Where it all began: Creative Workshops in Norfolk
- Rachael at REEF Make & Do
- 4 days ago
- 3 min read
Our Norfolk Creative workshops offer more than the chance to learn a new skill; they create space to pause, reset, and reconnect with something quieter and more restorative.
I was thinking this week about a table.
Not a particularly grand one. Just a very big, slightly rickety table in my old house.
It sat in the middle of everything. Covered one day in paperwork, the next in half-finished ideas. It was where school happened for my boys in lockdown, where we had friends round for dinner and to celebrate, and where, when it was just me, it became a surface for endless jars of chutney and jam, painted papers, bits of fabric, and the odd cup of tea going cold nearby.
It was where I started when we moved to Norfolk.
Before Reef Make & Do was what it is now. Before workshops, before classes, before all the wonderful people who have come through the door since.
It was just me, that table, and the quiet feeling that making mattered. Not in a big, business sense. Not as something I had fully thought through. Just the simple sense that sitting down and making something, however small, changed the way I felt. It gave me space. It slowed things down. It made everything feel a little more manageable again. And I think that is still what sits at the heart of everything we do now. Not the scale of it. Not how many workshops there are, or how full they become. But that same feeling. A table. A space. Time set aside. Something to focus on with your hands.
A chance to arrive as you are and leave just a little lighter.
I see it every week.
People sitting down, perhaps carrying a lot in their heads, and then, without much fuss, settling into the rhythm of making. Conversation begins. Hands get busy. Shoulders drop. Nothing dramatic, but so important. That quiet shift.
These creative workshops in Norfolk are built around that simple idea.
A table.
Which feels quite fitting, really, as I find myself thinking about that original table again.
It has been tucked away for some time now, but it will not be staying there forever. I rather like the idea of it coming back into use. A familiar place to gather around. A quiet link between where this all began and where it might be heading next.
But more on that another time.
For now, the making continues.
If you would like to experience this for yourself, there are some very lovely ways to take a seat at the table over the coming weeks. From baking something warm and comforting in the gluten free breads workshop, to creating something practical and full of character in the Wonky Bags workshop, or exploring natural processes in Marian May’s botanical printing workshop.
Each one offers that same simple thing.
A place to sit.
A bit of time for you.
Something to make.
And often, that is more than enough.
That is it from me for this week. Do get in touch if I can help woith anything ... otherwise I hope to see you for some making very soon.
Warmest wishes
Rachael x
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