Tag Archives: building

The materials in the build so far

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After all the trials and tribulations of the last couple of years I thought I’d better do a bit of an update on the house.

We are continuing to try and be as eco friendly as possible. Most of our materials are either reused our recycled. Although we have used blocks to rebuild the structure the blocks are made of ash collected from power stations. The blocks are great in that they have air bubbles in them providing excellent insulation. We had looked at a variety of options but even though the products were pretty kosher they required a lot of concrete.

All of the stone has come from the original barn and the rebuilt areas look amazing. We have used the bricks which came out of the barn as coins around the windows and doors. They are looking rather splendid.

We are now looking at roofing materials, all of them are pretty pricey. Cambrian slates are made from pulverised slate which is reconstituted, they use a horrid system at the end worth plastic, but they are more reasonable than reused Welsh slates. Such a quandary!

So decisions are our daily bread and butter.

Winter

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We have had a truly exceptional winter this year, heavy snow, – 16, rivers freezing over, challenging and delightful.

We adore the snow, it seems to tap into a childlike desire to run around, slide down hills, instigate battles, dive into it… It is also so dramatic and the landscape is altered  incredibly, wiping away familiar landmarks. Another magical transformation was at night when no torch was required simply because of the bright moon and the snow creating a monochrome day light.

The honorary Tamsin bench

The cold and dark of winter creates a number of challenges for us, including keeping the fire in over night, limited lighting, frozen water pipes, keeping the chicken’s water liquid..but it’s all a challenge and you go to the river and get water for the chickens from there, and you go back to the old washing round the neighbours again..

It has been bitter however the yurt has continued to keep us very warm and provided us with all the shelter we need really.

Our veg garden, on a slightly less optimistic note, is looking a tad sad. Plenty has died in the polytunnel which in previous years has seen us through, including our kale. The brassicas outside have turned to moosh from being under all that snow. The celeriac appear to have survived and the Jerusalem artichokes seem to be thriving…

The cats ..(especially for my aunt Judy!) are doing well.. Rusty is currently sat on my lap, leaking an odious smell one end and a purr the other.. Gilbert is also doing well.. he has had a bad eye all year from diving into the long grass (idiot) but this seems to be finally healing.

Finally onto the build.. we are currently waiting for the weather to be just a little bit kinder and to sort out the bottom of the drive before we proceed with the build. This winter has however been one of optimism and talking about woodburning stoves, back boilers, hydroelectric, underfloor heating, solar water heating, pantries, kitchens, sunrooms, floors…etc etc!

We’ve got that planning feeling

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We have now entered the hibernation months again, with shorter days, windy wet weather (this week the yurt got lifted slightly by 65 mph gusty winds) or glorious, bright cold days and another winter in the yurt. However now we can return to a sense of planning and optimism. After 18 months of uncertainty we got planning permission to rebuild 30 ft2 of wall, which fell down. We have moved, in the last 18 months, from …you’ve lost your planning permission, all of it and you will never be able to build your home; rendering your land virtually worthless, you up to your eyeballs in debt and your life up the proverbial.. to …oh it’s only a small area of wall, there’s your planning…

If only it had been that easy or cheap.

Anyhow, not dwelling on the negative.. we have a project again and, it is with relief, we can return to the building. Plus, in the meantime, we have managed to: work on the land, plant our vegetable gardens and orchard, clear huge amounts of invasive Himalayan balsam (or as we call it – therapy), plant about 400 trees, bring a flower meadow back into good working order, dig a pond, rediscover the farm’s old gardens, build a polytunnel – now providing us with an endless supply of food, survive in a yurt (it’s actually lovely and mostly easy, until you come to winter), make our lives a little more easy in general, set up a business, continue working for the local Wildlife Trust, inherit another cat..actually – thank goodness we didn’t have to build, when would we have had the time?

Last year we largely slept through the winter, this one I think we will be wide awake till the wee hours talking about; solar water heating, how to keep a pantry as cold as possibly, whether to have a wind turbine or water power, whether to go for underfloor heating or whole house ventilation system with a big log burner, where is the kitchen sink going?