He spends a lot of time in his vast workshop and his wife Nancy, who is also 82, describes herself as a Wood Widow when he spends days creating wooden objects.<\/p>\n
John Freeman outside his bungalow. PHOTO: Iliffe Media<\/p>\n
Mr Freeman said: \u201cIt is a hobby.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was top in the class for woodwork but never took it up.<\/p>\n
\u201cI started 20 years ago when I retired at 65.\u201d<\/p>\n
Timber used for the sculptures. PHOTO: Iliffe Media<\/p>\n
Although some items are for sale, Mr Freeman doesn\u2019t make a profit, and relies on word of mouth and bespoke commissions from people.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cPeople come from Northampton for my bird boxes.<\/p>\n
\u201cI made a musical figure for a brass band in Boston.<\/p>\n
John Freeman. Iliffe Media<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery couple of months I donate a raffle prize to the Royal British Legion in Long Sutton.\u201d<\/p>\n
Before retiring, Mr Freeman has had a varied working career on a farm and for his father\u2019s lorry business.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cI was self employed and had a car garage business.<\/p>\n
A gypsy caravan. PHOTO: Iliffe Media<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had a sports shop in Holbeach and a green grocery round in Corby.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had some land and sold it and we moved into the bungalow.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr and Mrs Freeman, who married in 1962 at St Mary\u2019s Church in Whaplode, will celebrate their 64th wedding anniversary next year.<\/p>\n
Mr Freeman with a vehicle he created. PHOTO: Iliffe Media<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cThe secret to a long marriage is working together.<\/p>\n
\u201cNancy would give you her last shilling and has a different temperament to me.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am a bit more fiery.\u201d<\/p>\n
A painted wagon. PHOTO: Iliffe Media<\/p>\n
His son Gary Freeman is a builder and often passes on unused wood.<\/p>\n
Most of the objects are left as natural wood for people to paint themselves.<\/p>\n
Mr Freeman said: \u201cSome items will take two days.<\/p>\n
A gypsy caravan. PHOTO: Iliffe Media<\/p>\n
\u201cOthers can take a week.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe car would take about three weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n
For further information about purchasing a bird box contact John Freeman on 01406 420397.<\/p>\n
John Freeman in his workshop. PHOTO: Iliffe Media
A Ferris wheel with an electric mechanism. PHOTO: Iliffe Media
An owl sculpture. PHOTO: Iliffe Media
Mr Freeman will add flowers to this sculpture to donate to the Royal British Legion in Long Sutton. PHOTO: Iliffe Media
The workshop. PHOTO: Iliffe Media
The sculptures are left as natural wood. PHOTO: Iliffe Media
Musical men. PHOTO: Iliffe Media
This bird box has been sold. PHOTO: Iliffe Media
Wooden sculptures can take two days to make. PHOTO: Iliffe Media
A bird box. PHOTO: Iliffe Media
Two of Mr Freeman’s musical sculptures. PHOTO: Iliffe Media<\/p>\n
What do you think? Post your comments below.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A talented 82-year-old is using his carpentry skills to carve figures and sculptures out of wood. John Freeman,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":194242,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[6225,6485,6486,1120,96,82044,192,8739,13191,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-194241","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-and-design","10":"tag-artsanddesign","11":"tag-design","12":"tag-entertainment","13":"tag-holbeach","14":"tag-human-interest","15":"tag-lincs-homepage","16":"tag-spalding","17":"tag-uk","18":"tag-united-kingdom","19":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194241","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=194241"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194241\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/194242"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=194241"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=194241"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=194241"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}