Last harvest from Bronwen's withy shed on the Somerset Levels • In 14 active carts • 167 left
Bronwen's Woven Bird House
Bronwen's Woven Bird House
Dispatched within 2–3 business days
Whole-Winter money-back promise
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Bronwen's Woven Bird House
Coiled From the Last Straw Off Moor Farm
Bronwen Ashdown, sixty-nine. Fifty-seven years of coiling straw, a grandfather who hung an old bee skep under the eaves every autumn "for the jenny wrens", and eight winters of pencil marks recording which nests the little birds actually slept in. Gramfer knew they'd use a skep. Bronwen worked out how to make one they'd come back to.
167 left · last harvest · no restock“Folk imagine them frozen solid on a branch. It's not the frost that has them. It's the bill. Every hour of dark costs them something.”
13th — minus nine on the moor. Back door nest, tied in the ivy. Seven wrens out at 7.48. Every one of them.
What arrives at your door
Why this one gets slept in, and the bird box on your fence stays cold all winter
A bird box is made for eggs and chicks in April. From November to March nobody is nesting. What wrens and tits need is somewhere to get through a sixteen-hour December night on fat they can't top up until it's light. “What a little bird needs in winter isn't a nursery. It's a bedroom.”
Straw laid in overlapping tiers the way a Somerset thatcher lays a roof, sitting on a solid wooden disc that overhangs the room below. The rain runs down the layers and drips off the edge, never into the doorway. “Gramfer's skeps had no hat, and the tops went soft by February. The hat was my first change.”
A 35 mm entrance: big enough for a wren, a blue tit, a coal tit or a great tit, too small for a starling or a magpie's beak. Every millimetre left off the door is warmth that stays inside. “People think a big door's friendlier. It's only colder.”
Round, with no cold corners, and sized for a handful of little birds to pile in together and share their heat, which is how wrens get through the hardest nights. “They don't want a ballroom. They want to be packed in like eggs in a box.”
Hand-coiled straw and grass, tight enough to stop the wind and loose enough to let the damp of their breath escape, so there's no frost on the inside by morning. “A box sweats. Plastic sweats. Straw breathes. Why do you think every old roof in England was straw?”
A jute loop for hanging, and twine in the box to bind the body fast into ivy, a hedge, a holly or against a post. A small bird won't settle in something that rocks in a westerly. Gramfer Bert's rule, and the one change Bronwen says made the biggest difference on her calendars: “A skep that swings is a skep nobody stays in.”
“Most people who feed birds in winter never think about the night, and the night is where a British winter does its damage. Tits come out of a long winter night measurably lighter than they went in, and wrens, at around ten grams, have almost nothing in reserve, which is why their numbers fall so sharply after a hard winter. On the coldest nights they huddle together in any dry cavity they can find. The trouble is that the old cavities are going: thatch replaced, hedges grubbed out, ivy stripped, barns converted. A woven roosting nest can stand in for them, but only if three things are right. It needs a roof that throws the rain off, a door small enough to hold the warmth, and it has to be fixed firm so it doesn't swing. A standard bird box is a different thing: it's built for chicks in spring, from thin boards that turn cold and damp on a January night.”
Dr. Catherine Hollis, Ornithologist
Levels & Moors Bird Recording Group
Perfect for
Quality you can check yourself
- Hand-grown, binder-cut Somerset straw — undyed and unpainted, with no plastic, no wire frame and no synthetic fibre anywhere on it. Nothing in the room but the straw and grass it was coiled from.
- A real roof on a solid disc — look at the top. A flat bird-box lid sends the rain straight down to the door. This thatch overhangs it.
- The 35 mm wren door — measure it. It's the size that lets wrens and tits in and keeps starlings and the cold out.
- Tie-down twine in the box — because a small bird won't settle in a bed that moves in the wind.
- Last harvest, made by hand — every nest coiled and thatched by Bronwen herself in her withy shed on the Levels. Moor Farm is being built on this November. When these are gone, there is no restock and no second harvest.
Bronwen's Whole-Winter Promise
Winter doesn't run to a timetable, so this promise doesn't either. Tie it up and give it the winter. If the nest isn't everything you hoped (the coiling, the thatch, how it stands up to the weather), send it back for a full refund. No deadline, no forms, one email is all it takes. UK delivery is free.
A note on handmade variation and putting it up right: Every nest is coiled by hand from natural straw and grass, so colour, thatch length and the shape of the coil vary from one to the next. That's the mark of real handwork, not a fault. Out in the weather the straw will slowly fade to a soft silver-gold, the way an old thatched roof does.
The birds choose their winter bedrooms in autumn and go in at dusk, usually a few minutes after sunset, so most people never see it happen. Put it up early, by the end of October if you can. Tie it firmly into ivy, a hedge, a holly or a conifer, or against a post under the eaves, 1.5 to 3 metres up, with the door facing east or south-east, away from the prevailing wind and the wet. Keep it a few metres from your feeders and away from fence tops a cat can walk along. Look for a few droppings or a small feather just inside the door. Three free things matter more than anything else: leave the ivy, leave one untidy corner with your prunings and leaves, and don't put any straw or bedding inside; the birds prefer it bare. In late spring, once the birds have moved out, take it down, shake it out, rinse it with plain water and let it dry in the sun before putting it back up in the autumn.
Product details
| Material | Hand-coiled Somerset straw and grass, layered straw thatch, wooden roof disc, twig finial, jute hanging loop |
| Finish | Natural, undyed straw and grass, no paint, stain or varnish; weathers to a soft silver-gold |
| Set contents | 1 Jenny Wren Nest · tie-down twine · siting card · sent upright in a box |
| Dimensions (outer) | approx. 22 × 17 cm, including roof |
| Room | Round coiled chamber, no corners, sized for a small huddle of little birds |
| Entrance | Round wren door, approx. 35 mm |
| Roof | Overlapping straw thatch on a solid wooden disc, overhanging the room to throw off the rain |
| Fixing | Jute loop plus tie-down twine, to be bound firm into ivy, a hedge or holly, or against a post, so it can't swing |
| Suits | Wrens, blue tits, coal tits, great tits, sparrows and other small garden birds · a winter roost first, an occasional spring nest |
| Colour | Natural straw and meadow grass |
| Siting | In ivy, a hedge, holly or conifer, or under the eaves, 1.5–3 m up, door facing east or south-east, away from feeders and the prevailing wind |
| Care | Once a year in late spring: take down, shake out, rinse with plain water, dry in the sun. Never disturb it while it's in use. |
| Made | Hand-coiled by Bronwen Ashdown in Stoke St Gregory, Somerset |
| Availability | Last harvest — 167 only, no restock · 4.9 ★ from 1,430 reviews |
The Last Run
The Last Run
Some things are made by one pair of hands, for decades, and then never again.
The Final Series is the last work of craftspeople who are putting down their tools. No factory, no successor, no second batch.
Just the final pieces from their workshops, each one shaped by a lifetime of getting it right.
When they're gone, they're gone.
Free Shipping in UK
Free Shipping in UK
Free tracked delivery right across the UK
- Dispatched within 2–3 working days
- Every nest is packed upright in a sturdy box by Bronwen's grandson Kit and posted from Somerset
- Approx. 22 × 17 cm including the thatched roof, with a 35 mm wren door
- Hand-coiled Somerset straw and grass, straw thatch on a solid wooden disc, jute hanging loop
- Tie-down twine and siting card included
- No paint, stain or varnish — weathers to a soft silver-gold
- Bronwen's Whole-Winter Promise: no deadline, full refund — just email info@cedarandtinco.com
Frequently Asked Questions
Got a question? Here's how to reach us.
Got a question? Here's how to reach us.
Email us anytime at info@cedarandtinco.com. We answer Monday to Friday 9am–5pm and Saturday mornings 10am–1pm (UK time). Every order is packed by Bronwen's grandson Kit, so if you need something changed before it goes out, just say so.
Can I return it if it's not for me?
Can I return it if it's not for me?
Of course. Bronwen's Whole-Winter Promise has no deadline. Tie it up and give it the winter, and if it isn't right for you, email info@cedarandtinco.com for a full refund. No forms, no argument, and UK delivery is free.