Acorn Furniture & Simon o'Rouke @ Peal o’ Bells, Holt

About the pixie table and chairs

The pixie chairs and table are all made from timber obtained from the work of the sister tree care business Acorn ArborCare Ltd. Each chair is carved using the shapes of the leaves of the tree from which it has been made: two oak, one ash and one cherry. The table is carved from ash. They have been carved using chainsaws and then sanded, before being protected against rot and then finished using Danish oil.

About the wendy house

The wendy house has been made from two western red cedar trees which were removed from St. Mary's Parish Churchyard, Brymbo in 2006. Western red cedar is a very light but durable timber, without having lots of resin. The window and door frames, together with the eaves continue the leaf theme of the pixie chairs and the roof is made from shingles cut from the same trees. The vicar of Brymbo Parish is Noel Carter and, appropriately, his wife is called Wendy!

About the bar top, table and stools

The bar top, table and stools are all made from British oak using traditional methods and are finished using Danish oil.

About Nick Lumb & Simon o’ Rourke

Nick Lumb started business as Acorn Furniture at the end of 1998 having had a twenty year career in industry as a chemical engineer, software developer and computer systems manager. Having spent many of his teenage years carving wood with hand tools he then, after getting married, made furniture as a hobby for family, friends and colleagues. Later followed computer aided design and chainsaw skills. When the opportunity presented itself, the chance to convert several hobbies into a business seemed too good to miss. After further training in arboriculture, Acorn ArborCare was launched.

Nick's tree-work team leader for several years was Simon O'Rourke who, although he was an excellent arborist (tree surgeon to the uninitiated) also had a degree in art. While working for Acorn Furniture and Acorn ArborCare, Simon started to develop his exceptional woodcarving skills using a chainsaw. He was soon invited to national and then international chainsaw carving competitions and when the Sandringham Estate bought one of his competition pieces, he became chainsaw carver to Her Majesty the Queen (he has, however, yet to be awarded his Royal Crest!) As demand for Simon's skills has increased, he has now launched his own business and trades as Simon O'Rourke Tree Carving.

Whatever work Nick and Simon do on a tree, nothing is wasted: quality timber is planked, kiln dried and made into fine furniture. Some trees are planked on site using a chain mill and made into garden furniture there and then. Other pieces or even standing tree stumps are chainsaw carved into an endless variety of animals, birds, mythical creatures, company logos and even human figures. Smaller pieces of wood are either cut up and dried for firewood or chipped for use as a mulch to suppress weeds.