August 2026 News from the Sawmill
Welcome to our August Newsletter
Some of the best things happen when you step away from your desk.
This month started with Tom heading to a field in Wales. A few days to think, learn and sit under the trees with good people. Among the highlights was discovering a Heartwood sauna, beautifully crafted using our Brimstone ash and poplar.
A quick thank you before we get into it. The response to Fyral since launch has been better than we hoped. It means a lot to the small team who have spent years developing the first British grown engineered floor.
Grab a cup of something and have a read.
Tom finds Vastern timber in a Welsh field
Our MD Tom spent a few days at the Do Lectures in Wales this summer, there as a delegate to pick up new skills. Big ideas, long-table suppers under the trees and, at the end of it, a Heartwood sauna waiting in the field.
He knew the timber before he read the name. That warm cladding framing the porch and lining the inside is our Brimstone, the same thermally modified British poplar and ash we supply to Heartwood. The same Heartwood whose Arbor Five story we’re sharing below.
Tom sat in one, looked out at the Welsh hills through the glass and saw first hand why these saunas draw people in. Good timber ends up in the places people go to slow down.
Crafting Welsh saunas from British timber
A sauna in the Welsh hills, clad inside and out in Brimstone.
Heartwood Saunas build outdoor wellness spaces that are made to last decades, and they chose our thermally modified British poplar and ash for the Arbor Five.
Grown in British woodland, milled in Wiltshire, then sent the short distance to Mid Wales.
See why they picked Brimstone.
55 cubic metres, 35 miles from the mill
A load of logs and a drive of under an hour. That is how we buy timber. Last week Tom and Rupert spent a morning near Fonthill Gifford, measuring 55 cubic metres of ash and oak, 35 miles from our sawmill. Here is what they found.
Sleep in the woods this summer
Forestry England has opened seven forest car parks to campervans and small motorhomes for overnight stays.
The trial runs until 14 September, with prices from £16 a night. Locations stretch from Cornwall to the Scottish borders, so a multi-stop road trip is on the cards.
Book ahead. Spaces are limited.
Build It Live Exeter – 12 & 13 September
If Wiltshire is a stretch, come and find us closer to home. We are at Build It Live in Exeter on 12 and 13 September, and we would rather talk timber with you in person than over a screen. Bring your project, your questions and your plans. We will help you work out which timber suits the job, whether that is cladding, flooring, decking or something structural. No hard sell. Just wood people, happy to talk wood.
Use code ‘EXFREESW26‘ for two free tickets.
