Simon Hall, tenant blacksmith at the National Trust’s Branscombe Forge in Devon has been crowned as the National live forging champion for the fifth year in a row.
His traditionally made Trivet (a metal stand that is placed on a dining table to support a hot dish) also won him the title of Reserve Champion in the British Blacksmithing Championships.
Works to conserve the waterwheel at Manor Mill in Branscombe have been postponed due to a protected species of bird setting up home in the banks of the stream next to the wheel.
National Trust rangers were delighted to find fledglings of the dipper bird using the stream whilst preparing for conservation work at the 300-year-old water mill.
