It is the whole package that makes this residential training course so good; the combination of the people and the venue make for an atmosphere I don’t think I have quite experienced before. I will definitely be looking out for next year’s ‘book camp’ and signing up for as many classes as I can.
My first class was to making a Limp Vellum Binding with Michael Burke. I had not worked with Vellum before and was surprised and delighted with the outcome. Michael is a patient and methodical tutor, I found I learned a lot of incidentals from his stories as we were going along. He helped to take the mystery out of working with vellum and made the class fun at the same time. The bindery at Highworth is light and airy with plenty of space to work in comfort. It is also, luckily, well equipped and I was able to borrow any tools I had neglected to bring along. The course was not too intense and two days slipped by very quickly.

My second class was making a full leather protective chemise with Philippa Räder. Philippa gave us an insight to working in the Royal Bindery at Windsor Castle, and explained the reason this version of the chemise was developed. We were shown an example of the beautiful chemise Philippa had made and given instruction on how to make our own. We had each brought a full leather bound book to work with, so just had to alter the scale on the instructions to fit. As I had not worked with leather much I was rather nervous, but the help and instruction I received gave me a confidence boost, and I couldn’t wait to try out the techniques at home. I was extremely pleased with the end result and I know everyone else was too.
Philippa is an excellent teacher and an excellent host. Thank you to both her Dieter for making my stay at Highworth so memorable. Not forgetting big thanks to Dominic for the delicious and plentiful food.
Annette Sherrington, June 2018.




…Let me thank you again for a fascinating and really enjoyable couple of days learning the subtleties of the Edelpappband binding.

The atmosphere at BookCamp was friendly, relaxing and thoroughly enjoyable.  There was a lot of information to absorb but it was paced just right and there were enough scheduled breaks so I never felt overloaded with information.  Edelpappbind is indeed a very elegant binding method and I will be practising to make sure I can anticipate and overcome the pitfalls that you highlighted during the workshop.  I am delighted with how my book turned out with your help considering how close I came to messing it up on a couple of occasions!

Thanks to you and Philippa for sharing your lovely home.  And thanks to Dominic for providing such excellent food…


Cheers!

John (2018 participant)






…I thoroughly enjoyed my visits to bookcamp this year and last year, everything from the meticulous teaching to “family meals”, from getting to know other binders to just sitting in your lovely garden.

But I think the thing I appreciated most was how very generous every one was, both tutors and participants, in sharing advice, enthusiasm and even equipment during the workshops. Then, when a couple of us said we would like to learn more about how to measure books for making boxes Dieter gave us an impromptu short course one evening before dinner on doing that too!

I can’t think of anything specific that I would like to do next time but I do enjoy making enclosures and using different materials for binding, as in Michael’s longstitch binding this year.

I am looking forward to seeing what you plan for next year and hope to join you again.


Best wishes


Maureen (2018-19 participant)








Many thanks… for welcoming me into your home for the book camp - I thoroughly enjoyed it! It was great to concentrate solely on bookbinding and to return home with two bindings in tow and new skills and acquaintances gained…


Thank you again and all best wishes,

Hollie (2019 participant)