The Rewild Project: Kitchen Renovation

We have a wonderful 'off grid' craft centre in the Forest of Dean called 'Kensley Sheds'. 

We just need a bit of financial help to renovate the kitchen and install a rayburn stove.

As a registered community Interest company we help support children and adults from all over Gloucestershire and beyond! We offer FREE weekday sessions in heritage crafts and land skills through funding from Gloucestershire's 'Barnwood Trust'. 

These sessions are a vital resource for the communities we support. Both Coleford and Cinderford are highly deprived areas in the Forest of Dean and are also quite isolated as public transport in the Forest is limited.

The therapeutic benefits of crafts and gardening are well documented and our participants really value the sessions we are able to offer, improving their skills and self worth.

Cooking and eating together is a big part of what connects us all, and we do this daily at Kensley. It really fosters a supportive family environment which is sadly missing from many peoples lives. Many of the participants enjoy cooking and eating together, and being able to bake in a warm kitchen will be amazing! 

An added benefit would be having hot water on tap, fuelled with wood that we can source, rather than relying on gas bottles. We do some messy activities and being able to thoroughly wash our hands without having to boil the kettle would be magic :) and then wash up after all that cooking!

" I'm most looking forward to pumpkin pie" Jasper - Aged 9.

"I'd love to be able to cook things like jacket potatoes and roast vegetables with the participants!! Fran - Weekday project lead.

We now really need to improve our kitchen facilities to be able to expand what we do.  We have already been gifted a lovely stove, we just need to get it fitted and professionally certified for safety so that we can do some baking and preserving. 

We would also like to insulate the kitchen so that we don't lose all that precious warmth from the Rayburn stove. We have plans to use environmentally sound wood from our forestry sessions to create shelving, and fill the shelves with craft materials and preserves!

We are hard working and have the people and skills to make this dream come true, we just need a monetary boost for materials, and the HETAS certification, which will benefit so many people over many years. 

In the image below you can see our stove in the location we would like to install it in the kitchen:

It really will make a massive difference to the space, and all the participants.

We even have an abundance scheme and are mapping the forest for edibles and collecting the surplus ready to store. This is a new Project started in August 2022 but is already gaining some serious traction and volunteer help.

The Forest of Dean has a rich heritage of orchards, small holdings and still has a strong sense of small scale farming and commoners rights. The Rewild Project has propagated heritage varieties of fruit trees so that community orchards can preserve these local varieties.

We need to also keep the practices of preserving and fermenting alive!

Our kitchen is just too cold to be able to do what we need at the moment and we need to be able to bake. Think freshly baked bread, plum pudding and apple cake for example!

Please help us raise some money for improvements to our 'hub', Kensley sheds, so that we can really utilise it to it's full potential!

We would also be interested to hear from any HETAS certified engineers who are local to the forest of Dean who could come and quote and potentially install the stove. It is a 'wet' system. Please get in touch if this is you! 

Please see image below:

We realise that times are hard for everyone at the moment so thank you for taking the time to read this, and please do share this page with anyone who may be able to help or support. Even a couple of pounds in the pot will really help!