What do you do on the hottest day of the year? Install your log burner, of course!
MoreTurtles all the way down
We LOVE our fantastical contraptions. But they need to move easily and our double-sided bookcases could not be rotated or moved by me without help. Solution?
More50 Shades of Green
It’s Uplifting
Unquestionably, the most OMG moment of our house build.
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And the two shall become one
Making the Grade
In by Christmas
On the ceilings – Part 2, the sequel
I LOVE this look! More
A Visible Difference
Getting Plastered
Flurry of Activity
Back On Track
The Leading Edge
Some people dream of building a ‘Grand Design’ using ‘Leading Edge Eco materials’, but what they forget is that just beyond the leading edge lies a vast abyss of ignorance. The day you find yourself staring into it, you might just have to hope that an unexpected hero will suddenly emerge to save the day. Luckily for us, Chris Brookman and his products from Back to Earth appeared just in time. More
What’s been Cooking?
I’m going to have to stop apologising for not updating this blog. We’ve been doing lots of boring, unphotogenic, slog repetitive stuff. Filling holes, mostly. But this week, warmest this year, we’ve been doing some new style cooking – getting ready for our future! More
A Breakthrough!
Even if it looks more like a break-in than a breakthrough… More
New Year’s Resolutions
A quiet Christmas, with Deadlines…
When I got the idea to milk other people’s sheep, I created a lot or problems for myself. One is that sheep get ill and when they are taking certain veterinary drugs (antibiotics, wormers, etc) they cannot be milked for a given ‘withdrawal period’. How to easily tell which sheep must not be milked without bothering the farmer? More
And now a word from our Sponsor
We have Closure
No, we haven’t finished the entire house while you weren’t looking! If only! But we have installed Lynne Knowlton’s gorgeous sliding barn door wooden wheels, and we now have an amazing sliding door in the cabin! More
A Renewable Innovation
Now where have we got to…
We’ve had a long, self-indulgent period where we were hardly ‘self’ building. The amazing Mike Roberts with his able Whiteway Carpenters has been the real project manager (not me!) – every so often saying – ‘Time to order your insulation’ or ‘Better get the plumber in now’. He will still be coming in to help us with the ‘design and build’ – where he teaches us how to build something, then leaves us to get on with it. But Monday marked the end of an era.
Let it Snow?
Winter Sun
A Curtain Raiser
Confession: We haven’t finished the interior of the Cabin. The main problem has been how to create a sliding ‘barn’ type door for the bathroom. But the arrival of a special package is going to be a ‘curtain raiser’ for us!
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Topping Out
Had intended to have a big party, but Steve, our roofer has finished two days early. More
So nice to be here
Before… and during. Leftmost photo – the cabin before the house was started. Rightmost photo (and below), look closely, the single storey bit- away from the scaffolding to the left in the photo, that’s the Cabin that we are living in. I really want to share what an amazing experience it is to live in a micro version of the house you are building, while you are building it, but I’m struggling to explain.
‘Closing In’ – it’s official
Closing in
First equinox at Easterdown and nights are closing in. This is the phase we are at with our house – Roof, Doors and Window installation means we are closing in: More
Looks like a house
Very Special Deliveries
This week was always going to be tough because we are now on the first floor and need to move the blocks one by one onto the slab and then up onto the first floor. Yesterday we threw Manpower at it – Mike Roberts + 2 of his guys + me and it took us an hour and a half to get two pallets of blocks unloaded onto the first floor.
I had mentioned to the Wrights (who are helping me with the sheep and sheep milking), and this morning: More
Up to the Eaves
My Nephew dropped in for a few days – first trip to the UK and what does this American Tourist get to see? Lots of clay blocks. More
First Floor, Going Up
Getting on top of things
Next Generation
We have had generator problems for the last few months. The Hyundai generator died and I lost faith in the brand. Not in the people – Genpower and Just Generators have acted honourably and fairly – but I suspect I will never buy anything with a Chinese motor ever again. So skip forward to the next generation, our new generator looks very promising. More
What I most feared
Roderick James Architects wanted us to build with Clay Blocks. An environmentally friendly material (clay), cleverly engineered with natural insulation and thermal mass, but very expensive. Mike Hope said that we could afford this system because it is so simple that we could lay the blocks ourselves. I could imagine that indeed, we could lay the blocks, but knowing when and how to stop seemed to be an entirely different and much more difficult problem. How to know when you’ve reached a door or a window and what you do when you get there, REALLY worried me. More
Quick off the blocks
Unbelievably, we are pretty much on schedule! More
Carpenter Oak Magic @ Easterdown
Now you might think that Carpenter Oak magic at Easterdown is something to do with magic’ing up this gorgeous timber frame. Yes that’s part of it. But it doesn’t stop there, I’ve always thought that the guys from Carpenter Oak are ‘super’ men, but read on – you’ll believe a Carpenter can fly! More
Carpenter Oak, at the end of the day
Carpenter Oak were supposed to take three days to erect this frame. I reckon they will be ready to leave here at 11am tomorrow morning. They don’t hang around! More
Onward and upward
Getting off the ground
Flora and Fauna
Showing me the ropes
Up in the air
Solid Foundations
Things are really moving here
Phase 2 begins!
All Falling into place
Log store starting Friday and Solar Panels will follow. SO exciting – Carpenter Oak have kindly emailed photos of the framing! OUR HOUSE! So good to see:
First Guest Drops in
It’s not ALL work at Easterdown. Our first visitor! More
Bits of progress
Not without Niggles
Looking Up!
We’re On!
How our Solar System was formed
Can it get busier?
No days off for us, unlike our neighbours with the steam engine!
I keep asking myself the above question. Trying not to stumble under massive irony – We have phone and internet at Easterdown, but at the cottage where we are staying someone accidentally put a chainsaw through the telephone line, so no internet/email/voip in the evenings. Tough to arrange stuff, but we’re still progressing –
Connections – Off Grid but Online
On Top of the World
We are now out of West Acres but not quite at Easterdown. Up on the Brendon Hills, half a mile away from Easterdown. More
On the Ceilings
First Light
Our first Zero Carbon system is in and IT WORKS!!!!
Thank you, Thank you, THANK YOU Jamie Burnham for having the courage and the brains to design our brilliant wood range thermal store hot water system. It works perfectly and has already out-performed expectations. More
It’s a Sign
New Skills
Getting a move on
Flue in, floor and bathroom underway, all we need is a plumber….
We HAVE to move in soon, this Cabin is so lovely in the sunlight: More
Outside In
Esse Arrives
Arrival of the Esse Plus 1 which will provide heat, hot water and cooking. All in one very pretty package. Comments on the cabin from the installers “What an amazing place! Fantastic wood frame” (pointing to the Belfast Truss) to which the other answered ” I only take you to the best places”. Everyone who sees the Cabin, loves it.
Hearth and Home
A few projects over the last few weeks. Cabin 99% water tight – trying to do inside work now. Held up by the non- appearance of our wood burning range. Building regulations require hearth 12.5mm above final floor level. I reckon we cracked it. Or damn close. More
A Home
Dropped in to Easterdown today and suddenly it no longer looks a construction, it looks like a home More
Opening the front door
and 3 more days later…
Dropped in to Easterdown yesterday. Roof well underway and one roof light already installed. Really starting to look like a home. More
Did this really take 3 days?
Yes, it did. Well, two and a half, actually. This has to be the future. Self builders living in micro cabins, well insulated, beautiful, sustainable construction, and this becomes part of the final house. Plus we get to try out lighting, heating, electricity and cooking off grid and see what works and what doesn’t before we commit to the whole house. A microcosm of our future lifestyle. More
What a difference a week makes, 3 weeks and 3 days later
When I showed up this afternoon, Thursday, what did I see? More
What a difference a week makes (3 weeks later)
3 weeks later and Carpenter Oak bring the cabin to Easterdown. This transformation in 3 days is astounding. More
What a difference a week makes, (2 weeks later)
One week to go and Andrew Parkin has got the groundworks perfect. Less than 4mm height difference across those stones.
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What a difference a week makes
Or I probably should say, 3 weeks. This has been an incredibly busy time. Click for photo diary of just how quick the house came down and the Cabin goes up. More
Why would you want to do that?
When we embarked on this project, to replace a house that is off grid and remain off grid, people close to us said, “Why would you want to do that?” They’ve been asking whether we will be living in a Victorian past. But we think that living “off grid”, or at least with some system of electricity generation and storage, is the future. More
Got the Get Go
We have dates for the cabin!
Start date is 28th October and week commencing 11th November it will arrive on site to be assembled.
Busy weekend ahead, we have some catching up to do. Now, where are those wrecking bars?
Last of the good weather
Last weekend we started recycling the house at Easterdown. I suspect we got the last nice day this year, but it was still an inspiring day. More
By Popular Request
Someone asked to see a photo of Easterdown – This is 3/4 of a circular panorama we took last December (bit bleak and cold). Easterdown is a blank canvas, a flat field on top of a hill
Fantastical Contraptions
Originally we approached Roderick James Architects asking if there was some way to get onto site quickly, but not have to make all of our decisions at once. Could we somehow build in phases? More
Well Tested
After getting a few quotes to test the flow rate of our Well, the ‘mean gene’ kicked in and we did it ourselves. More
We can do this!
Excessive Behaviour
Little rethink about off-grid electricity consumption. Dare we assume we can always ‘be good’? More