Timber Fest is a success

A NEW event, the first of its kind in Scotland to celebrate wood, has been hailed a success.

Logie Timber Festival at Logie Steading ran over two days and featured over 60 different exhibitors and demonstrations including den building, a tree walk and talk, woodland craft sessions, axe throwing, Highland horse logging and a wealth of craft and food stalls.

The event celebrated the opening of full-cycle timber business, Logie Timber, and was given the thumbs up from Moray Speyside Tourism’s operations manager, Laurie Piper.

He said: “I am delighted the new festival has been such a great success. With 33 per cent of our region consisting of woodlands and forests, it’s great to see an event which celebrates and champions this important part of our economy."

Logie Timber is a partnership between Alec Laing of Logie Estate and forester and tree surgeon Mark Councill.

Mr Laing said: "We were overwhelmed with the turnout. The weather didn’t put people off and we had a steady flow of people. Some were there to enjoy the free activities while others were intrigued by the concept of our new business."

He explained: "We manage the full circle of the life and use of a tree from seed to seed. Logie Timber encompasses a sawmill, wood drying kiln and showroom to process local Scottish trees and products with a key focus on furniture grade hard wood. It was great to see how receptive people were to the wood products displayed in our showroom. The interest shown at the sawmill tours in the processes involved in milling wood and turning a tree into a finished product and the enthusiasm in how people can get involved in the process themselves was really inspiring for us at Logie Timber."

The festival featured large operations such as James Jones & Sons demonstrating their timber lorry's which virtual reality technology, and small artisan jewellers who create products in wood.

There was chainsaw carving, live music, art exhibitions, hand carving, and tree climbing.

There was also an extreme duck race to raise money for the Findhorn Nairn and Lossie Fisheries Trust. Local businesses sponsored giant rubber ducks set sail on the River Findhorn. The superduck winner of was Forres-based AES Solar. Best dressed superduck was Macbeth’s Butchers and the winner of the individual duck race was Fiona Hepburn.

Experienced forester Mr Councill was pleasantly surprised by the interest in the event.

He said: "We showed that there are a wealth of businesses working with timber in our region. We not only received support from locals, but we had visitors from overseas as well. We are now considering whether we continue to run this event annually or biennially as a way of offering something else to our local community and beyond."