If you live within 30 miles / 40 minutes of Winslow in North Bucks, or Sheffield in S Yorks, and would like a gang of people to come and put up a natural building for you on one of our courses, then please get in touch.

With all these buildings, we will advise you about preparation and finishing off - as well as where to source materials.

On our construction courses we like to help build something useful, and not just put something up for demonstration purposes, only to take it down again after the course. Here are examples of some things we could build for you.

straw-bale building

The building won't be free - there will be materials (timber, straw-bales, roofing materials etc.) that you will need to buy beforehand, and some preliminary work to do. We can advise you on the design and construction of the building. We will provide free labour during the course, representing a considerable saving.

Some things we've built on previous courses:

• sheep shed, Winslow
• vegetable store for a farmer near Oxford
• stable, near High Wycombe
• children's play house, Winslow
• acupuncture studio, Oxford
• allotment club house, Wolverton

rammed earth barbecue

Actually it doesn't have to be a barbecue - it could be a wall or something else you need. The construction method is slower than straw-bale though, so it can't be a large building - unless we start it for you, and you finish it off.

Pictured is one of the two barbecues we've built here. Again there will be some preparatory work (foundations), and some costs - around £85 for the subsoil, and then some extra for concrete / slate slabs for the top, and metal for the tray and grille.

cob building

This could be an earth oven - fantastic for producting tons of delicious pizzas or bread. You'll need to build some sort of base - it could be brick, stone, or timber (like ours). You'll also need some clayey soil, and a tonne bag of sharp sand.

You could also have a cob wall, bench, table or other construction.

round wood timber frame building

This could be to cover your earth oven - like ours. Or it could be a natural swing or climbing frame.

With this type of construction, we use natural poles, often with the bark still on. You'll need about 10 poles around 10cm diameter, and some oak to make pegs - plus you'll need to do some preparatory work.