Blacksmithing Experience Day Gift Card - Stroud
The perfect gift for complete beginners or anyone curious about traditional blacksmithing. A hands-on day at the forge they'll never forget.
Blacksmith & Knife Making Experiences in the Cotswolds
I’m Mike, and I run blacksmithing and knife making experience days at my forge in Slad, just outside Stroud, right in the Cotswolds. If you want a Cotswolds day out you’ll still be talking about next year, this is it. You spend the day at a real working forge, heating steel until it glows and shaping it with a hammer, and you go home with something you made with your own hands. No experience needed. If you can swing a hammer, you can do this.
Small groups · Real working forge · You keep what you make
A Cotswolds day out you'll actually remember
The Cotswolds does cream teas and pretty villages brilliantly, and I’d never talk you out of a good walk and a pub lunch. But if you fancy a day that’s more hands on, the forge is hard to beat. You’re not watching someone else work. You’re the one at the anvil, with the gas forge roaring beside you and a bar of steel turning into a finished object in front of you. People turn up nervous and leave grinning, holding something they were sure they couldn’t make. Nobody’s half left disappointed yet.
Where we are in the Cotswolds
Soulful Iron is in Slad, near Stroud, in the Gloucestershire Cotswolds, about ten minutes’ drive from the centre of Stroud. We’re in the Slad valley that Laurie Lee wrote about in Cider with Rosie, so it’s a lovely bit of the world to be in before you’ve even picked up a hammer. There’s parking on site, and the Woolpack Inn is just up the road if you want a proper Cotswolds pub afterwards.
What you make: a hook, a knife, and a story
On a blacksmithing day, your first project is a hook. It sounds simple, but it teaches you the core moves: drawing out, tapering, bending and putting in a twist. From there people go on to pokers, handles and pendants, all from mild steel. On a knife making day you forge a blade from high carbon steel, working it at between 1,200 and 1,400 degrees, and you leave with a knife that started the morning as a plain bar of metal. Either way, it’s yours, you made it.
Make a day of it: what to pair with your forge session
Sessions run from 10:30am to 4:30pm, so it’s a full day, but plenty of people build a Cotswolds trip around it. Stroud’s award-winning Saturday farmers’ market is well worth a look. The Woolpack in Slad is a few minutes away. Painswick and its Rococo Garden are close by, and you’re well placed for Bibury, Bourton-on-the-Water and the rest of the Cotswolds villages if you’re staying over.
Who it suits
It works for couples, for a milestone birthday, for families with older kids (minimum age is 11), for small groups, and as a gift. Maximum is six people per session, so it’s never a conveyor belt. You get real time at the anvil and real attention. If someone in your life is always watching Forged in Fire or forging videos on YouTube, this is the present that lets them actually try it.
Choose Your Experience: Blacksmithing or Knife Making
All levels welcome, no experience needed
Full day at the forge, 10:30am to 4:30pmBeginners welcome, no experience neededIn the heart of the Cotswolds, parking on site
Both are full days at the forge in Slad, near Stroud. Small groups of up to six, all levels, and you take home what you make.
Knife Making Experience Day - Forge a Viking Style Knife!
A knife making course (experience day) at my forge in Stroud. Come get hands-on with fire and steel, enjoy the day, and walk away with a hand-forged knife made by YOU.
Popular knife-making course
One of our most requested experiences
Frequently Asked Questions
What blacksmithing experiences are there in the Cotswolds?
Soulful Iron runs blacksmithing and knife making experience days at a working forge in Slad, near Stroud. All levels, no experience needed, and you take home what you make.
Where in the Cotswolds is Soulful Iron?
In Slad, near Stroud, about ten minutes from Stroud town centre. Parking on site.
What can you make on a Cotswolds blacksmithing day?
On a blacksmithing day you make a hook first, then things like pokers, handles and pendants from mild steel. On a knife making day you forge a knife from 1084 high carbon steel.
What else is there to do nearby?
Stroud’s farmers’ market, the Woolpack Inn in Slad, Painswick Rococo Garden, and the classic Cotswolds villages are all close.
How much is it and how do gift vouchers work?
Prices are on the experience days page. Gift vouchers are valid for a year and can be used on any available date.
Is it a good day out if we're visiting the Cotswolds?
Yes. It’s a full day, 10:30am to 4:30pm, and easy to pair with Stroud, Painswick, the Woolpack in Slad, or a longer Cotswolds stay.
The Cotswolds' most memorable day out
Spend a day at the forge and take home what you made. Book your date, or send it as a gift.