This year I’m delighted to announce that I will be taking on an apprentice for the first time. I’ll be teaching my apprentice heritage knitwear skills, predominantly linking (the construction of garments), helping to keep these important skills alive for future generations. Linking is an endangered skill, as many factories have stopped apprenticeships and taken on modern seamless machinery which doesn’t require hand skills to construct knitwear. 

I’m currently recruiting, looking to hire someone locally who will be interested in learning about linking. Their role will also include the finishing of knitwear, and assisting with sampling and production. Over the 18 months it will take to fully train, this person will become multi-skilled in knitwear manufacturing. I’m also researching support from textile institutions to help connect me with masters of linking to give my new apprentice access to a broad skill knowledge. 

As I prepare to launch my own apprenticeship scheme, I’ve been looking to other British businesses that are training young people in time-honoured skills and crafts. The Landmark Trust are known for their collection of heritage properties which have been lovingly restored into holiday cottages – they also have an exciting new initiative, the Craft Skills Fund, and have one directly employed Joinery Apprentice. I caught up with their Individual Giving Officer, Laura Farrar, who originated the Crafts Skills Fund. 

We love how The Landmark Trust rescues historical buildings and sensitively restore them. How do you come across your buildings and how do you decide which ones to protect?

We identify and learn of buildings that need our help in a few ways. We regularly review the Heritage at Risk registers, and we might take on a building through a gift or bequest. We also receive more than a hundred suggestions from the public throughout the year of buildings that we might consider. There are three key criteria to be met for us to rescue a building for use as a Landmark. Is it important, and does it help Landmark represent the full breadth of British history and culture? Does it need us – can it only survive with our help? Is it somewhere nice to spend a holiday – once restored, can we make it financially sustainable? Alongside this, we also consider how likely we are to be able to raise the money needed to save it. After a thorough process to establish feasibility, we will take on only one or two each year as a Landmark. The funds to make this happen must be raised entirely through donations, so we are incredibly grateful to our thousands of supporters who help to make this happen.

Your focus on training junior craftspeople is commendable. How does your Apprentice scheme work?

Our current Joinery Apprentice, Rose Andrews has been working in the Landmark Trust workshop at Honeybourne in the Cotswolds since 2022. Her apprenticeship is supported by a trust grant from FINHUMF, and is run in conjunction with Rycotewood Furniture Centre, considered to be the best state-run woodworking school in the UK. Rose works alongside Cabinet Maker and Workshop Manager Mark Smitten and Bench Joiner Matt Cannell in the workshop and on site in Landmark buildings.

Why did you launch the Craft Skills Fund?

This new initiative is designed to raise support to fund areas of our maintenance and rescue work where we can offer training to craftspeople. The craft skills that Landmark depends on every day, and which are essential to the longevity of the historic buildings of the whole nation, are fragile and scarce. However, recent national skills analysis by Historic England has shown that there is a dangerously tapering workforce. We have seen this first-hand on Landmark’s work, with many of our most talented craftspeople nearing or passing retirement and worryingly few people under 35 following in their wake. Landmark has an almost unique opportunity to help ensure specialised crafts, most with a heritage that goes back centuries, are passed on. In doing so, we can also enable young people to develop careers in skilled, fulfilling, hands-on work for which there is a real and urgent demand.

What heritage and practical skills does your Craft Skills Fund focus on?

The Landmark Craft Skills Fund will support any building craft skills required for work in and on Landmark buildings. From stonemasonry, plastering and joinery to thatching, blacksmithing, screen printing and everything in between.

Are all processes involved in restoring your buildings carried out in-house?

Each Landmark has been the subject of a programme of repair and refurbishment and regardless of its size, we are determined that our craftsmanship and materials should be first-rate and appropriate to the standards of the original construction. We mainly use specialist and regional contractors, including family firms, in the skilled work of repairing and renovating a building. We also have our own small team of craftspeople directly employed in our furniture workshop in the Cotswolds.

Who are your apprentices working alongside?

Joinery Apprentice Rose Andrews: “Working as a part of the small furnishings team alongside Cabinet Maker and Workshop Manager Mark Smitten and Bench Joiner Matt Cannell has given me a lot of one-on-one teaching time. Mark has over 40 years of experience and Matt over 20; to be able to learn from two such accomplished cabinet makers has ensured my skills have developed to a high standard. I had every opportunity to be shown how to use all machinery from the first week of my apprenticeship, which is a big difference compared to my classmates. I’ve been surprised at how much knowledge I have gained from being on-site; how different these skills are compared to working in a workshop, and how much an essential part of the job it is. There’s much more to reaching a perfect fit-out than simply screwing cabinets back to the wall.”

In other areas of our work, apprentices and trainees work alongside our specialist contractors – many employed directly by them. At our recent project at Calverley Old Hall, we offered six one-week-long work experience opportunities for those aged 18 and above. Participants worked with Dobson Construction Ltd, our main contractors, on the active site. The placements involved a hands-on range of activities and provided an overview of working on a heritage restoration project. 

How many apprentices are usually working for The Landmark Trust at one time?

Currently we have one directly employed Landmark Trust apprentice – Rose Andrews. She will soon complete her apprenticeship with us and we will recruit a new Joinery Apprentice to start in September 2025. We work with trusted contractors who may employ apprentices or other junior craftspeople and this number changes regularly.

How is the Fund supported?

The Landmark Craft Skills Fund is supported entirely through the generosity of our supporters. Since it launched in November, we have raised over £125,000 which will be used to support upcoming projects and restorations, similar to work recently carried out at Saddell Castle in Saddell, Kintyre & Bute.

What buildings are you currently working on restoring?

We are currently working on new Landmarks in Hampshire (a Second World War Watch Office), Kent (The Mayor’s Parlour at Maison Dieu), Sheffield (The South Tower at Wentworth Woodhouse) and in Edinburgh (Mavisbank House). Additionally there are significant restoration works taking place at existing Landmark properties in Staffordshire (Tixall Gatehouse), Saddell, Kintyre & Bute (Saddell Castle) and in Cornwall (The Captain’s House).

Find out more about The Landmark Trust and book a stay in one of their properties here.