About us

The Hearts of Oak Community

We are a group of local artists in rural Suffolk at Heaven Sculpture Yard in Suffolk, founded by Ben Platt-Mills in 1998. We have an eco-friendly, solar powered site in six acres of mixed woodland where we carve and create wonderful sculpture and furniture in wood, metal and stone.

All of the buildings and workshops on the site are very low-impact. Nearly all are of very simple construction, based on the ‘Bender’ principle – wooden frameworks in Ash or Hazel, covered with canvas/tarpaulin.

Our shared workshop space is available for visitors to use and we offer workshops in creative woodworking skills, stone carving and lettering; decorative arts and craft and a range of practical intermediate technology, green building and sustainable development subjects. Much of our creative work is in schools and for local authorities, parks and play areas as well as for private commissions.

Our solar panels charge up our banks of 48v storage batteries which through inverters produce 240v for all the tools and lighting. We also have a separate smaller 12v lighting system.