"I'm one of only a handful of harp-makers left in Britain and I'm based in south Shropshire"

Among them is craftsman Jonathan Letcher who has been making the instruments since 1995.

Now living in south Shropshire, he originally trained as a boat builder in East Anglia, working in a number of boatyards in the Norfolk Broads and in New Zealand.

His first love, however, has always been traditional music and one instrument in particular won his heart at an early age – the Norfolk dulcimer.

“I loved the sound of the dulcimer, which is traditionally played in a number of parts of Britain, especially East Anglia. No one was making them, the people that were playing them were playing really old ones. 

“I found an old battered one in a junk shop and restored it, but it still didn’t sound very good so I decided to make one and I kept making them.

“I never did it for profit, I only did it for myself. I would make one or two, sell them, not for very much, to get the money to make another so I could keep improving,” explains Jon.

Having successfully applied his woodworking skills to making dulcimers in his spare time, it was a natural step to start creating harps.

“I was wondering whether I could make a living from making musical instruments. The problem with the dulcimer is that few people have even heard of it, let alone play it, so it’s not a good thing to make a living from.

“I needed another instrument and one of the other instruments that I have always loved the sound of is the harp. I used to listen to a lot of harp music while I was working.

“They take a long time to learn reasonably well – you have to learn to use all the fingers on both hands. The process of learning right from the beginning is very calming and very pleasant.

“It was a small market, but at the same time there were very few people making them. There’s probably only about four or five professional harp-makers left in Britain now,” adds Jon.