Charlotte Boxall, The Basket Maker of Hepple. Guest article by Janet Hardie.

Charlotte Boxall, and her husband, Michael, live in the small linear village of Hepple, in a delightful cottage that looks south towards Simonside.

The house is surrounded by a colourful garden, and when I arrived Charlotte immediately asked if I would like to look round her much loved and interesting garden. What a treat!

But I must not digress, as I was visiting Charlotte to talk about her basket making.

Charlotte in her garden, with a new basket.

Charlotte, who is now in her early seventies, was born in Nantwich, Cheshire, and lived there with her parents and two brothers. Her father was a GP and her mother worked in the Ministry of Agriculture, testing the cleanliness of farms and dairies (quite an unusual post-war job for a woman). Charlotte believes her mother had a major influence on her life.

We talked about Charlotte's early years, and she reflected that even then she was making things, such as dolls' clothes, Christmas decorations, and jewellery.

She tried weaving at the age of ten and has never forgotten her disappointment that her creation had the wrong elasticity - no one had explained to her the difference between the weft and the warp.

At 13 years she was making her own clothes, and on leaving school went to the London College of Fashion, though she wished she had studied the more technical course of pattern cutting, as this would have been more useful in later years.

She found work at Wallis fashion shops and took a Clothing & Allied Products Industry Training Board course, then diversified to jewellery making which she particularly enjoyed. She thought this was because she liked the beautiful stones and the shine of silver.

However, she began to feel very negative about the origin of the stones - the deep mines, the danger for the workers and the poverty. At this point she said:

“I wish I had found basket making 20 years ago - it grows, you cut it, it grows again It's just magical!”

We had entered Charlotte and Michael's house through the basket-making workshop and were surrounded by willow rods in all shapes and length, half-made baskets, pieces of twisted wood (for basket handles?), and carvings on the walls.

The contents of their house showed their taste for unusual and beautiful crafts and objects, and I asked if there had been something in her past that meant a great deal to her. She immediately handed me a beautiful stone about three inches long - a hexagonal shape, only an inch wide, some parts rough, some with a shiny quartz-like finish. Apparently, at the age of 14, on a family walk high in the Cairngorms, Charlotte had looked down and seen the top of this stone sticking out of the ground and determinedly dug it out, as she felt it was meant to be hers.

Now fast forward half a lifetime.

Charlotte moved to Hepple in 2005 as their daughter was working nearby, and Michael joined her after his retirement in 2011. She remembered very clearly her first visit to the Northumbria Basketry Group in Hepple Village Hall on 16 January 2009.

“It was a lovely day and on that particular Wednesday morning I strolled down to the Village Hall to see what these people were up to, oblivious of how my life was about to find another facet.”

The group had first met at an adult education class in Rothbury a few months before and then moved to Hepple where they were tutored by Liz Balfour. On arrival Charlotte was set up at a table where Alan Winlow (who lives near Rothbury) was working with willow, and he showed her how to make a base, and explained about selecting the upright rods.

Charlotte decided in her mind's eye to make a copy of her grandmother's “elegant, now very battered, tulip shaped, lady's shopping basket”.

In her own words -

“On that Wednesday there was no mention of different weaves, everyone was far too busy with their own work. Once I had upset the uprights with a 3 rode whale I just kept going with the 3 rod whale all the way to the top.”

After the meeting she took some willow home with her and continued into the evening weaving up the sides. She felt her final creation was...

“a lousy copy while being a fairly admirable first basket.... It was a truly wonderful day” and since then she has sought out everything and anything willow or 'basket' related.

She enjoys the sorting, the weaving, the colour, the repetition, the patterns, creating 3D, the discipline and rules - “you name it, I have thrived on it and in many ways becoming something of a basketry nerd.”

Old and new Tulip Baskets.

A selection of the wonderful baskets, made by Charlotte.

Charlotte explained that the small group obtained funding from the European LEADER fund** which enabled workshops and informative visits to Scotland and Sweden. It also helped them to rent and plant a willow plot (their first was planted near Whitton), and provided fencing and cutting tools.

Alan has primary responsibility for the planting, and the group help with cutting the rods. These could be anything from 3ft up to 8 or 9ft and Charlotte emphasised that sorting the rods was the most important work when making baskets. The rods need to be of an even thickness to get the basket visually right, to “know what you want the rhythm to be”.

When helping others at workshops she says, “basically there are no rules, only solutions”. She will tell them what to do and as they work they will become more experienced.

Hepple Village Hall Willow Group

Basketry generally has taken off in the last 15 years, and Charlotte said that traditionally there is no correct way to do it. Beginners need direction from their teachers until they absorb enough knowledge and learn the different techniques.

She can see good patterns easily in other people's work and can pick out where something has gone wrong.

I asked if she enjoyed teaching but with disarming honesty, she told me that she wants her pupils “to get it right” so there can be a bit of tension!

In 2012, the Northumbria Basketry Group was asked if they could make an arch across the church nave in Hepple for a flower festival celebrating the Queen's Jubilee.

Charlotte accepted the challenge.

Then she was invited to make a crown as well. She said,

“It was by no means a perfect make, but the overall effect was spot on.”

However, she wasn't really happy with it and nearly gave it away, but it became quite a talking point. The crown was used for other celebratory occasions, and she found she became the 'go-to' person for willow work.

Eventually she sold the crown, and when I asked if she was happy to sell it she said,

“There are only so many baskets you can keep under the bed!”

Charlotte has made many equally talented friends through the Basketry group, through which they sell their creations.

Her baskets can also be found in the Coquetdale Art Gallery, Elements, Harbottle and Simonside shows, and the Kelso Potato show.

Northumbria Basketry Group Website.

**LEADER funding is a European Union initiative aimed at promoting rural development through community-led local development strategies, providing financial support for various projects in rural areas.

Janet Hardie was talking with Charlotte Boxall.

Find out more about the willow plot, and willow harvesting.