The Bed Workshop
The Bed Workshop, Braunton Road,
Bristol
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There are 4 showrooms displaying new and antique furniture. Beds are made on site and are easily customised. French furniture is sourced mainly from our neighbours in South East Brittany; it is restored at the farm and delivered to Bristol every 3 weeks.
Some of the more popular beds are kept ready for immediate delivery. Just about anything can be made and delivered nationwide within 2 to 3 weeks. Mattresses up to 6' widths are kept in stock.
Since its establishment in 1984 the workshop has refused to use
tropical timbers and carefully selects European and American woods only
from managed afforested sources. The softwoods are Scandinavian from a
5/6 felling regime where the 6th tree is left in permanence to maintain
indigenous wildlife. Much of the white oak was originally planted to
reafforest degraded farmland and now provides local income and wildlife
benefits. The European oak, cherry and walnut comes mostly from Breton
village forests, protected and locally managed since the Napoleonic
wars and remarkable havens for wildlife. Offcuts are used to heat the
homes of the people building your beds.
In the 1980's the workshop provided establishing funding for the Dwarf
Crocodile Project in west Africa and a variety of developing and
developed world environmental projects (one of us is a zoology PhD). In
the 1990s revenue was used to establish a model organic farm (as a
spin-off from university research project) in central Brittany. In 2000
a second farm was bought as the owners home and taken out of
agriculture as a project in 're-wilding.' Here, 25-30,000 indigenous
trees were planted by hand, relict heathland conserved, pools dug and
watermeadow drainage stopped. In the last decade returning species
include burnt orchids, snakeshead fritillaries, praying mantis, pearl
bordered fritillaries, European treefrogs, aesculapian snakes, Dartford
warbler, hoopoes,nightjar, nightingale, boar, beech martin and finally
now breeding throughout; red squirrel. Having planted 1000's of Scots
pines and hazelnuts, the squirrels might have helped by turning up a
little sooner!
The farm is used a model to establish similar sites locally on a single
field level providing expertise, labour and funding as required.
Brittany's rarest tree, the Black Poplar is propagated and distributed
free to local landowners. We continue to provide assistance overseas eg
through Durrell.org on Jersey we fund two Madagascan village schools
as part of a local forest protection plan for Aye-Ayes and other
wildlife.
As a rough estimator, each bed or mattress etc bought from us probably
funds the planting of 2-3 trees which in turn helps support an enormous
range of wildlife. Without our customers none of the above would have
been possible.
On behalf of Tufty and his/her friends,
Thank-you.
