How our dovecotes are made

All our dovecotes are handmade and finished by hand at Forsham to ensure you and your doves get a dovecote you can be proud of.

Beautifully Made
All the timber use, both externally and internally, is joinery quality and had been planned all round. The inside walls and floors are tongue and groove boarding. The only ply we use is under the lead at the crown of the cote, and even that is exterior quality. The roof is weathered using close fitted rebated weather boarding with a hand dressed lead cap. The walls are clad in 5 inch "V" jointed tongue and groove boarding. The internal nests are arranged so that the actual nesting area is around the corner from the door opening so that the nesting birds get protection from the weather. Each nesting bar is separate room so that nesting pair can sit quietly undisturbed by the neighbours.

The Post
The post that we supply is pressure treated and sized to give strength but also to compliment the dovecote. The post goes 3ft into the ground, has about 7ft showing between the dovecote and the ground. A further 2ft fits inside the dovecote which acts as a spine (except in the Tenterden). We have never resorted to the use of concrete when installing a dovecote, we supply a set of cross braces that act as a root system. Our display dovecote has withstood two hurricanes and, as a lady in Scotland recently reported, that her dovecote literally stood its ground in 120 mph winds. I can say with some confidence that our method works!

The Finish
The treating is done after building. The dovecote is dipped into timber treater so that all the end cuts, board joints and the inaccessible areas right inside the dovecote (like the rood void) get treated. The dovecotes, if required in brown, are given an external coat of an oil based treater to give the wood water repellent properties. The painted dovecotes are also dipped to treat internal woodwork, they are then given three coats of white micro porous paint. This allows the wood to "breath" through the paint and therefore will not crack or blister. Repainting is a case of quick wash off, light rub down to form a key and then paint. In the interest of avoiding comeback we have used this paint and it works.

Installation
When you have chosen your dovecote, we can send it to you for you to install. Alternatively, we can bring the dovecote with a birds and install it for you. This would involve us discussing the dovecote location with you. We would take into account wind, sun, aesthetics and cats. We have done numerous installations and if required will bring a silhouette dovecote so we can visually fine tune the dovecotes final sitting.

We will dig the hole, erect the dovecote, make good the area