• The Christmas House hanging from holly with a robin and a great tit
  • The Corn Merchant's birdhouse hanging from a hawthorn in Wensleydale with a wren on the porch
  • Brenda's Cottage birdhouse in a rowan tree with a blue tit and a coal tit
  • The Tea Rooms feeding house on an apple tree with a robin and a goldfinch
  • All four of Clifford's birdhouses on one oak in a frosty Dales garden
  • Clifford's hands filing the entrance of the Christmas House
  • Clifford Metcalfe in his stone barn workshop with his four birdhouses

Last houses on Clifford’s shelf • In 9 active baskets • Only 86 left

Clifford's Wooden Bird Houses

Clifford's Wooden Bird Houses

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Clifford Metcalfe
Handmade by Clifford Metcalfe — Hawes, Wensleydale
★★★★★ 4.9 (264)
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The Christmas House hanging from holly with a robin and a great tit

Clifford's Wooden Bird Houses

$59.72
$59.72 $78.29
SAVE $18.57 Sold out
🏡🐦

Four little high-street birdhouses. One Yorkshire joiner. The last 86.

Clifford Metcalfe, seventy-five, built each design after a real building in his life in Hawes, up in Wensleydale. His eyes can no longer follow the fine cuts, so these are the last houses he will make.

4 designsReal woodFully assembled90-day guarantee
Choose from 4 designs

Four designs, four different woods and finishes. Clifford matched each one to the birds and the season it was built for.

The Corn Merchant's birdhouse1
The Corn Merchant’s
His grandfather’s old shop on the market place: tall front, covered porch, light natural pine.
🐦 Wrens & house sparrows
Why this woodRaw, unpainted pine. Nothing but bare wood around the nest, no paint or stain, the way small hole-nesting birds are safest.
In the boxBirdhouse, jute hanging cord
Size18.5 × 19.8 × 13 cm
Brenda's Cottage birdhouse2
Brenda’s Cottage
His late wife’s cottage: flower-ring door, gable roof, little picket fence.
🐦 Blue tits & coal tits
Why this woodA pale, light finish that reflects the sun, so the inside stays cooler for spring and summer nests.
In the boxBirdhouse, jute hanging cord, perch peg
Size18 × 13 × 15.5 cm
The Tea Rooms feeding house3
The Tea Rooms
The corner tea rooms: a long seed tray, two water cups and six little doorways.
🐦 Robins & goldfinches
Why this woodSealed, honey-stained wood that copes with wet seed and spilt water every day and wipes clean in seconds.
In the boxFeeding house, 2 stainless steel cups
Size15 × 23.5 × 14 cm
The Christmas House birdhouse4
The Christmas House
The family’s December house: twin roofs, snowflakes, Father Christmas and a little tree.
🐦 Robins & great tits
Why this woodDark, flame-darkened wood that soaks up the low winter sun and makes a warmer shelter on frosty mornings.
In the boxBirdhouse, jute hanging cord, mini tree
Size15.7 × 20 × 13 cm
Pick one design — or mix and match up to four in one order and build your own little high street. 2 houses save 10%, 3 save 15%, 4 save 20%.

“In 2008 my grandfather’s corn merchant’s on the market place closed for good. I saved a stack of its boards and built a birdhouse that looked just like it. A pair of wrens moved in that April. I’ve been building them a town ever since.”

— Clifford Metcalfe, joiner, Hawes, Wensleydale

Built the way birds actually like it
🌧
Overhanging roofs
Every roof reaches past the walls, so Dales rain runs off the edge and away from the door.
🐦
A porch to land on
Each house sits on a wide wooden base. Birds land, look around and step inside.
💧
Food and water together
The Tea Rooms pairs a seed tray with two steel cups that lift out to refill and rinse.
🪵
Real wood, ready to go
Wooden boards, not chipboard. Fully assembled: three designs hang from a branch, the Tea Rooms fixes to a trunk or post.
A cheap chipboard bird box after one wet winter next to Clifford's real-wood Corn Merchant's

Left: a typical chipboard bird box after one wet winter. Right: Clifford’s real-wood Corn Merchant’s.

Checked by an ornithologist

“Most cheap bird boxes fail on the basics: thin walls, no roof overhang, nowhere to land. A real-wood house with a deep roofline and a wide front ledge is simply more usable for wrens and tits. And clean water next to seed is one of the most useful things you can put out for robins when the ground is frozen.”

— Dr Helen Ackroyd, ornithologist · Swaledale & Wensleydale Songbird Group

Who this is for
🐦 Robins, wrens & blue tits 🪟 Watching from the kitchen window 🏡 Gardens, fences & patios 🎄 Christmas presents 👵 Presents for Mum, Dad or Gran 🏘 Collecting the whole street
💚
90 days, no questions

If it isn’t everything you hoped, one email to info@countycraftco.com within 90 days is enough. Clifford would rather have it back than see it sit in a shed.

Please read before ordering

These are small houses for small garden birds, about 13 to 24 centimetres wide. The Tea Rooms has no hanging cord; it fixes flat against a tree trunk or post, or sits on a fence rail or wall. Natural wood, so grain and colour vary a little from piece to piece.

Product details
Designs 4: The Corn Merchant’s · Brenda’s Cottage · The Tea Rooms · The Christmas House
Material Natural wood; stainless steel cups on the Tea Rooms
Sizes Corn Merchant’s 18.5 × 19.8 × 13 cm · Cottage 18 × 13 × 15.5 cm · Tea Rooms 15 × 23.5 × 14 cm · Christmas House 15.7 × 20 × 13 cm
Tea Rooms entrances 27 / 33 / 47 mm
Care Brush out once a year in autumn; rinse the steel cups as needed
Made by Clifford Metcalfe, Hawes, Wensleydale — 86 remaining
Delivery Free UK delivery, dispatched within 1–2 working days
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The Last Houses on the Shelf

A note from the workshop:

Clifford Metcalfe was a joiner in Hawes, Wensleydale, for 39 years. In 2008 his grandfather’s old corn merchant’s on the market place closed for good, and he built a birdhouse out of its boards. A pair of wrens moved in that April. Since then he has built more than 2,350 houses in four designs, each one taken from a building in his own life. Two winters ago his right eye began to fail, and he can no longer do the fine cuts on the porches and windows. There are 86 finished houses left on the shelves of his workshop. He is closing the workshop at the end of January, and when the last ones are gone, there will not be more.

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Free UK Delivery

Free delivery across the United Kingdom

- Dispatched within 1–2 working days, delivery in 3–5 working days
- Every house is checked and wrapped by hand
- Small houses for small garden birds, about 13 to 24 cm wide — see each design’s size in the description
- The Tea Rooms has no hanging cord; it fixes to a tree trunk or post, or sits on a fence rail
- 90-day money-back guarantee — just email info@countycraftco.com

View full details

260+ Happy Customers

Excellent 4.9

What Clifford’s customers are saying

I am so pleased with Brenda’s Cottage. It is real wood and feels solid in your hands, nothing flimsy about it. Hung it in the rowan at the bottom of the garden on Saturday and a blue tit was already peeking in by Monday. Every time I look out of the kitchen window it makes me smile.

Verified

Lesley H., Leyburn, North Yorkshire

Hung it from the old ash by the vegetable patch and within a fortnight a pair of wrens had moved in. They haven’t stopped singing about it since. We’ve had three days of proper Pennine rain and the inside stayed bone dry under that porch roof. Already thinking about the Christmas House too.

Verified

Graham W., Skipton

Bought the Christmas House for the back door and ended up ordering two more for my granddaughters. The colours are just like the pictures and the little tree is fixed on properly. It came wrapped like a present. Our robin found it the first week.

Verified

Pat R., Kendal, Cumbria

This is the view from my kitchen sink now. The robins come every single morning and the steel cups lift right out so I can rinse and refill them. It sits on the fence post outside my window and hasn’t budged once in the wind. Best money I’ve spent on the garden.

Verified

Janet D., Ripon

I was a cabinet maker for 38 years, so I looked it over properly. Square, tight, no glue blobs, no staples poking out. My wife thinks I bought it for the birds but I just liked the porch. It’s going on the post by the gate.

Verified

Keith M., Lincoln

Got Brenda’s Cottage after reading Clifford’s story and I welled up a bit. It hangs in our apple tree where the children can see it from the trampoline. Blue tits have been in and out all week and the kids have named every one of them. It came quickly and was packed really well.

Verified

Hannah B., Norwich

I am so pleased with Brenda’s Cottage. It is real wood and feels solid in your hands, nothing flimsy about it. Hung it in the rowan at the bottom of the garden on Saturday and a blue tit was already peeking in by Monday. Every time I look out of the kitchen window it makes me smile.

Verified

Lesley H., Leyburn, North Yorkshire

Hung it from the old ash by the vegetable patch and within a fortnight a pair of wrens had moved in. They haven’t stopped singing about it since. We’ve had three days of proper Pennine rain and the inside stayed bone dry under that porch roof. Already thinking about the Christmas House too.

Verified

Graham W., Skipton

Bought the Christmas House for the back door and ended up ordering two more for my granddaughters. The colours are just like the pictures and the little tree is fixed on properly. It came wrapped like a present. Our robin found it the first week.

Verified

Pat R., Kendal, Cumbria

This is the view from my kitchen sink now. The robins come every single morning and the steel cups lift right out so I can rinse and refill them. It sits on the fence post outside my window and hasn’t budged once in the wind. Best money I’ve spent on the garden.

Verified

Janet D., Ripon

I was a cabinet maker for 38 years, so I looked it over properly. Square, tight, no glue blobs, no staples poking out. My wife thinks I bought it for the birds but I just liked the porch. It’s going on the post by the gate.

Verified

Keith M., Lincoln

Got Brenda’s Cottage after reading Clifford’s story and I welled up a bit. It hangs in our apple tree where the children can see it from the trampoline. Blue tits have been in and out all week and the kids have named every one of them. It came quickly and was packed really well.

Verified

Hannah B., Norwich

I am so pleased with Brenda’s Cottage. It is real wood and feels solid in your hands, nothing flimsy about it. Hung it in the rowan at the bottom of the garden on Saturday and a blue tit was already peeking in by Monday. Every time I look out of the kitchen window it makes me smile.

Verified

Lesley H., Leyburn, North Yorkshire

Hung it from the old ash by the vegetable patch and within a fortnight a pair of wrens had moved in. They haven’t stopped singing about it since. We’ve had three days of proper Pennine rain and the inside stayed bone dry under that porch roof. Already thinking about the Christmas House too.

Verified

Graham W., Skipton

Bought the Christmas House for the back door and ended up ordering two more for my granddaughters. The colours are just like the pictures and the little tree is fixed on properly. It came wrapped like a present. Our robin found it the first week.

Verified

Pat R., Kendal, Cumbria

This is the view from my kitchen sink now. The robins come every single morning and the steel cups lift right out so I can rinse and refill them. It sits on the fence post outside my window and hasn’t budged once in the wind. Best money I’ve spent on the garden.

Verified

Janet D., Ripon

I was a cabinet maker for 38 years, so I looked it over properly. Square, tight, no glue blobs, no staples poking out. My wife thinks I bought it for the birds but I just liked the porch. It’s going on the post by the gate.

Verified

Keith M., Lincoln

Got Brenda’s Cottage after reading Clifford’s story and I welled up a bit. It hangs in our apple tree where the children can see it from the trampoline. Blue tits have been in and out all week and the kids have named every one of them. It came quickly and was packed really well.

Verified

Hannah B., Norwich

I am so pleased with Brenda’s Cottage. It is real wood and feels solid in your hands, nothing flimsy about it. Hung it in the rowan at the bottom of the garden on Saturday and a blue tit was already peeking in by Monday. Every time I look out of the kitchen window it makes me smile.

Verified

Lesley H., Leyburn, North Yorkshire

Hung it from the old ash by the vegetable patch and within a fortnight a pair of wrens had moved in. They haven’t stopped singing about it since. We’ve had three days of proper Pennine rain and the inside stayed bone dry under that porch roof. Already thinking about the Christmas House too.

Verified

Graham W., Skipton

Bought the Christmas House for the back door and ended up ordering two more for my granddaughters. The colours are just like the pictures and the little tree is fixed on properly. It came wrapped like a present. Our robin found it the first week.

Verified

Pat R., Kendal, Cumbria

This is the view from my kitchen sink now. The robins come every single morning and the steel cups lift right out so I can rinse and refill them. It sits on the fence post outside my window and hasn’t budged once in the wind. Best money I’ve spent on the garden.

Verified

Janet D., Ripon

I was a cabinet maker for 38 years, so I looked it over properly. Square, tight, no glue blobs, no staples poking out. My wife thinks I bought it for the birds but I just liked the porch. It’s going on the post by the gate.

Verified

Keith M., Lincoln

Got Brenda’s Cottage after reading Clifford’s story and I welled up a bit. It hangs in our apple tree where the children can see it from the trampoline. Blue tits have been in and out all week and the kids have named every one of them. It came quickly and was packed really well.

Verified

Hannah B., Norwich

See Clifford’s Last Birdhouses

Frequently Asked Questions

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Got a question? Here's how to reach us.

My granddaughter Chloe and I personally answer every single email, as quickly as we possibly can. Whether you have a question about your order, which design suits your garden, or just want to talk birds, we’re here.

You can reach us:

  • Mon – Fri: 9:00 – 17:00 (UK time)
  • Saturday: 10:00 – 15:00 (UK time)

Email: info@countycraftco.com

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Can I return my order if I don't like it?

Of course. We stand behind everything on County Craft 100%. If you’re not happy, neither are we. Just send us an email within 90 days and we’ll put it right — no fuss, no forms.

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How are your products made?

Every product on County Craft is made by hand, using good, honest materials. We’re proud to carry on a tradition of craftsmanship that has been passed down through generations.

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    Free UK Delivery

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    Long-lasting & High-Quality Materials

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    90 Days Guarantee

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    Made by Hand