The Bottle Tree Company was created in 2008 by a Restaurateur and 2 Arborealist. An idle chat over a Winters’ beer, the brother Arborealists, Kelvin & Craig, were berating the fact that there was a limited market for the great pieces of wood that looked the best but had no practical use other than pretty firewood. The Restaurateur, Steve, although a lover of ‘pretty firewood’, ideal for the Restaurants Open Fire on a cold Winters day, did not believe that that was right and after a few more Winters’ beers came up with the idea of somehow taking the best bits of seasoned wood, with the best grain, the best shape and character and use them into items of furniture and as Steve did not like the awful wine racks normally available decided to make that their first project. Another idle chat over another Winters’ beer, same place, different time and different friend, the name ‘Bottle Tree’ was suggested. A quick look on ‘Google Images’ confirmed that this was the perfect choice.

Since the Winter of 2008 much has been done. In the process of Kelvin & Craig’s normal day of cutting down dead, dying and dangerous trees it gave them a new enthusiasm in that they were able to find appreciative homes for the wood that would otherwise be firewood. These pieces were treated with care, cut carefully and suitably pruned and driven away to be air seasoned in their barns, this remains an ongoing project and each new piece brings new ideas.

The 1st piece was a rather daunting task but the brothers were never faint hearted, after all, what’s the worst that could happen? This piece was a 6’6” lump of Sycamore, 3’6” at its widest part and needed 5 people to manhandle it! Steve suggested a Bonsai tree as the first project but it fell on deaf ears. Cleaning the wood, removing the bark and treating it was the easy bit. Designing and making the drill bits for the holes to hold each wine bottle was something else. Craig, the engineer amongst them, finally came up with an effective answer, he designed and built the tool, its design remains a secret. The end result is a beautiful Wine Rack made from seasoned hardwood, full of colour, texture and character; a few cracks from the drying process have appeared and only add to its beauty. It now stands proudly in Steve’s Restaurant in South Wales.

One of the joys of wood, particularly wooden furniture is that no piece is the same, no wine rack will be the same. Because of this we will be adding pictures of pieces to this site as and when they are completed and available to buy. Kelvin & Craig are currently working on pieces of Oak, Beech and Sycamore amongst others, as well as an exceptional piece of Apple. Surprisingly, this rather stately piece of Apple, standing at over 6’, has a little delay on any work starting, a Wren has decided to nest in one of its cavities. So until all have flown the nest, work is put on hold.