James comes from something of a woodworking pedigree.  His father was a village carpenter, which in those days meant making anything from wagon wheels to coffins.  By the age of twelve, working with wood was already a passion for James and he even asked for a woodturning lathe for Christmas.  A joinery apprenticeship at sixteen converted raw talent into a marketable skill and in 1994 he founded James Baldry Bespoke Joinery.

 

A Suffolk man born and bred, at twenty-six James purchased a derelict and dilapidated agricultural barn in Cretingham and proceeded, over many years, to completely transform it into a beautiful home for his young family.  The business is also established there; an impressive garden workshop housing machinery that is continually being updated and evolving to enable production to be of the finest quality possible.  It’s a family business too, as his trusted and gifted right-hand man for twenty years happens to be his nephew, Laurie.  It’s quite the idyll, and you might even come across the odd egg amongst the wood shavings as the family hens have a penchant for laying there.

 

The overriding ethos of the business is about an open and friendly dialogue with the customer, James’s personal attention to detail and truly bespoke craftsmanship.