“I come from a family of artists and creatives. I don't think anyone in my family has ever had a nine to five job, so I was destined to be a ducker and diver,” laughs Rollo Dunford Wood. Now a woodworker and an occasional potter, he left school at 17 and did apprenticeships both at a flowerpot pottery and as a cabinetmaker before settling into a job as the latter. “I really wanted to be a potter but decided to go into woodwork because all you need is a bag of tools,” he explains. “We made all sorts of things, from fitted kitchens to free standing furniture and I made endless mistakes, but I only learn from doing things myself. I just love hard graft, really.”
Several years later, ill health meant he was forced to take a break, but even from bed he began buying and selling gypsy wagons on social media. “It just snowballed,” he recalls, “then when I eventually went back to work, it felt like it wasn’t me anymore. We were living in a wagon on a piece of farmland at the time, and I’d already made a cabin or two. Now I make sheds and cabins, which isn’t just a job – it’s become my absolute passion. Being ill really puts things into perspective. I feel lucky to be doing just exactly what I want to do.”
From large, inhabitable structures to smaller, flatpack huts, his creations are often crafted from found or repurposed materials, including corrugated iron or wriggly tin, as he refers to it. “I've got barns full of lovely things that one day I'll put in a cabin. Or I’ll scour the internet and go to reclamation yards to find a certain type of window if that’s what a client wants. I’ve also just started making follies inspired by the Portmeirion Estate and the beauty is that I can make all sorts of different designs. I've got lots of ideas. It’s going to be an exciting year.”
The hub for this constant stream of creativity is a farmhouse on the edge of Snowdonia National Park, where he lives with his wife Freyja, an accomplished potter, their two small children, a new baby, a lurcher and a Bedlington whippet. “We're halfway up a mountain and we don't have any neighbours, but it’s so glorious, with lots of green and deep glacial valleys,” he says. “The house is very old, medieval even, and it’s been in the family for 50 years. It's stone, with very thick walls and big, heavy beams on the ceilings and there are low outbuildings in various states of disrepair. I’ll probably be trying to restore them for the rest of my life.”
It's in one of these outbuildings where Rollo’s keeps one of his most cherished objects; a five foot tall bracket, designed to support the front porch on a traditional gypsy wagon. “A couple of years ago someone contacted me out of the blue, saying I heard you restore this kind of thing, and as soon as I saw it, I knew it was a bit of a find,” he recalls. Made by Thomas Tong of Kearsley, Manchester around 1880, the wooden caravan is ornately carved, with birds, berries, dogs and other flora and fauna peppered across its weathered surface. “It needs a lot of work, but it's one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen,” he continues. “I've had a new set of wheels made, which weren’t cheap, so I'm fully invested. Just imagining where it's been, the families who’ve lived in it, the births and the wooing of lovers - it's such a romantic thing. It came from a wonderful family with Romany roots who lived in Scotland and it was the gentleman’s father's pride and joy. He wanted the right person to finish the restoration and luckily, that person was me. It’s very much an ongoing project but I knew my kids needed to grow up around it.”
Alongside the wagon, a cast iron swing pan bought from a friend is an item Rollo couldn’t live without. “It’s been on many travels over the last few years. If I'm delivering a shed or working on a larger cabin, I'll set up a little camp and bring this out to cook,” Two and a half to three inches deep, he fries bacon or steak and chips in it and makes drop scones for the kids. “Generally I'm a lover of older things and this is relatively new, but to me it signifies adventure as well as cooking around the fire and cooking for family, which together makes my heart sing.”
Another vessel, this time crafted by Rollo himself is also on his list of treasured possessions. Made on a foot-powered treadle lathe, the wooden bowl was a gift for Freyja when the couple first met. “I first learned how to turn when I was in my early teens, although I still hadn't had much practice. It warped a little, but the slightly wonky rim and tool marks on the sides makes it look nicely weathered.” Hewn from tulip wood, a soft timber that’s surprisingly tough, the bowl has been well-used and dropped many times. “There have been similar bowls that snapped in half and I stitched them together with copper wire. But we use this every day, and it’s a lovely thing to have as a token of our relationship.”
For many years Rollo admired a jumper, originally knitted for his grandfather by his great aunt in the 1970s and since then, the maintenance of the garment has become an ongoing family project. “He lived in London but came here to write and get away from it all and it was part of his Wales wardrobe,” explains Rollo. “He was never very good at looking after things, so I'd always wash it and when it needed darning either me, Freyja or my mum would have a go. I borrowed it a few times when he was still with us and then later when we moved into the house, it was in one of his drawers and I immediately thought, I'm going to treasure this. Some of the darning is better than others as I'm no expert, but I have a go and the communal effort that’s gone in makes it very special as it connects me to my grandfather. Repairing holes, stitching and making good until the moths wreak their havoc again. I wear it a lot and it’s been wonderful to prolong its life with consideration and love.”
Similarly comforting, a Welsh blanket woven in lambswool by Melin Tregwynt for TOAST at a small mill in a remote valley on the Pembrokeshire coast is a welcome addition to the family’s living room. “We don't have central heating, just open fires, which is a blessing but also a curse. And we don’t have a telly so we often curl up on the sofa in front of the fire and read a book with the kids,” says Rollo. “This blanket is perfect and I love the thought of supporting craftspeople in Wales. It’s such an incredible pattern and it feels like we’ve already had it 100 years. It will be cherished, and it’ll get darned when it needs it, just like grampa's jumper.”
Rollo wears the Waxed Cotton Trench Coat, V-Neck Fair Isle Tank and Bill Cotton Wide Leg Trousers. The Melin Tregwynt Welsh Blanket also features.
Words by Claudia Baillie.
Photography by Leia Morrison.
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