A Little More About Us

We are a small rural business based in the hamlet of Churchtown, Sebergham, at the northern border of the Lake District National Park in Cumbria. Our transport connections mean we are ideally placed to provide a bespoke service throughout the area and further afield across the UK.

The Sessile Oak team after a nice morning's work on site

We are passionate about our craft. We pride ourselves on our individual approach to every project and our ability to think through design challenges with an open and innovative mind.

Having worked with wood from the age of eleven, Keith Gibson has long been a creative thinker and a skilled carpenter. His varied interests have led him to produce a wide range of graphics and carved designs, travel widely throughout the Middle East and Africa, present a series of radio shows, lead alpine white water kayaking trips and read honours and postgraduate science degrees, where he studied the properties of wood in microscopic detail.

After returning to carpentry and wood carving as a main occupation and first love, and gaining experience as a green oak framer, he set up Sessile Oak in 2006 as an outlet for his passion and creativity.

Our oak frames are hand made with care and attention to detail in our workshop at Sunnymede Barn using traditional and modern hand tools. The barn itself is a traditionally built green oak structure bespoke designed and crafted to serve as an ideal and inspiring working space to accommodate large and smaller frames alike, for which it is very well suited. We sometimes undertake projects where frames may be too large to lay out within the workshop's main working bay, whereupon they are laid out in our yard to be worked in the open.

Our way of working aims to tread lightly and kindly on the Earth using oak from sustainably managed woodlands through reputable suppliers and, in addition to using traditional hand tools, making use of solar energy from our photovoltaic array to augment power. You can read more about our commitment to sustainability and care for our planet in our Environmental Policy.

Green Oak Buildings

Carving & Sculpture

The name "Sessile Oak" is that of the most commonly found native species of oak in northern upland Britain, Quercus petraea. In addition to describing the shorter stem of the oak's acorn, "Sessile" denotes solidity and permanence.

Oak Frame Menu

Green Oak Frames

Oak Frame Design

Oak Frame Carpentry

Oak Frame Construction

Oak Frame Finishing Gallery

Oak Frame Gallery

Environmentally Friendly

Our timbers are sourced from sustainably managed and certified woodlands, through reputable suppliers, promoting their continued management and conservation of habitat and associated wildlife.

Environmental Policy

Oak Framed Building Projects

View our gallery to see some of the green oak framed building projects we've undertaken over the years. From simple porches to three storey extensions, we guarantee there's something that will catch your eye!

Oak Frame Gallery

Carvings & Sculpture Projects

We also very occasionally take on carved works, which are highly sought after. Each is a unique work of art, be it a small commemorative carving or a large structural sculpture.

Carving & Sculpture Gallery

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