How it all began
Bruce spent 18 years in North America, five years of which was spent in Canada where he chanced upon a Cree Indian building in this unique style. The system developed by Bruce combines two handcrafted building methods, Vertical Log (Stave Construction) and French Canadian Piece-en-Piece Construction. Ours is the original Vertical Log school in the world. The style boasts the oldest building still standing - a church in Greenstead, Essex in the U.K. built in 1066 AD.
Bazley Beach on the Kwazulu/Natal South Coast was the original site of the log home building school in 1995, then to Underberg (also Kwazulu-Natal) and then in beautiful Wilderness (Western Cape). Students have come from all over the country and the world - foreign students from Germany, England, America, Norway, Denmark, Thailand, Austria, Scotland, China, Iceland, Canada etc., have joined the ranks of over 1500 people, men and women - young and old from 13 to 67.
Most students had no prior experience in building before attending the course - many are professionals: Church Ministers, Biologists, Physicists, a Nuclear Chemist, Lawyers, Architects, an Accountant, Airline pilots, Veterinarians... even a Maori Princess! It all makes for an interesting week, over and above the fact that you learn to build a log home.
