Living willow sculpture can create domes, tunnels, sculptures and many other structures which will enhance your school field for many years to come. Planting can only take place in the winter, and starts around the end of October.. Basic in-school workshops usually aim to create a living dome, tunnel or similar structure which can be used for lessons and during playtime. Children are involved in every part of the construction: designing the structure, measuring the space and preparing the site, planting the willow and weaving the initial shape. Schools can then also encourage children to take responsibility for maintaining and watering the structure.

Workshops would normally last for between two and four days depending on your design, and cost from £385 inclusive of materials and a follow up visit to check on your structure. Children are involved in everything from design, through site preparation and on to planting and sculptuing the willow. There is potential to involve a large number of children, with anything from 30 to 120 being the norm. Children work in small groups of 5 or 6, changing groups after 20 minutes or so.

Take a look at our living willow photo gallery by clicking on the picture below.

Planning Advice

The main willow season is from the beginning of the winter half-term - end October to mid-December, and the spring term from January to March/April. Broadly, the season runs from leaf fall to bud burst, as this is when your structure has the best chance of success.

Willow doesn’t really like hard frost, if we have an especially cold patch we may hold off planting. We usually leave enough days clear to reschedule and will let you know as soon as possible. We would normally continue otherwise unless the weather is too bad for children to be outside.

Children participating should all have wellies and outdoor coats, children wearing unsuitable footwear may not beable to take part on safety grounds.. The planting stage can be muddy and a change of clothes might be advisable.

Willow structures can be sited anywhere. They need quite a lot of water and are good for drying out damp areas and can also be used for screening unsightly buildings and structures. However: we don’t recommend planting within ten feet of a building because roots may eventually cause subsidence.  Wherever possible, we will arrange a preliminary visit to ensure the site is suitable and answer any questions.

Your structure will need some maintenance. Watering is needed in dry periods, and we advise all schools to keep weaving in new growth. Willow can grow up to 8 feet per year, if not managed it can quickly become a copse rather than a structure!

We will provide all materials and equipment, including weed mulch matting to try and stop grass and weeds coming up around the willow. A number of schools have obtained a quantity of bark mulch chippings to spread over this. This protects the willow from frost, gives additional weed suppression and keeps in moisture in the summer months. Often Local Authorities will provide and deliver this free of charge. The willow we use comes from local farms, and is principally grown for biofuel. It is a cultivar variety of the White willow, grows quickly and takes very well.