A morning spent foraging in the hedgerows and woodland can produce an abundant harvest of berries, mistletoe and rich greenery – all perfect for winding into a beautiful festive wreath, and very easy to do at home.
At the farm we like to use a home-made willow frame for our wreaths using willow from our wetland coppice, but you can easily source ready-made wicker or wire frames. Working with a frame that’s about the size of a dinner plate means you can easily get your hand through the centre as you’re weaving the foliage around it. With wire frames we will often cover them in green moss, securing it in place with tying wire. It’s an easy way to hide the wire and allows you to use very simple elements on top as the moss becomes a decorative element in itself.
We like to forage what we can from around the farm but always start with lots of greenery. Box is a favourite shrub; we have a lot in the surrounding woodland and it’s small-leafed and dense so it adds volume to a wreath. Norway spruce has a lovely dark green colour and a wonderful aroma, while the more unusual blue spruce offers a striking contrast in colour, as do small amounts of leylandii, which also has a wonderful smell; bay and of course lots of holly. For a gentle splash of colour, choose red crab apple, ilex and delicate white mistletoe. Once you have gathered everything you want, lay it all out in separate bundles or boxes.
Building your wreath using pre-tied bouquets of forage is the easiest method. Depending on the size of your wreath you will need 10–15 bunches. Choose a variety of greenery and coloured stems from each of your bundles and trim so that the stems are roughly the same length. Arrange these into posies and tie each one towards the base with string. The length and width of your posies will depend on how big you want your wreath to be.
Lay the first posy on to the wreath at roughly a 45-degree angle. Using a reel of wire, secure on to the wreath with a few wraps of your tying wire, then tuck your second posy in tightly beside your first and wrap the wire round again. Using a reel of wire means that a single piece of wire will secure all the bouquets, rather than having lots of knots in the wreath. Wire rather than string also means that everything will be held very tightly. Repeat with your remaining posies until your wreath is completely covered and even.
Finally, look at your wreath and decide in which direction in which you want it to hang. Tie a piece of string around the top and hang it inside or on your front door.
Autumn in the Cotswolds unfolds gently. Warmth gives way to stillness, shadows lengthen and the landscape softens. Crisp air carries the faint scent of wood smoke and damp earth, villages are framed by copper beech trees, and log fires crackle…...
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