Timber carving events attract some of the best chainsaw artists.
When: 28th – 29th July 2018
Where: Pen-y-cefn, Caerwys, North Wales CH7 5BP
£: Tickets cost £4.50 – £25
What is it?
Wales’ annual Woodfest Country Show aims to showcase traditional woodcraft and skills. This year’s event will take place on Saturday 28th and Sunday 29th July, with a variety of chopping, climbing and carving competitions.
This year, the family friendly event will feature 150 attractions with eight event arenas, a Forestry Zone and five exhibitor areas. Highlights will include the British Lumberjack Championships, Woodfest Rocks, Carve Cymru, and Championship Pole Climbing.
Timbersports are a popular part of the festival, with axe racing, sawing and tree climbing events. This year Woodfest will be hosting the British Lumberjack Championships with entrants competing in chopping, sawing and tree climbing disciplines. New for this year, there will also be a European Team Race Championship for the lumberjacks.
Carve Cymru is perhaps the main highlight of the festival, bringing together some of the finest chainsaw artists in the UK. The carvers usually arrive before the start of the festival to set up, choose their timber and start carving their main sculptures, so when the public arrive on Saturday the huge sculptures are often taking shape already.
The main sculptures will be carved over the weekend and be presented in the arena on the Sunday. On the Saturday there will be three 30 minute speed carving events and a further two events on the Sunday.
You must have a head for heights in the Pole Climb.
Other competitive events over the weekend will include the Pole Climb. Woodfest is one of the few show grounds in the UK that hosts pole climbing competitions and displays. Towering over the festival field will be two huge 80ft Douglas Fir poles, specially selected from Longleat Forest and transported up to the festival site in North Wales.
This thrilling event tests competitors to see who can climb a free-standing wooden pole in the fastest time, with the appropriate climbing aids. Using spiked boots, strops and safety harnesses, the top athletes can often scale the pole in around ten seconds. Competitors will range from experts down to novice classes, and come from all over the UK and Europe.
In addition to the wood-themed events there will be a whole host of countryside and conservation displays and activities to enjoy. There will be extreme biking, horse logging and Shire horse displays, vintage tractor parades and demos, a family dog show, a sheep show, fly fishing, ferret racing, a vintage tea room, wildlife and conservation education, and woodturning and upcycling displays.
There will be marquees selling all types of food, crafts and woodcraft, including local Welsh food producers and furniture makers.
This year’s exhibitors will include arts and crafts, jewellery, artists, ethical crafts, country clothing, gifts, furnishings, cosmetics and aromatherapy products. Plus there will be local breweries, liqueurs, Snowdonia cheese, breads, cakes, handmade sweets and chocolates, preserves, gourmet sausages, and traditional pies.
Competitive sawing – a test of skill and strength – at Woodfest.
But the festival isn’t just about wood. For those who would like some musical entertainment, there is Woodfest Rocks on the Saturday, offering up an evening of live music.
Woodfest Rocks tickets cost £10 in advance and £13.50 on the gates. Live music will come from The Old Scrotes, Kyle Parry, Rock n Rose, Busk til Dawn, Pete Kenway and the Pressure Sound Reggae System. A late bar will stay open until 1am.
Camping is also available at the festival, for those who wish to make a weekend of it.
More info: www.woodfestcountryshow.co.uk