In the second part of their project to follow the refurbishment of the Lynton and Lynmouth Cliff Railway 
carriages, the Pre-School children travelled to Braunton Fleming to spend the day at Watts Design.
John and Mike Watts and their team have carefully stripped back all the old paintwork on the carriage, removed the rotten wooden frames and replaced them with replica hand-made frames.
They have repaired the window frames and doors and given the carriage a new roof. The children were able to see first hand how the work is being done and what types of wood and tools are needed.
Mrs Laurie Watts showed us some of the safety equipment that is used in a carpenter's workshop and talked about the tools and how they are used.
All the children and staff were given a beech wood cooking spatula. They had a piece of sandpaper to sand down the edges and they rubbed olive oil into the wood to preserve it. All the children used a hand drill to make a hole in the handle.
Everyone watched fascinated as a machine cut out clipboards, and carved individual names on each one.
John and Mike are both City and Guild-qualified carpenters and joiners, who studied their craft at North Devon College, and themselves had apprenticeships at a local building practise in the early 1980’s.
The Watts brothers set up their own business in 1990 and pride themselves on their creativity, and hand finishing every product, along with personally choosing timber from sustainable sources.
It was an honour to be invited to Watts Designs and the staff and pupils alike are most grateful to the Watts family for an enthralling and inspiring day, summed up by 3 year-old Milo: “I am going to invent things when I am older, just like they do at the wood workshop”.