Great Scottish Spoon Hoolie
Our flagship spoon carving event! Join us for a weekend and learn everything you need to know about spoon carving - whether you're a complete beginner or wanting to hone your expert skills. Your weekend ticket includes access to 4 workshops with guest trainers, free camping, free tea and coffee, and access to all social activities. This year, we've focused on bringing the best female trainers to Scotland, to showcase the wonderful work women are doing in spoon world.
Meet our wonderful guest trainers
Rachel Bainton
Anna Barker
Mike Craig
Jane Gray-Wallis
Carolina Smoorenburg
Find out more about our trainers here.
We offer a fully-catered ticket, with locally-sourced ingredients cooked over the fire, using charcoal that we make on site. You can also camp for free on our site, boasting composting toilets and a wood-fired shower.
We’re committed to pay people for the time that’s needed to organise, set-up, and run the events. That means we don’t rely on volunteers for any part of the events, and we aim to pay everyone fairly for their contributions. We also need the events to contribute towards our running costs as a social enterprise, so we can continue to deliver our social aims.
The Great Scottish Spoon Hoolie: Pre-fest
Our guest trainers are offering opportunities to work with them in a more focused way.
The Great Scottish Coppice Gathering
Coppicing is one of the oldest methods of woodland management, practised in the UK for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. However, in the last century or so, estimates are that actively managed coppice woodland area has fallen by nearly 95%. But we're trying to change that by gathering together with people who want to make a difference.
For those camping, the weekend kicks off with Friday night social on our site on the Cardross Estate from 7pm. Otherwise, we start on Saturday morning at 10am, when we'll meet at Kirkton Wood near Aberfoyle, have a tour of the hazel coupes and then do some cutting. It's back to our site on Saturday evening for a meal and discussion. On Sunday, we'll have coppice-based crafts throughout the day for you to try your hand at. We'll also have discussions across the weekend.