East Cambusmoon Farm

Here's How We're Doing

2011-12-09T22:09:00.007Z

A flurry of snow, beautifully clear skies, sunshine and a hurricane all in 24 hours. Work on site with the two holiday cottages has progressed well and we're pleased to dust off the blog to show you some updated photos.
The view here of the cottages from the east shows the two bedroomed stone building on the left of the photo and the four bedroomed one on the right. The larger cottage is finished partly in white render and will also have larch clad areas on the unfinished section you can see. The brown material visible is Pavatherm which is a compressed wood fibre board used as an external insulation material. That area will be larch clad which will age fairly quickly to a mellow silvery grey. The materials used fit very well with the local vernacular and have also been used on our own house. The red sandstone is well over 150 years old and is typically 2feet thick. The official naming of the two bedroomed cottage...

We commissioned a name stone which is placed high on the west gable of the cottage. I'm really pleased with the way the whole building looks now, the cleaned up stone is looking all the more splendid in the winter sunshine. For a quick reminder of how it looked check here.

Both cottages have access ramps and at grade entrances for wheelchair users. They also have plenty of big windows to maximise those views of our beautiful surroundings, being strong on energy conservation the windows are Argon filled double glazed with sustainable timber frames.The interior of The Old Dairy. The living space is a full height room with high level windows as well as ground floor sliding doors to the patio. You can just see the pipe which will serve the wood burning stove on the left.
The living space of the larger cottage is impressively large and, again, has big windows for big views.

The view below is of the Campsies (to the south-east) from one of the bedrooms.

One kitchen....

Solar thermal panels on the south facing roof....

and photovoltaic nicely generating electricity to serve both cottages.

Conic Hill and Loch Lomond wildlife

2011-08-26T20:02:00.014+01:00

Last evening I had a lovely walk up Conic Hill on the eastern side of Loch Lomond. A quick midweek blast of exercise, some fresh air and a good opportunity to catch up on chat with friends. As summer winds down it is now getting dark around 9 o'clock but the trip up Conic is short steep hike from the Balmaha car park, ideal if you've got a spare hour or two. Last week we walked up as a family in glorious sunshine with a picnic so took ages longer and spent a decent amount of time enjoying the immense views in every direction. On the way down yesterday we met a few local coos, lovely large bulky Highland Cattle, a perfect Scottish scene.

Highland cattle are of course a domestic breed but the goats I saw on my previous lochside walk up near the north end of the loch are feral, there seems to be quite a healthy thriving population and are a common sight for walkers on the West Highland Way.

The next photo was taken rather quickly of an unknown creature in the water. It took a bit of time to realise we were watching a mink swimming just off shore carrying dead prey which appeared to be only slightly smaller than the mink itself. After swimming, the mink scampered across the beach and headed behind rocks to better cover. American mink have no natural predators, save man, in this country and are a result of the generations following escapees from mink farms as far back as the 1920s. The mink population have become a nuisance in parts but I was intrigued to watch it as I've never previously seen one.

And finally, has anyone any knowledge what this skeleton is from? Photographed just north of Inversnaid on the eastern shore of Loch Lomond. I spotted it when walking day 3 of the West Highland Way. It seemed far too pristine to be real. Any ideas folks?

Progress...

2011-08-02T21:27:00.007+01:00

... has been fairly rapid during the long days of a Scottish summer. Since pouring the floor slabs the timber frame has gone up in a matter of weeks, with work now starting on building up the old dairy's stone walls another 400mm to roof eaves level so our guests will have plenty of headroom upstairs!

Construction design is similar to the house, using an insulated timber frame clad with woodfibre board on the outside for extra insulation and to reduce thermal bridging. This keeps the wind out and, with the help of fancy tapes and membranes on the inside, the heat in. Heating is to be from a ground source heat pump and solar thermal panels, with solar PV offsetting electricity use. Inside we just have underfloor heating on the ground floor which will keep things cosy during the chilly winter months!

Over the next couple of months we should see the roof windows in and the roofs slated, then hopefully, the windows and doors will have have arrive so the cottages can be wind and watertight before the cooler and wetter months...roll on Autumn!

West Highland Way Day 3

2011-06-27T21:36:00.010+01:00

A whole week ago now my friend and I were joined by another keen soul and enjoyed a splendid day on the West Highland Way. As we are walking this long distance footpath in stages day 3 was undertaken as a day trip - luckily its close enough to home for easy transport either end. The final four days of the walk to Fort William are planned for September when we are hoping for fine weather! Unfortunately we in the west of Scotland have had a wet May and June but last Monday's walk up the east side of Loch Lomond was blessed with warmth and a dry day. As we set off from Rowardennan the views were typically wonderful of the Loch and the hills, such a great vista. Familiar territory but changing views and different perspectives gave me such a great feeling.

After a short distance the path climbs up the lower slopes of Ben Lomond and as you gain a bit of height the views through the trees are inspiring; the photo above is of The Cobbler, an iconic hill in Argyll. Properly known as Ben Arthur it is just under the magic 3000ft altitude to qualify as a munro.

The path is not difficult in terms of navigation but day 3 of the way is regarded as the most tricky in terms of terrain. From broad forest tracks the route narrows down and becomes quite rocky in places, always needing to adjust your stride, and being sure to place your foot well. Just a few days beforehand the West Highland Way race runners took this path, setting off from Milngavie in the wee small hours. The fastest runner completed the Way in 16 hours 24mins. Aside from that being an amazing feat of physical endurance and fitness I'm amazed the pace could be maintained on the rough, rocky path north of Inversnaid.

Kath and Karen

As it was such a good day we had lunch on the shore, the water was clear and gently washed onto the stones, in all honesty I could have stayed there all afternoon, life seemed very easy and tranquil.

As we walked further north the narrow lochside path amongst the trees leaves the base of the Ben and moved into broader areas as we approach the top of the Loch, it is relatively narrow at this point and again this enhances the change in the landscape as you move towards the Highlands proper. We met people of many nationalities on the Way, one American couple on their first trip to Scotland had come over specifically to do this walk. With the variety of scenery and terrain the West Highland Way offers it's easy to see the attraction.

Just before leaving the edge of Loch Lomond there's a great viewpoint looking south, we spent time admiring it and then turned away to finish the walk and the day in the traditional manner with a celebratory drink in the pub.

Pouring the Floors

2011-06-19T22:46:00.004+01:00

The monster concrete pump pouring the floor slabs for the two adjacent cottages, this covers the underfloor heating which is attached to the steel mesh. With the heating encased in the concrete slab this provides a high level of thermal mass to stabilise the internal temperature of the properties. We used the same principle on the main house which we built 3 1/2 years ago and it really works well, alongwith the high levels of insulation and air-tightness.

For the most part since commencing the build the weather in this part of the world has been unseasonly poor with twice the usual rainfall and generally lower temperatures. As the concrete was poured on a warm, sunny, breezy day the builders then had to spray water onto the surface to reduce the temperature as it set in order to avoid cracking.

Water Supply

2011-06-19T22:24:00.002+01:00

These two photos indicate a bit of the mayhem created by the section of new water supply pipework around the holiday cottages and to the main house; the collection of pipes which previously supplied us with water was a mish mash of different diameters, materials and depthes which had been added to, altered and haphazardly repaired over the years; some of the supply pipe was laid just below the surface of the driveway a couple of winters ago our mains water supply froze for 2 weeks. Thankfully the supply pipe is now at an appropriate depth. As you can see from the photos it was rather wet when the work took place, adding to the trench-like feel of the place.

The stone building is the 2 bedroomed holiday cottage, to the right you can just see the local hill known as The Dumpling, a quick 20 minute walk up for one of the best views of Loch Lomond.

Holiday Cottages Underway

2011-06-06T22:06:00.008+01:00

So here we are starting a new and exciting adventure at East Cambusmoon. Three years ago we moved into our house, beautifully designed and immensely energy efficient, see here. We adopted a very low energy approach to the design and the construction detailing which focussed on significant levels of insulation, a high standard of air-tightness, strong passive solar design and a ground source heat pump for the heating and hot water, supported by a small PV array and mechanical heat recovery and ventilation. When we were at the design stage 4 years ago this approach was not widely taken but, even in the short time since we moved in, more people and architects are looking more broadly at how homes and buildings are managed environmentally. We joined the AECB and adopted their Silver Standard for energy use and carbon emissions. In truth the house has far out-performed this standard and even in the last particularly cold winter was warm all day every day at very low cost.

The main difference between the projects are that the house was a new build and the holiday cottages are a conversion of two very tired farm buildings. Notwithstanding our intentions to replicate some of the approaches we took with a brand new building we are very aware that we are renovating an old dairy and byre and will certainly be retaining the architectural features the buildings; the red sandstone which was quarried locally, the arch over the doorway and the window recess with wooden lintel. Here we are creating two adjoining holiday cottages, one of two bedrooms, one of four. As we are in Loch Lomond & Trossachs National Park we hope that some of the year-round visitors to this stunningly scenic area might like to come and stay in the cosy warm luxury of our holiday cottages. As you can see we're just starting the conversion works and we'll do our best to record the journey on this blog.

The building story so far has been one of rapid change. The roofs have fallen in and the rubble cleared out; in the stone building (which will have two bedrooms) the 'hole' for the sliding patio doors has been punched through and the stone stockpiled for reuse; in the larger unit, which was brick built in the 1950s, the walls collapsed so extra blockwork and labour will be required; floor levels were equalised as existing floors sloped. Then we get into the first stage of serious insulation - the floor. So much heat is lost through the floor, don't waste it!

In the past week 200mm of polystyrene and polyeurathane insulation boards have been laid throughout the buildings and on top of this will float 30 tonnes of steel and concrete in the 4 bedroom unit and 15 tonnes of the same in the two bedroom unit. Before the concrete is poured the underfloor heating pipes are installed; this is done by fixing the pipework (large diameter polythene pipe ideal for use with heat pumps) to the steel reinforcement mesh with tie-wraps. This approach works well with ground source heat pumps which have lower operating temperatures than the more frequently used shallow tray form of underfloor heating. The concrete provides the thermal mass necessary to stabilise the temperature and keep those cottages lovely and warm when needed.We're using Anderson Floorwarming for the underfloor heating, hot and cold water systems, installation of the ground source heat pump and solar. We are happily working with the same builder, subcontractors and architect as we did on the house so its nice to see familiar faces back on site.

M74 Bike Ride

2011-05-22T22:34:00.008+01:00

Today we joined the M74 Bike n hike ride along the new link road joining the M74 to the south side of the Kingston Bridge section of the M8. The contractors opened up a stretch of the new road to cyclists, runners, wheelchair users and families with kids on scooters, in buggies and in trailers to raise funds for a combination of 8 charities. Good PR on their part, nice bit of fundraising and good fun for us.

It was amusing to cycle under the blue road signs on the overhead gantry indicating Carlisle, the children wanted to know if we were cycling to the Lake District today? The route was only 14km long but we enjoyed the blast along the tarmac despite the wind making the return leg harder work for the children.
The new link road will open in late June, it will be interesting to see if it eases traffic congestion in central Glasgow and make the through route to Loch Lomond any quicker.

West Highland Way Day 2 - Drymen to Rowardennan

2011-05-16T16:58:00.016+01:00

Day 2 (yesterday, Sunday) - an earlyish start of 8am for us, not because we're awfully diligent but Kath's husband's offer of a lift to where we ended day1 fitted with tee-off time at Strathendrick golf course. The forecast for the afternoon was heavy rain so it seemed like an ideal chance to get a few miles under our belts before the rain set in. Weak sunshine and very light showers barely penetrated the Garabhan Forest, the first section of today's walk, but it was lovely to be amongst the silence and calm of the trees and clearly hear bird song as we warmed up the muscles for the 15 mile section to Rowardennan.

Forestry operations have been ongoing recently so the tracks were muddy but at least there were no machines working today so no diversions were necessary.

As we left the forested area it was most exciting and rewarding to see Loch Lomond and some of its islands. We had a decent view although the mizzley rain never quite went away. The streams we crossed were in fine flow and everything looked green and vibrant. Our first proper view of Conic Hill and it seemed further than we had thought, perhaps because, for a period, you spend time walking away from it rather than towards it. However, we were soon at the foot of the eastern shoulder of the hill. Although I've been up Conic a few times it has always been directly from the car park at Balmaha so, like day1's walk, it was really good to see it from a different perspective.
As we climbed the shoulder onto the ridge the rain came down, paths were running as small streams, and as we tipped onto the top we were met with a strong wind which drove the misty rain directly at us. No stopping, no views to admire, we just put our heads down and dropped down into Balmaha as soon as we could. On day1 of the West Highland Way we encountered over 100 people, on day2 it was significantly less. Partly this will be due to differing start times but also many we met had chosen a low level option to avoid Conic Hill. Those who we met up the hill seemed slightly manic and happy and we had some nice wee chats with fellow walkers.

Dropping down into Balmaha you pass through some lovely native woods with plenty of bluebells, young ferns and gothic-like fallen trees. I really enjoy a stroll here and its immensely accessible from the Balmaha side without going to the top of the hill.

A reviving coffee stop at the Oak Tree pub and we were on our way north alongside the Loch. The path is mainly through the wooded edges of the loch, sometimes with short bursts up slopes to viewpoints and sometimes with boots crunching on the shoreline beaches.

The photo below is at Millarochy Bay.. And this one is at Sallochy Bay, about an hour south of our journey's end, when the sun came through and finally beat the rainclouds away for the rest of the day.

We both found the last part of the walk pretty tiring. Its like being a kid again, quite literally thinking 'are we nearly there yet?!' Day2's walk has a little sting in the tail, a couple of final short sharp inclines just to eke that last bit of effort from our warm heavy feet.

The view from Rowardennan looking north. Loch Lomond is a beautiful place indeed.

Most people we met were stopping in Rowardennan for the night, some were undertaking the next 7 mile section to Inversnaid without stopping, and we, like others, were heading home to make plans and dates for continuing the rest of the Way.

West Highland Way - Day 1 Milngavie to Drymen

2011-05-14T20:31:00.008+01:00

One winter's eve, in front of the stove, with a glass of wine to hand my friend Kath and I decided that 2011 would be the year for us to tackle a long distance footpath. Not just any route but our local West Highland Way, a 97mile wander from the outer 'burbs of Glasgow through lowland valley to the bonnie banks of Loch Lomond and then north through the beauty of Highland Scotland, across the wilds of Rannoch Moor to the edge of Glencoe and then finally via the Devils Staircase and on to Fort William and the bottom of Ben Nevis, our highest mountain. Today we took the step from fireside ramblings to real ones.

At the start in Milngavie. There were masses of people starting the walk today, Saturday being the most popular day to start. We are walking the route in weekend 'chunks' as neither of us can take a full week off work at the moment but some were starting out with full camping gear for a week of walking. Lots of people, lots of approaches.

Sometimes getting out of towns can be the trickiest part of a route but the waymarking and the path for the whole of today was very clear and to be honest the map was kept in my pack the whole day.

The early part of the route took us through pretty woodland, the sun dappling through the trees and falling on swathes of bluebells, campion and other wildflowers.

After the Carbeth road we entered a wider and more open valley with wide views, big sky and first views of Ben Lomond, the Cobbler and beyond. We only live a short distance from here but it was so interesting walking on a footpath in a different part of the valley to the road we may usually travel. Its also fun taking a slower pace and having the enjoyment of absorbing your surroundings.

The photo below is of Dumgoyne hill, at the bottom of this hill is Glengoyne Distillery which is, I believe, the most southerly of the highland malts.

Throughout today the path provided easy walking, some of it on disused railway line routes. There are various places en route where you can stop for lunch or visit a cafe or pub and it would be very easy to leave a car at either end of the route to make it a linear day walk.

This marvellous looking sheep (anyone know what breed?) looked on as Kath adjusted her boots to prevent them rubbing her ankle. We're both treating this weekend as a warm-up for the route further north and what we relished most was the knowledge that because we live close by we would be heading to our own homes at the end of today.
As the walk goes through the hamlet of Gartness (good for watching the salmon leap at the right time of year) there is a very sweet sight offering tired walkers replenishment at an honesty shop outside someones house.

As you approach the final couple of miles of any walk I'm sure appreciation of the view is heightened by the wearniness of your muscles, this view below is looking back to Dumgoyne hill which at the start of the day lay ahead of us. We've had a fun day. Really enjoyed finishing the walk into Drymen and jumping into the pub for a large glass of wine each. We called a lift home for the 4 mile journey and a relaxing evening.

FUNEX?

2011-05-03T21:59:00.012+01:00

One of the great joys of hen keeping is having lots of lovely fresh eggs for breakfasts and baking. Last year we reared 10 chicks and since earlier this year the females have been laying. During the cold winter our hens conserved their energy but currently in the long daylight we're getting between 6 and 10 eggs per day. I've always been aware that the eggs produced here are large but hadn't ever investigated what the size categories actually mean. I was prompted to check after Molly came back from collecting the eggs with this super sized offering...

According to Omlet an extra large egg is over 73grams; so you can only feel sorry for one of our poor hens who laid this monster 120grams egg. Yes it had a double yolk and yes it made a very fine and tasty omelette for lunch with a few salad leaves on the side.

The title of this post? F U N E X - well if you're not familiar then may I take you back to the early part of January 1975, I believe, British comedy in the form of the Two Ronnies and their sketch which I remember being about M N X, that'll be ham and eggs.

New Beginnings

2011-04-26T21:06:00.009+01:00

What do you mean that doesn't look like the sort of holiday place you're thinking of for a dream vacation in Loch Lomond & Trossachs National Park? The patio areas certainly need a good sweep and, if there were any windows, they would need a good clean so that you could see the splendid views.
RENOVATION WORK STARTS 16th MAY 2011, hurray!
The sun is shining and we are very excited at the prospect of renovating these lovely but very very tired buildings and creating two tip top holiday cottages for visitors.
The plan is to create this. As you can see by the date of the archive entry this has been 'work in progress' for a long time. Lots of unremarkable reasons for that - life work family balance - but we are really keen to see these buildings brought into vibrant and viable use and to share this lovely part of the world with a few people. We'll post more detail on the design and construction approach in due course but, yes, they will have the same high standards as the house we built 3 years ago (can't believe its been that long!). We'll be adopting the AECB silver standard as a target for high levels of thermal efficiency and air tightness to ensure excellent comfort levels for our guests and to promote a more environmentally conscious approach to renovation and building.

In the meantime here's a few moments of Spring beauty present at this time of year...

daffodils at the very end of their prime, blossoms coming forth on the fruit trees...

clusters of primroses in the shady spots...

and a wee bit more apple blossom to show how pretty it is. We planted some fine old varieties of apple 2 years ago to create an orchard and I'm pleased to see that is really taking shape and providing interest now. We planted a mix of culinary and dessert apples and hope the mix will provide a decent long season of apple picking for us and our guests.

2010-12-15T19:21:00.004Z

Not so much a blog as a weather report! Lots of fog, freezing the air and the ground, weakening the already weak sunshine. Creating a big fat inversion layer above Loch Lomond but allowing the grandeur of the mountains to rise above.

More news next time, we're just catching up with life and activities disrupted by the winter weather and preparing for the next lot. The fire's lit, we're warm and we're getting ready for Christmas. Best wishes.

Frost and Fog on Snow and Ice

2010-12-07T09:59:00.002Z

Morning sunrise, deep frost, nippy on the skin, beautiful to view. Then engulfed with fog which has ebbed and flowed across the landscape. As the blackbirds retrieve haw berries from the tree and the ground I wonder if its liking eating frozen peas, do they chew them somehow to extract the goodness? Wondering how that works. I've put more seed out for them. There's a weak sun trying to break through to warm a few parts of the ground but there are some areas which never catch the light at this time of year.

To the south and east we have blue sky, to the north and west there is deep fog, wonder which will win out today? Loch Lomond is immediately north of us and the moist air above the loch often creates a dense inversion layer, very pretty to view from the Dumpling (hill pictured below) when you see the hills in full sun rising out from the dense white/grey fog.

Yet more snow....

2010-12-06T16:15:00.004Z

At 6.30am I woke to the sound of heavy rain on the window, and smiled at the thought of the slight warming outside which must have lead to this phenomenon. It didn't last long as next time we looked out of the window there were huge, fat snowflakes falling in swathes. Within a couple of hours we had fairly deep fresh snow, school was closed as none of the staff could get there and the roads were impassable for a period as the snow had fallen on top of ice which made the inclines too tricky. Another day at home - nice in so many ways but becoming a real problem for workers. The football goal with the extra bit of snow clinging to the net.

We topped up the bird feeders and sprinkled some seed on the top of the snow. The blackbirds were budging each other out of the way to get to the seed and we also had plenty of starlings, blue tits, robins and chaffinches.

We made our first ever Christmas pudding mix at the weekend and heaped it into 3 basins which have been steaming away all afternoon.

Molly made black banana loaf - a Nigel Slater recipe she was keen to try having seen it on tv last week. The 'black' being chips of chocolate. For some bizarre reason the children aren't keen on bananas but are quite happy to eat them in cake form.

I made sticky toffee puddings, one rather large one earmarked for a pre-Christmas family feast and four small ones for after dinner today.

We've been playing in the snow, Finlay is standing on the snow which has fallen from the roof. The late afternoon brought freezing fog but its great to get outside and enjoy the fresh air, however much we enjoyed all that baking.We've been to see our hens, who are not impressed at the limited amount of snow free space they can find under the hen cabin.

The new inhabitants on the farm, escaping from the fields for a while. We renovated a barn this summer so there is good space to accommodate the sheep this winter.

We've had a fine day, plenty of activity but it would be nice to get back to normal life!

Snow

2010-12-01T22:17:00.008Z

Last Saturday night the first, and unusually early, snow arrived. Its truly beautiful and very very deep. As its immensely cold theres not much likelihood of the snow disappearing very soon. Bit tricky to get out and about.

Snow clinging to the branches of a corkscrew hazel, quite earie and its quite amazing that such a depth of snow can cling to skinny twigs.

The pitch of the house roof is a relatively steep 45degrees so, although the snow sits there initially, when the weight gets too much the whole lot slides in great avalanches with a humungous roar and tumbles onto the footpath. At some point on Sunday night after more heavy snow fell we were awoken by the biggest racket when a huge amount of snow came off the roof. Its exciting when you're safe and warm inside.

As school was closed a gang of us met in the local park. Great fun but pretty darn cold. There is a bit of tricky balance, its great having a bit of time off, walks out and fun in the snow, staying close to home and exploring the changed landscape...but catching up with work here and there is not ideal after day four of no school.

The beauty of Ben Lomond enhanced by the snowy scene. A complete blanket of white. The sound is also dulled and its enormously peaceful.

I'ld also just like to link here to Caireen's post at patchwork dress for some more local photos.

2010-10-25T19:17:00.006+01:00

Autumn sunshine and a wonderful fine weekend at home. On Saturday morning when the clouds cleared from the sky there was a light covering of snow on the hills, a visible change in the season. The snow soon disappeared as the sun warmed the ground. A perfect couple of days for gardening, cutting the final sweet peas, picking the pumpkin from its exhausted plant, feeding the last caterpillar ravaged broccolli to the chooks. We also had an abundance of outdoor time and restorative fresh air and sunshine. Fabulous.The colours of the leaves have such immense variety, the changing light throughout the day always emphasises this wonder of nature. We made time to play.

Picked some thorle pippins.

And spent a bit of time hen watching.
These fellas are now 14 weeks old. We have 9 hens of varying older ages and 9 'new' ones, 5 cockerels, 4 hens. They are quite settled together and enjoying nestling into the edge of the pen to capture the warmth of the sun. The chicks came to us when they were a week old and were kept in a large cardboard box in the house initially to keep them warm. As they grew we made a new temporary house outside from a bed frame and chicken wire to acclimatise them gradually and then eventually they were introduced to the existing hens.

A couple of the cockerels facing each other out. Generally there has been great harmony amongst the growing chicks and even the merging of the two groups only exhibited a low amount of hen pecking/pecking order goings-on. I think from now the cockerels will show more natural competitive behaviour and will have to be seperated and removed.

As the afternoon progressed we took a bit of a walk locally, admired the view of Ben Lomond and then went up our local hill The Dumpling to watch the sun set and the full moon rise. A lovely end to a fine weekend.

Hedgehogs

2010-10-03T21:00:00.005+01:00

We found these wee fellows in some loose straw by the edge of a stack of bales this afternoon. There were two adults around as well so we are sincerely hoping we haven't overly disturbed them. The hay has been in the same place for quite a few weeks and is protected from the wet Autumn weather we've had this week. Although it seems a bit late for breeding apparently females can have two litters a year and these would be September babies. They must be over 2 weeks old as their eyes are open and their spines fully out (they are born with the spines under the skin to save the mother some pain!). Hedgehogs tend to go their own way at 4-5 weeks of age. There are loads of worms and insects around so we hope they and their parents are getting plenty of food. Hedgehogs go into hibernation when the temperature is cool enough rather than a specific time of year so all being well they've got plenty of time to grow and lay down fat stores before the weather turns chilly.

The Village Flower Show

2010-08-24T20:23:00.004+01:00

Friday evening and Saturday morning were a flurry of village show preparation activity. We're pretty last minute and certainly in the rush I suspected that I'd forgotton to put baking powder into the banana loaf , sure enough when the judges sliced the loaf in half it was obviously veeerrryyy dense. So no prizes there then! Although it has all been eaten, tasted great and was very popular at home. Thanks KC for your comment on the last post. I happily managed to get a third prize for the Victoria Sponge. Most of all I was excited to get the first prize for my 'basket of plenty' as shown above. 18 months ago we didn't even have anywhere to grow veg and, currently, we're close to self-sufficient in veggies.

Welcome Back

2010-08-18T16:06:00.004+01:00

I made you a cake in honour of the East Cambusmoon return to blogworld. Partly inspired by the new BBC2 series The Great British Bake-Off, which was easy watching TV last evening, and partly by some thoughts of entering the Gartocharn Flower Show this weekend, I used Mary Berry's Victoria Sponge recipe from the TV programme and it turned out a treat. Now if I get my act together and make another one for the show I realise that putting cream into the middle is not going to cut it with the judges on Saturday, apparently thats a big no-no, but today is the last day of our school holidays, we've had a bundle of people around and this sumptuous wonder is just about gone. The man of the house suggested more jam would be appropriate....but he caveated his comments in advance with plenty of praise. Hereabouts its traditional to use raspberry jam - is that the same everywhere? Here is another new project for us - 9 chicks, this photo was taken when they were about 3 weeks old. More of them another time.

Thanks for those of you who keep checking back in with this blog. Your patience has been appreciated.

First Day of Winter

2009-12-01T21:01:00.006Z

The first proper chill of the season, -5 last night after a glorious sunny day. Its a great start to December. The frost provided a great view as the vivid pink sunrise spread across the sky. The brussel sprouts apparently become sweeter with the cold. I used to hate this veg but recently we've been stirfrying them with chilli and ginger or alternatively sesame oil, almonds and onions - gorgeous. We're planning to have some left for Christmas.

Last weekend we finally saw the departure of our 'number two' caravan - aka our guest van, Tommy Boy's caravan, also the laundry and overflow storage. Its taken us ages to give this van away but at long last the space has been cleared. We've still got the caravan we lived in during the house build but hopefully that one will move in the Spring.

Walking by the Bonnie Banks

2009-11-16T21:18:00.003Z

In the later part of Sunday afternoon we had a very refreshing and lovely walk down by the loch with our friends. Plenty of leaves to kick along the path and lots of great views of Loch Lomond and the hills through the bare trees. The water levels are quite high but in the stillness of a windless day the clarity of the water was very good.

and yes they did all get very wet feet with water flowing over the top of their boots, before we continued with the walk through the nature reserve. It may be November but a short sleeved T shirt seemed to suffice for one young man.

We spotted an owl and a deer while we were walking back.

2009-11-10T19:38:00.004Z

Some of the Apple Day activities for the children included planting crab apples from seed.

Glencoe revisited

2009-10-15T20:34:00.008+01:00

We're on school holidays here so spent 3 days in and around Glencoe and had a thoroughly marvellous time.

The combination of the mountains and the sea lochs give this area great presence whatever the weather. I used to come up here every year for a long time but haven't spent a holiday here for ages so it was fabulous to return for more than a day trip. Especially with a visit to old favourite the Clachaig, albeit dining in the lounge bar rather than the climbers bar (life post children).

We took the easy option of a ride on the Aonach Mor gondola to get to just over 2000ft up the hill. Had a stroll out to enjoy the views and a visit to perhaps the highest children's playground in Britain. At least it was done nicely in timber without vivid plastic . This is the ski area for the winter season but with the gondola operational throughout the year it brings people in particularly for hillwalking and big downhill mountain biking. The record for the downhill from this point to the car park, a distance of 2.6km, drop of 520metres, is something like 4 minutes which it totally and utterly beyond belief. Thankfully the children thought it was too steep (but for how long?).

The Pap of Glencoe, a mere foothill to the wild and scary Aonoch Eagach ridge but nonetheless an impressive sight either from the woodland south of the visitor centre or from Loch Leven to the west.

Finally - top foodie find - the Lochleven Seafood Cafe which is on the north side of Loch Leven. The food was divine, service excellent, views across the loch wonderful. Sorry no photos but do call in if you're up that way. We'll certainly go back there.

Storms, the garden, the heat pump - bit of a catch up

2009-10-05T19:31:00.010+01:00

Sunday morning was gloriously sunny so a couple of hours in the garden was fun. With work during the week and a wet n windy day on Saturday I've barely looked at the garden.
Behold - the ravaged spring greens aka caterpillar central. I've tried picking off the caterpillars and feeding them to the hens but in all honesty I don't think the hens like them; the hens easily demolish slugs and worms but perhaps these hairy black and yellow (cabbage whites) caterpillars aren't awfully tasty.

The ravages of Autumn....we've had some proper wild seasonal weather now; this is Loch Lomond on Saturday, looking more like the sea than an inland water. The changing stormy skyline looks impressive and its great having a refreshing walk by the Loch; but also nice to get home to a roaring woodburning stove and the cosiness of the house. Last night the heat pump switched itself to winter mode which essentially means its been consistently cooler outside now (ie the average outdoor temp including nighttime is below 10degC) so if the internal temp drops then the heating will come on in the house. For us we've set the internal temp to 20deg, although its usually 2 or 3 deg cooler upstairs where we have no heating.

Not sure if I'm pushing my luck by trying to sow a few seeds this late but 2 weeks ago I carved out three mini-plots with some old Aberfoyle slate and distributed spinach, sorrel and mispoona. The latter is a combination of mizuna and tatsoi; essentially an oriental style green which should work well as a salad or cooking vegetable. I tasted a few leaves today, it has a full buzzy vibrant taste like peppery rocket. So long as we get a bit more sunshine I think we'll get some pickings through October. Nothing ventured....

Other parts of the veggie garden are still in great vigour; we've just finished the courgettes and cauliflower but have recently started harvesting savoy cabbage. Brussel sprouts are forming nicely, the leeks are growing and of course the ever exuberant chard. Plenty of iron rich greens!

There's still plenty of colour in the robust calendula which seem to have survived the early Autumn storms. I do like this flower, its so simple, so happy. When I remember I pick a few heads and pluck then dry the petals; they make a good addition to a bath for relieving excema and dry skin. Even better when placed in a muslin type bag with organic porridge under a running tap - it really works.

Ex Battery Hen - 7 weeks on

2009-09-14T19:39:00.004+01:00

Apologies for posting this photo again of 'scabby hen' as she's known by the children. When we first got hens we sweetly named them individually but after a fairly short while to be quite honest it was difficult to distinguish one from the other so the practice was soon dropped. Anyway here is scabby hen 7 weeks ago, very pale, fairly bald and with a very red sore chest and undercarriage. ...and here she is now....with lots of new feathers and a good appetite for the worms, grubs and greenery in the recently cleared potato bed. Nice happy hen story but its still sad to think that 85% of all eggs used in cafes, restaurants and pubs etc still come from battery hens.
Glad they and we are enjoying some sunshine for a few days. We got 8 eggs today, hurray!

Apple Juice Pressing

2009-09-09T21:55:00.015+01:00

Sunshine abounds, such a nice day for a change. Lots of solar warmth in the house too. So after work had ended for the day we spent time outside. Then we roughly hosed off a load of apples we'd picked at a friend's house last weekend and crushed and pressed them for apple juice. We used lots of cookers so the result is a rather tart sharp juice in flavour; we've frozen half unsweetened and added a bit of sugar to the other half - I think the lack of sweetness indicates the lack of sunshine here recently. The crushing is done in a big bucket with a drill bit which is like a paddle mashing the apples to bits and then the pressing takes place with the lovely Vigo press we've had for a few years now. The resulting apple juice has that cloudy homemadeness about it - doesn't look that appetising really! Tastes good though..and its an exclusive limited edition 'single estate' cold pressing.....

Early Autumn?

2009-09-08T19:40:00.005+01:00

The weather is too grim for words.

It has been overwhelmingly wet in this part of the world for the past 3 weeks. The fields are saturated with rivers and ponding where you don't usually seem them; Loch Lomond has reached winter water levels with the disappearance of beaches, shoreline and jetties; gardening activity has ceased except for picking veg for eating.

The horses could do with wellies.

However amid the gloom I've been preserving the summer as best I can with lots of jam and jelly making and my first attempt at lemon curd. I made this just before the village show; very fresh very free range eggs went into the mix alongwith the butter, sugar and lemons and I was a bit surprised just to get two jars in the end but it tasted divine...and got a third prize at the village show, hurray! We also won prizes for our spuds, shallots and plum jelly. There was a little tension in the house as 'my' potatoes beat 'his' potatoes but there's nothing like a bit of competition~#!?

Veg Heaven!

2009-08-13T19:46:00.008+01:00

We're giving away lots of broccoli at the moment as it is in great abundance. The freezer is a bit full otherwise I'd maybe make some soup....need a bigger freezer!

This cauliflower however is the only one looking as fabulous as this; the others are much much smaller. This is the first time I've grown caulies and the baby plants were passed on by a friend so thanks to them I've grown something new to me.

Sarah Raven's Garden Cookbook is one of my favourites for veg oriented inspiration and this week I think I've tried a new recipe every day. Its not a veggie book as such but is terrific for new ideas when you're just about to present the family with another plate of steamed/boiled veg.

Top three recipe tips for your summer glut from Sarah's book - courgette and lemon salad, a fresh raw dish, v easy to make and tastes fab; grated beetroot salad with orange which is refreshing in both taste and the fact that usually I hate beetroot but actually really like this recipe with bbq food; and the lovely halloumi, mint, coriander and dill pittas which are great for lunch.

Chard - one of the easiest vegs to grow and more versatile than I first thought - the stems take a few minutes longer to cook than the leaves so its best to seperate them. Beyond steaming it I wasn't sure what else to do with the stuff -

so after consulting Sarah I picked an armful of varying coloured chards and prepared...
Chard Gratin.......which was gorgeous, I was quite surprised it tasted so good, and that is the test of a good recipe for me. Doesn't work for vegetarians as the recipe contains anchovies but the flavour was wonderful and I guess we had way over 10 'govt approved' portions of veg that day

The Good Life

2009-07-26T18:06:00.005+01:00

Meet one of our new hens. Yesterday we went to collect and rehome some more ex-battery hens via the Battery Hen Welfare Trust. This bunch were in quite good form with a bit of strength and 'perkiness' about them despite the sorrowful state of their bodies. We first rehomed 10 battery hens 2 years ago and I'm pleased to report that some of those are still with us and have enjoyed a good quality life with considerably extended life expectancy.

The girls below are just venturing out of their transport box, somewhat bewildered at the concepts of sunshine, grass and fresh air. Before too long their combs will change to a more healthy red and their feathers will fairly slowly come back too. In today's rain showers some of them noticeably shivered so we popped them into the hen house to keep warmer as their bodies start adjusting to the variable temperatures of the outside world.

Today's weather was so much better than the forecast of storms and humungous rain so a bit of gardening time was presented. We're currently picking salad leaves, spinach, chard, sorrel, peas, broad beans, radish, onions and new potatoes. Plus one courgette so far. Very exciting! Well we're pretty chuffed anyway. Not too long ago this area was a bleak concrete n mud mess so the change is very inspiring. Most crops are thriving although the french beans are looking a bit peelywally and something ate all but one of the young courgette plants (mouse?). Thoughts and plans already abound for next year - more peas to be grown as they're just totally gorgeous; the potatoes are going in the bed which seems to have an awful lot of weed seeds in it to help clear those out; more beds will be under construction before too long and as usual I haven't really got my head around succession planting.

Holiday Postcard

2009-07-24T22:27:00.010+01:00

The freedom of holidays....lots of larking about and some time together here on the long long sands at Holkham with all those fabulous colourful beach huts

watching the waves crashing on the shore at Salthouse

flying kites on the beach of millions of smooth peebles

the weather wasn't always good, you can just about see the driving rain on the following pic taken just south of Southwold, lots of glorious boats and huts on the quayside, a real hive of activity. We'd just spent an hour on the beach but the storm was threatening with spectacularly high and very dark clouds overwhelming the area inshore

elsewhere we cycled on a few trails, spotting lots of butterflys, bees, birds and a few other creatures; unfortunately Steve had a valve blow out so had to walk the final stage of one trip

but just around the corner we were lucky enough to spot this slow worm moving across the path

our lovely trip to North Norfolk is now over, its a very fine part of the country to visit

top food places - The Pigs, Edgefield (particularly fab for carnivores) and Pulse, Norwich (top veggie food)

great campsite - Kelling Heath, nr Holt

fave beaches - Holkham for sand, Salthouse for wind, waves and slightly more wild appeal

best bit of all was also getting to spend some time with our friends in Garvestone - best accomm and food of course, thank you t,j,i,m

The Next Phase - Renovation of the Dairy

2009-06-20T07:04:00.007+01:00

Welcome to your new holiday home..........needs a bit of work to get that roof sorted out but you can see the potential for the restoration of the stonework arch. We've been working on the design for the two holiday properties we're going to create out of the former dairy and these have been through the planning process so now the detailed drawings are underway before a building warrant application is submitted. We've used the same architect Thomas Robinson Architects (see links) because we like their ethos and design approach. The renovation will continue the low energy principles, using high quality materials and a sympathetic but contemporary design.

The design for this south elevation makes the most of the existing stone arch as the main entrance to the house and also brings some more light into the property with full height glazing both on and adjacent to the door. The stonework will be cleaned up, the slate roof completely replaced using the existing slate alongwith the slate we retrieved from the original farmhouse and there'll be a small area of larch cladding to tie in with materials on the adjoining holiday house and the main 'new' house. This is the East elevation - the stone building on the left is the one whose elevation and entrance door are shown above. The large doors on both holiday houses will open onto patios and terrific views across the fields towards the Campsies. So this is where I envisage guests may be sitting munching their cornflakes in the morning sun planning their day ahead!

We're making electricity!

2009-06-05T00:30:00.005+01:00

It's now over two years since we dismantled our solar PV system from our previous house and nearly a year since we put the panels on the new woodshed at East Cambusmoon. So high time we made the connection to the grid again!

With Jim the electrician round to do some bits and bobs around the house, we took the opportunity to dust off the inverter, check all the cables and connect it up.

After a few hours work by Steve and Jim came the time of the big switch on late afternoon. Firstly the solar voltage was checked - 180V in cloudy conditions - then the final connection made. After a final check all disconnects were connected and all switches switched on, and the inverter buzzed into action. A couple of minutes later 300W of power registered on the output meter, then as the sun appeared from behind a cloud as if to clebrate our latest milestone we were up to 900W - 8 times more than we were using with our excess, renewable, organic green electrons spilling back onto the local grid!

By the end of the day (we were still generating a few watts at 8:30pm) we had generated over 2kWh, half of which was exported. Next step is to register with Scottish Hydro and get paid 28p for each of those units we export!

Home made power doesn't get much better than this...!

2009-06-03T21:30:00.002+01:00

totally fabulous weather, so much time outside, its such a great part of the world, bbqs, walks and mucking about....and the garden is coming together too!

hope you're all well

2009-05-25T20:58:00.003+01:00

Today we walked up the Dumpling. A short refreshing stroll with a terrific view of Loch Lomond from the top.

Lots of Lovely Compost

2009-05-24T20:33:00.003+01:00

It didn't take long for the contents of our compost bins and the horse muck heap to be consumed by the raised beds and we were wondering where/how to get some more in order to grow veggies etc this year. Through Jane I discovered that Scottish Water can supply POD which is peat free compost/soil booster which has been created from composted green waste, 'sanitised' -whatever that means and is biologically active and environmentally friendly. Also it came with the recommendation of James, the owner of Damhead who grow organic veggies to supply throughout central and southern Scotland.
So, a couple of weeks ago, we had approx 19 tonnes delivered and dropped from the back of this very large lorry. Fabulous! The existing beds are now all filled and we'll have plenty to use in the next area where beds will be built (in due course!) and for topping up the areas for general planting of flowers, shrubs etc.
Today I finished planting the seedlings which have been grown in the house and the caravan, I also sewed some crops directly in the soil. The list of goodies in the ground is now as follows;
Potatoes - desiree, maris piper, ratte and pentland javelin
Broad beans - aquadulce claudia and sutton (the latter being good for windy sites - which this is)
Peas - kelvedon wonder
Courgette - all green bush
Dwarf beans - sonesta (a yellow variety)
Spinach - renegade and bordeaux
Baby carrots - ideal
Spring Onion - white lisbon
Radish - rougette
Chard - bright lights
Salads - a california leaf mix; and a few bits from 'leftover' packets

We'll make some direct sewings of other veggies shortly. But it has only recently started warming up here - and to remind ourselves on sunny days of the Scottish wisdom "ne'er cast a cloot 'til May is oot" has certainly been apt this year.

Busy day and lots of fresh outdoor air

2009-05-21T20:40:00.003+01:00

First day of the school holiday weekend for us today. Glorious sunshine at the start, the children were up early but delayed breakfast to play outside, collect the eggs, pick rhubarb, chalk on the paving, hit some tennis balls, do a bit of skateboarding. By 9am they were keen to have brekky and move onto other activities. So this morning I made a batch of rhubarb chutney which is looking very dark and lucious. The children weren't keen on the overriding vinegar smell while cooking took place but were intrigued by the bubbling steaming hot mass in the pan. We've been overloading on rhubarb crumble, tart, torte, cake, fool, and custard recently but not yet at the stage we're tired of the stuff.
The outing for the day was over to Balmaha on the east side of Loch Lomond, a small village with a boatyard, good pub, National Park visitor centre and huge car park. We had a lovely walk through the woodland on the lower slopes of Conic Hill and did lots of exploring. The weather had changed from the early morning and was a mix of showers and weak sunshine so the midgies were out, although not toooo bad. Lots of bluebells to see still and lots of 'nature walk' interest for the children.

I love seeing the new growth on pine trees like this, the contrasting greens make a good sight.

The growth of lichens, some of which are quite some size, are also a great indicator of the clarity of the air.

A glorious sunny end to the day was just perfect.

2009-05-10T20:24:00.007+01:00

a few days of good weather is forecast for these parts - that would be so nice!

so, after a week of skies this colour....

we're looking forward to a (short) spell of evenings like this...

2009-05-07T21:32:00.002+01:00

just a wee note to say that Fintry Development Trust is holding its FRESh event this weekend which is well worth a visit if you're in the area

A different sort of egg-watch

2009-05-07T20:46:00.003+01:00

Generally the British are fairly weather fixated - usually, as people say, because we get so much of it. Chez nous we've always been obsessed, partly because we work in the wind industry, partly because we use the sun to heat and power this house and least importantly 'cos I've always fancied being a meterologist. Anyway right here right now its only 4degC, sleeting and with winds over 40mph....and its May for goodness sake!

The piccies are of the oystercatcher which has laid 3 eggs on the stones just outside the preschool nursery in the village. Its causing a bit of mayhem as the eggs are just next to the front door so people are having to use an alternative entrance. Its a great learning experience for the children who report on progress and get a chance to see 'nature in action'. Even amongst the slate the eggs are nicely camouflaged. I believe the eggs will hatch in about 3 more weeks so shall post any progress.

It has rained since Sunday.

2009-05-06T20:54:00.006+01:00

A bit of an update although I haven't taken any new photos recently. I'm sure the many many rainy days we've just had have limited such creativity. Actually we had sunshine at 5am this morning, a glorious start to the day, it held such promise!

After great angst on the hen front we may well be back to normal service as we've had a few days of unpecked eggs. I can't lay claim to any secret weapon, we checked the eggs so frequently that the number of pecked eggs reduced which may have helped break their bad habit, we kept the hens to their pen rather than give them completely free range around the farm, we moved the grit closer to their house just in case they weren't getting enough. General experience from others indicates that you can't always cure them of this habit but we're hoping the bad spell is over...

Last weekend I went to the Wee Green Market in nearby Killearn, this was recommended by Caireen of the patchwork dress who I met through the blog but who lives just down the road. The WGM is a monthly market held in a village hall, partly for community fundraising and partly as a means of supporting and promoting local businesses. There were some super crafters such as Lynn of My Baboo who I have met before so it was really lovely to catch up. I'll certainly go again - especially for birthday presents.

Inspiration and 'eggsaperation'

2009-04-21T19:19:00.007+01:00

We've had a great Easter holiday trip to Cornwall and return home with lots of inspiration from the Eden Project and the Lost Gardens of Heligan as well as having well-earned time out and larks as a family. As the weather warms up we can get on with some garden creation of our own....always remembering how long it actually takes to create these things. Our growing season is quite a few weeks behind the SW of England so the only thing I've put in the ground so far are fruit bushes. The main thing for us this year is to create the framework of our gardens, particularly the fruit and veg areas but also the entrance which still looks like a derelict farm and the little jungle which currently sits between the house and the office. In that area of overgrown shrubbery lurks a vast ground elder mess. The area is surrounded by buildings or hard landscaping so I'm hoping we can contain it and maybe even eradicate it (over a few years!). With lighter evenings and better weather we're in that optimistic phase of Spring gardening. And we've had our first flurry of rhubarb crumble making from the patch. wonderful Victorian rhubarb forcing pots at Heligan

pigs made from cork at Eden

Eden Project

The hens are infuriating at the moment. Their egg production has plummetted; this has happened before and we've usually found an alternative nest somewhere (hay barn or under a large shrub) where they've layed their eggs. However, after a couple of days at home and observing their activities it would seem that the birds are eating their own eggs. For the last 3 days we've had one egg per day from 9 hens and today I've found remnants of 3 other eggs in the hen house. Advice on various websites ranges from a cull (paradox given that these are rescued ex battery chooks) to blowing out a good egg and filling it with mustard/pepper or similar. What I've done today is put 2 plastic golf balls in the hen house in the mild and probably vain attempt to dissuade them from pecking their eggs. Web advice basically indicates that when one discovers how to get into the egg the others soon learn. Despite checking the eggs really frequently today we're not getting to them before they've been destoyed. This evening we used our last 3 eggs in a carbonara sauce. Giant's Head on the woodland walk at Heligan

and finally for today here's a photo of a juvenile sparrowhawk which found its way into my garden shed, perhaps it could have a word with the hens.

Fabrics and finishes

2009-04-02T20:37:00.014+01:00

Voyage Chantal in Mulberry was chosen for the only curtains in the house........

This fabric pear was a Christmastime purchase from Snapdragon.

Oak, reflections, glass and textures in the master bedroom.

Below the fluffy mongolian sheepskin cushion sits on top of a lilac cube enhanced by trimmings and embroidered pieces from the Voyage Eden used on the headboard....as lovingly sewn on by our friend.

Bright breezy and beautiful Voyage Eden Multi fabric used on bed headboard.

Sanderson Honesty Victoria Plum in a linen/cotton mix was used on the 1.8m wide blind for the master bedroom.

Signs of Spring

2009-03-08T20:45:00.004Z

We're not the world's greatest twitchers but there has been so much bird activity this week its easy to get excited about the onset of Spring. Early in the week and early one morning we were just heading out when we happened to see a sparrowhawk nab a blackbird for its brekky, the sparrowhawk was totally unphased by our presence nearby but eventually flew off with its prey. The geese are still around in great numbers and we have a lot of pink foots as well as greylags and some canada geese. Their wingbeat when taking off or landing is quite something, its an amazing and powerful sound. The other great sound I've heard and love is that of the curlew, I think its the male's mating call which so distinctive but it really is building in volume and is definitely a sound I associate with Spring. I'm not sure what the collective word for curlews is but i reckon a 'cacophony of curlews' is a good group name. We've also seen oystercatchers this week. On some days it really does seem like Spring, on others it seems like we're full on in the middle of winter and we've had snow, hail, sleat, storms, ice and anything else you could mention. Great scenery though!

We seem to have a problem with the woodburning stove in that the bedroom through which the pipe runs to the roof gets a bit of a smoky smell, I've also discovered traces of black soot from the edge of the plasterboard which boxes in the pipe. So until someone comes round to check it we've stopped using that. Its perfectly warm in the house but we love having a real fire. We're also going to review the snagging list and forward it to the builder as theres a few odd things which have never been remedied and we're heading towards our first anniversary in the house.

Message for Sue and Tamzin - curtains and fabrics coming soon! A bientot!

Spring Lambs & Other Creatures

2009-03-01T19:46:00.008Z

The first phase of 5 raised beds took a bigger step forward this weekend with the final joinery and positions completed. Then followed the task of filling then wheeling lots (around 20 me thinks to fill the smallest bed) of barrows of well matured horse muck up the slope - Steve kept using the phrase 'the green gym' to keep me/us going! We popped a couple of hens into the first bed who worked diligently to create a finer till, the rest of the hens soon joined them in a frenzy to grab a few worms from the thousands wriggling in the muck. Later this week I'll be planting 3 blackcurrant bushes (Ben Lomond variety), 3 redcurrants (Jonkheer van Tets), 3 red gooseberrys (Red Dessert) and 3 green goosegogs ( Careless) in that particular bed. We'll also be putting a rabbit/hen proof wire around the perimeter to protect the crops. Next weekend will see a few more wheel barrows of muck shifting to fill the next beds

Quite a few lambs have already arrived but this weekend the children were around to witness the birth of triplets which was quite exciting. Initially they were engrossed but after number 2 arrived they got bored and wanted to go back to trampolining! Next weekend is the start of a busy lambing week with most of the remaining ewes due, so far there've been a couple every few days but the majority are still to deliver

An finally...we visited our friend's new pigs. They are tamworth x vietnamese pot bolly I think. Very amusing creatures.

Eureka - the snow arrived

2009-02-10T21:34:00.004Z

We finally got some snow this week and although it has melted a little after a couple of days there is still enough to play in.

The view at 7.30am this morning - epic! Pink mountains and crisp white show. Chilly outside at -7degC.

The trees looked fabulous on the first morning after the snow fell. School was still on but we had to walk rather than travel by bus or car. It was a real pleasure given the beautiful scenery.

The crunchy snow gives very clear evidence of animal activity - mainly rabbits plus a visit from foxy loxy.

We dusted off our snowboards and we're now thinking of piling more snow on this slope to create a better run!

Wooly Guests

2009-01-25T20:19:00.004Z

We're providing a temporary home to a neighbour's Texel ewes to escape the worst of the winter before/while lambing; its very exciting having them here - the children are expecting lambs to appear daily, all being well the first should arrive in a few weeks. The texel breed is well regarded and originates from Texel island off the north coast of the Netherlands. They have very strong features and quite large faces, they look tough. Its great having them here - all the fun of watching them with none of the responsibility of looking after them!

Raised Beds Under Construction

2009-01-25T19:44:00.004Z

A mixed bag of weather this weekend but we have made progress on the veggie garden. On Friday (in sunshine) the ground was levelled and cleared of its rubble and general debris and then on Saturday the general preparation of the timbers for the edge of the beds was done. We are using the joists from the demolished house to create the frames; most of these are 5.5-6metres in length which works a treat for the space we have available for the raised beds. The joists themselves are 10inches in depth which is fine for the beds and once they were de-nailed have been placed approximately in position while we 'fine tune' the layout. The first phase should create 5 rectangular beds of approx 1.5m by 5.5m.

We've got lots of well rotted horse muck to fill the beds with - a job for another weekend!

Frosty Days

2009-01-08T12:22:00.002Z

Its sunny and (relatively) mild today but we've had some great frosts, clear skies and low temps recently. When it sunny and dry its so nice to wrap up and get out for some fresh air. Its pretty good coming back to a warm house too! This time last year we were in the caravan and I now look at it and feel like crying, it was quite hard at times but you just soldier on. This weekend we're going to move the caravan out of the way into one of the barns and then in the Spring we'll make a good effort to sell it. The second caravan will be free to anyone who wants to collect it.

Now that we're back to the normal routines after the wonderful frenzy of Christmas, Hogmanay and school holiday fun I'm very keen to get at least one of the veggie beds in place. We are just about to finish the last of our potato crop from last season and the prospect of becoming really productive with our own food this year is very exciting. In the house we're also just finishing the last of the elderflower cordial we created last summer and we had the last of the frozen rhubarb in a fool at New Year. This weekend I'm going to cover a few of the emerging rhubarb crowns so we can force some early pickings.

2009-01-08T12:17:00.003Z

We've had lots of folks staying over Christmas and New Year including Kerri and Russell from Hervey Bay, Oz. They followed our blog last year and were pleased to be able to see the house for real.

Proof of the pudding...

2008-12-03T20:31:00.003Z

It's December, and time I blogged again. The last seven months of occupancy have been intense at ECF, not only with moving in but also just catching up with 'normal' family and work life. Despite the festive season being just round the corner, we at least feel we're getting there!

On the energy front, seven months of occupancy means we've got some data on energy consumption to compare with what we specified and predicted...and the results are quite a relief!

The bottom line is that we're using 25% less energy than we expected; and that's in a house already designed to use less than a quarter of the energy of the average new housing stock. In general hot water and space heating energy use are on target, although these account for less than half of our predicted energy use. The big savings have thus been made in other energy use, namely lighting and appliances. In particular the use of LED and CFL light fittings, coupled with A and A+ energy rated kitchen appliances has paid dividends.

Whilst in most houses heating and hot water use accounts for up 80% of domestic energy demand, our experience just shows that real savings can be made with little effort by replacing lighting and appliances (when worn out of course!) with more energy efficient equivalents.

Catching up with our crops

2008-12-01T21:32:00.006Z

Its a funny thing - as with conversations with friends when you haven't written your blog for ages you just don't know where to start..."what have you been up to?"..."ooh not much really, y'know just the usual".

So despite it being December here's a harvesting the potatoes photo. We had great success with the red Desiree and will still be enjoying those 'til well into the New Year, they taste good, were quite prolific here and very few had any sort of damage or rot of any kind. The Kerrs Pink were tasty but much more prone to damage and much less hardy, as you might expect really. In late Spring I was given some diddy wee broccolli seedlings, planted them very late and just stuffed them between flowering plants as I hadn't prepared a proper bed, haven't a clue what type they were but they turned out just grand. The peas we planted just got lost or nibbled to the extent there was no crop to speak of this time.

The apple trees were fairly sparse in production but thats neither a surprise nor a worry. The Golden Spire which is an old Lancastrian cooker, also well suited to cider production, did quite well and produced large firm fruit which tasted delicious in crumbles etc. The Ribston Pippin and the Thorle Pippin both produced some small eaters but they were a bit on the sharp side, presumably because the sunshine wasn't abundant in the middle summer months. I've just been mugging up on pruning the trees which is a good winter task.

We're back!!

2008-11-27T13:46:00.002Z

Hello from us! The blog is being reborn....with this photo which was taken in July.
We're online in the house which has taken countless agonies with BT and we're looking forward to catching up with progress and news from our part of the world.

Food production underway

2008-06-20T14:03:00.005+01:00

The fruit is forming on this Golden Spire apple. We could really do with some rain as we've had around 7 weeks of significantly dry weather which is mighty unusual. I'm not expecting too many apples this year as the stock is only a year old and I'll need to learn the best way of pruning apple trees to ensure good healthy growth. In the border between the hen enclosure and the stone wall we've planted peas and broccolli amongst the cottage garden flowers and greenery.

We've planted Desiree and Kerrs Pink potatoes this year, both good Scottish stock, the former producing firm red skinned tatties and the latter for salads. Although we thought we'd just plant the 3 bags this year I bought far too many seed potatoes and after giving away loads to friends we've planted the remainder in fairly rough soil behind the top of the long stone wall. Despite planting late they're coming through nicely. We aim to create our raised bed veggie garden this year with plans for it to mature into an attractive parterre style affair over time. We'll be using joists from the old house to create the structure and hope to get that underway in the school holidays which start here next week.

One year since moving here

2008-06-17T12:59:00.006+01:00

It was one year ago this week that we moved from our old house, a Victorian sandstone place, into the caravan here. As we turned the key in the lock it started raining but we laughed as we set out on this journey of housebuilding. I know there are a few people reading this who are just commencing on that journey so I just want to say its so worth it, although unquestionably hard work, and to keep plugging away as you will get there. One year on and we're unpacking our worldly goods which have mainly been stored in one of the outbuildings here. Thankfully no damage has come to them after 12months+ of storage.

The newell caps are one of the snagging items - the design is excellent being square with a shadow band but unfortunately someone at the manufacturer has used indelible pen to mark the house name/contract number on the top. No-one is actually looking to deal with this so we're going to see if a joiner friend has any ideas. I think sanding it off isn't going to work as the pen has absorbed into the wood. Our on-site joiner tried rubbing it down but I think its one of those small items that we will end up sorting out as no-one else is 'taking ownership'!

These pics are of various internal finishes. There are lots of reflective surfaces, black glass and oak on the hall wardrobe illustrating the light coming through the windows in the dining area. The 'flowers on the wind' stickers coming from the velux window are from Pedlars. Door handles from Carlisle Brass. We bought all our velux blinds online at Bumblebee Blinds who seemed competitive and were certainly efficient.

Building Control Certificate

2008-06-16T14:41:00.005+01:00

Last Wednesday the joiner returned to fit this to the large upper floor window and on Thursday building control visited and all completion certificate and paperwork were handed over. Another key landmark in the creation of the house. The window illustrated is a fixed light 1.8m x 1.8m and affords a stunning view. We were so disappointed to be advised that this would need an internal barrier in place to comply with building regs. If we had known then perhaps a different design or different specification might have been created in the first place. Looks like a play pen.

BT have failed to meet four appointments to connect the phone. OK they pay compensation of £10 each time but we'd really rather have a phone line. So hopefully order number 5 will work...........

The wonders of nature never cease to soothe, we have an abundance of brown hares who are particularly visible in the early morning

Fine days

2008-06-04T10:19:00.012+01:00

Last week our good buddies from Norfolk came for a holiday. As always it was lovely to catch up with them and it was also fun to have the house busy with the noise, mess and activities of two families. This marks one of those transitions between this place being a home rather than a house. Other self-builders have commented on the time it takes to settle in after designing, planning and constructing a house. Tamzin and her family bought us a beautiful handcrafted box for collecting apples from the orchard in years to come and some herbs for the garden. The herbs are being planted in the beds we've created between the top of the stone wall and the hen enclosure until we have formed our raised beds. The trailer in the picture above is full of plants ready to be put into the bed.

We officially had one rainy day in May.

Simply stunning skies

2008-06-03T09:29:00.003+01:00

May has been such a fabulous month weatherwise and in the past week we've had some gorgeous sunsets. Official sunset time is 10pm but the sky is light much beyond then. I love this time of year especially with this amount of sunshine. We haven't mounted the solar pv yet (time constraints) unfortunately.

2008-05-27T12:57:00.001+01:00

this was our first evening meal in the new house - late in the evening, salubrious dining

2008-05-27T12:26:00.003+01:00

The pile of top soil which was created at the start of the contract has been levelled and will return to grass over time. We haven't delineated the garden/field boundary formally yet but will do so over the summer. We've asked Allan who built the long drystone wall on the east side to undertake various jobs over the next few months and the new garden wall will be part and parcel of that package of work. We've still got plenty of sandstone left from the old house to reuse. Since this picture was taken the hens have a had a field day (in the precise sense of the words) with the newly turned soil.
When the render was being cast one area fell off and was redone with the adjacent wall (on this picture to the left) within a couple of days but it is very clear where there is a variation in colour. The product is from K Rend and we've asked the architect to speak with their rep to see how this can be remedied. The wet dash finish is very typical of this area and much of Scotland. Variations between batches of the same colour can be a problem in a number of areas be they render, paint or other finishes but for us its very noticeable on this elevation.

On the snagging list for the window supplier - the paint on the aluminium cills is dropping away at a fair rate. Thankfully the maintenance man from the supplier came here last week, remedied a number of problems and are going to replace the damaged cills. The cause of the problem appears to be unknown so we hope the issue will not return with the new ones.

Update...

2008-05-25T22:07:00.002+01:00

Now we're in and the snag list getting shorter, it's nice to take stock and get back to 'normal' family and work life. The good weather of late is helping (why did we build a house in winter?!)

One of our outstanding issues is connection of phone and broadband to the house (ironically the caravan is still better connected than the house!) such that once this is done and we have more time, normal blog service should resume....

We are in!

2008-05-14T13:22:00.004+01:00

No news is good news..and also reflects the lack of an internet connection.

We are in! Hurrah. The recent glorious weather has provided the best of starts with the sunshine emphasising how fabulously light this house is right through to late evening. Its not properly dark for many hours in this part of the world as we approach midsummer so the changing light outside is a constant delight.

Lots of building info to convey but the detail will have to wait a few more days, as will photos. Time and attention is devoted to our business and family needs at present. Unpacking is a slow process but we have everything we need. Having lived in a caravan for 9 months it is clear that our lives don't need most of the 'stuff' we have packed away in boxes so there's no urgency in that area. We've been concentrating on making sleeping and eating areas comfortable.

Quick info for today's blog;
1. We are SO pleased with our house. Satisfaction and feel good factor is high.
2. The quality of the architecture and the build is superb.
3. 3 points to resolve for building control i) one step on the patio is of a different height to others, ii) lashing eyes are to be provided for a window cleaner to clean the large first floor bedroom window and iii) on the same window there is ongoing discussion whether an internal barrier/rail needs to be put in front of the window - its a fixed light but the building control officer is considering this point, more later on that
4. Externally we live on a rather rough looking plot - plenty of work in the years ahead.
5. The apple trees are in blossom and look stunning.
6. The poorly hen has recovered completely and the hens are completely free range now that the chances of being run over have diminished. About 5 eggs per day are being produced.
7. The temperature in the house is pretty even despite it being hot outside and the MVHR is at its lowest setting.
8. The slate floor is particularly terrific in terms of appearance.
9. There is some snagging but not much except relating to the windows which have a good number of small issues to resolve. The supplier is currently proving slow to deal with them despite our first contact being around 2 months ago now.
10. Phone line being connected on Friday allegedly.

News Update

2008-04-19T20:58:00.004+01:00

Optimism over realism. We'll be in this caravan for a while longer!

The electrician has been here all day and has just about finished his remit which is terrific. Steve helped him fit the extractor hood this afternoon while I cleaned the childrens' rooms. A kind friend entertained the offspring for a couple of hours which was a great help indeed, thank you. This evening Steve is fitting the dishwasher while I tackle the last 100 pages of Hemingway's Farewell to Arms for book group tomorrow (well, I've had a lot of other things going on).

Yesterday the valuer from the Valuation Joint Board came to assess the house for Council Tax purposes. Although its not quite finished we'll find out which band we'll be placed in shortly. Last year I met the same guy as we had demolished the old house and were living in a caravan. Caravan living put us into band A which in this district amounts to around £850pa, the concept of which I really struggle with especially as our council has one of the worst Council Tax recovery rates in Scotland.

One of our hens has been fragile of late and we've thought it has a tumour but today it really seems more perky so hopefully it'll recover. Its difficult to say as hens tend to fade fast it they're not well. Bearing in mind these are ex battery hens we still have 8 out of the original 10 and have good egg production. Now that they are less likely to get run over by site traffic we let them roam free outside their pen so giving access to the field and, unfortunately an area where I have planted some bulbs which are now scrached to the surface.

Some of the apple trees are coming into leaf which is encouraging.

Time Out

2008-04-17T19:56:00.003+01:00

We're on school holidays here so amongst other things we have had a few walks up our local hill, the Dumpling, and a bit of fun on the tree swing. In between times we have to persuade the children that another trip to B&Q/Ikea/Jewsons etc etc is a worthy activity. Who are we kidding?

Not quite there yet...

2008-04-17T19:09:00.005+01:00

The sensibilities of moving in tomorrow aren't really there as progress has been quite slow since our builder went on holiday last week. He's a very good project manager so I think it would all look a little further advanced if he'd been around. We perhaps 'ought' to wait another week but....the jobs fill the time available and Steve and I need to move in. The kitchen is messy but there isn't much left to do there and we could reasonably use it at the weekend after a good clean. The childrens' bedrooms are being carpetted tomorrow so we'll get their furniture in and blinds fitted on Saturday if possible with a view to that being our first night.

The granite worktop was fitted last weekend, just 2 weeks after templating, and we're very pleased with the result. The team were a very pleasant trio from Estonia and Lithuania. The plastic protective wrap on the doors and drawers is coming away on this photo and together with the general high dust and grime levels doesn't inspire but we reckon on using this kitchen this weekend. The caravan hob is just about adequate and the oven ok only for warming stuff. Last summer it took nephew Tommy Boy nearly an hour to part bake/part burn a pizza. We have managed to cook a good selection of food over the past 9 months, we've even entertained a few times, but a real kitchen is now beckoning.

Here's the wood shed (the biomass store!) which has been constructed from salvage timber, notably the joists from the original house and an oversupply of sarking board.

The roof elevation will be approx 2/3 covered by the solar panels.

2008-04-15T19:38:00.002+01:00

Yesterday it felt like so little had changed in the previous week which made the thoughts of moving in later this week less likely, however with a few people on site for much of the day today we have a reasonable chance of moving in to parts of the house at the end of this week.
Today the chimney problem was resolved without taking the whole lot apart which was good news and beneficial in terms of time and hassle. The wood burning stove was tested and added to the warmth of the house on a bright sunny day. We decided to have the visible flu painted black so there was the temporary smell of the paint warming up but we think it looks the part. The internal doors and stair timbers are being oiled, some have had two coats already. The gas hob is in place and we'll move the gas bottles to their place by the wood shed in the morning. The local gas supplier is dropping off the switch over valve tomorrow. The wood shed has moved from its makeshift workshop and looks well in its final place; it doesn't look nearly so large in situ as it did on plan but is large enough to hold the solar array and accommodate a huge amount of wood.
That's a bit of a list but essentially this stage of a project becomes a bunch of lists which can remove some of the excitement. To stand and admire the views, breathe the fresh air and absorb the tranquility of the house and its setting doesn't take long and makes it easy to remember how good this is. Nine months of temporary living soon over, caravans for sale anyone?

I've found the dinner plate.....!

2008-04-14T22:32:00.003+01:00

Our aitightness test a week ago had me crawling around in the loft at the wekend with a big torch which revealed the achilles heel of our aitightness strategy - penetrations and unsupported joints!
For the most part the vapour/air membrane is continuous within the building with joints made with tape and silicone which were then mechanically trapped beneath battens or plasterboard.
The exception to this is the loft space where the membrane was simply stapled to the underside of the rafters, between which insulation was previously fitted. This clearly makes the membrane vulnerable to gravity (!) and any air pressure difference between outside and inside the house with the ultimate risk of the membrane pulling away from the rafters - which has started to happen in one place. I have also spotted two un-taped long joints with resulting gaping holes exposing the insulation, and an unsealed soil pipe penetration. These gaps must easily account for at least half of our dinner plate size hole given that the soil vent pipe ducts were open in the bathrooms during the airtightness testing.
The ultimate solution is probably to bring down the membrane from the rafters to the loft floor and place the insulation from between the rafters on top of it, thus creating a 'cold' loft. It goes wihout saying that the penetrations need sorting out also!

One week to go?

2008-04-11T21:15:00.007+01:00

Just one person on site to day, Billy the tiler has given the slate floor its final coat of sealant (Lithofin) so its looking quite smart. He's also sealed the showers so we'll test those out this weekend, after some serious cleaning as its pretty thick with dust inside the house.

There has been no action on the replacement chimney which is a shame as it has a knock-on effect for reslating that part of the roof, finishing the joinery in terms of boxing out the area in the bedroom and painting thereafter. As the builder is away on holiday we'll need to do the chasing. We received an invoice from the architect yesterday which is quite amusing/bemusing as we haven't seen them for some time now.

We're at the stage where there are a lot of small things to finish off but its all going very slowly. We're still moving in to a couple of rooms next Friday come what may!!!!

The cleared area where the huge dairy shed used to stand was originally going to be gravelled for car parking but we have realised how large this area is and how ridiculously expensive it would be to gravel. We really don't need such a big area just for vehicles so this is where we intend to start creating the raised beds for our veggies. We're going to use the remainder of the reclaimed roof joists from the original house (the 5m x 2m woodshed is utilising a few) to lay out the area and start filling it with last year's matured horse muck. We have presumed linear beds to follow the line of the wall but after seeing this evening's Gardener's World I quite fancy a more interesting layout, be that triangles, diamonds or some other such whimisie.

The on site compost producers...... our friends' horses Danny and Lily.

2008-04-09T21:58:00.003+01:00

The Contura wood burning stove in place in the main sitting room. We sourced this through EcoLiving who also supplied the ground source heat pump. The photo below is of the less attractive connection through the main bedroom to the chimney but this will be boxed in when the fitting is complete. This will still be a few days as the lower section of the external chimney and roof flashing need to be replaced because they have been damaged on site and a good seal with the internal pipes can't be achieved.

The slate tiles in the hallway will receive another coat of seal this weekend.

Just a short while left in our temporary home - we moved in here in mid June 07 and we're moving out next week. Its been pretty hard work at times and I can still feel the cold of the week before Christmas but being on site while the house has been built has been fun and essential.

Passive house weekend...

2008-04-06T21:35:00.003+01:00

After our airtightness test was done last Friday I switched off the heating, having 'cooked' the house for a couple of days to aid the thermal imaging tests. On Friday evening it was 20.5 deg. in the ground floor and 19 deg in our unheated 1st floor bedroom.
After a chilly and breezy Friday night, both these readings had dropped by just 1 deg overnight and still no heating. During the day the readings dropped a further 1 deg (tilers in - patio door fully open!) then raised a little towards the late aftenoon/evening as the sun peeped out.
Saturday night was again cold (as snow moved into northern Britain) but temperatures only dropped a couple of degrees in the house overnight, only to rise again during today to as much as 23 deg. in the ground floor and 20 deg. in our bedroom due to solar gain, despite the continuing biting cold wind outside (and leaky patio doors!).
In essence the house was behaving passively, with perhaps the circulation pump (set to continuous within the heat pump unit) helping to spread the heat from solar heated rooms to the rest of the house, an effect which will be helped further by the MVHR unit when switched on.

Airtightness testing - the man with the fan..!

2008-04-06T20:34:00.003+01:00

Early last week we took up an offer to have the house tested for airtightness by the Leeds Met. Uni's Centre for the Built Environment. Unlike in England, such test are not (yet) a requirement of building reg's in Scotland, but given that we are aiming to achieve the AECB's Silver standard I was keen to ensure we were at the very least close to our design target!

So how do we measure airtightness? Until Friday, this was a mystery - then it all fell into place; method as follows:

1. Close all trickle vents, windows and doors, fill all drain/water traps.

2. Open main door of house and fit blower fan sealed within frame.

3. Switch on fan and measure air flow rate into house (in m.cu. per hr) when air pressure in house is a steady 50 Pascals higher than outside.

4. Record this flow rate and divide by surface area of house. Hey presto, this give the air permeability figure in m3 per m2 per hr - or m/hr.

The results? Pretty good for a first test appeared to be the concensus. Under the current building reg's in England, the number has to be less than 10; ours was 4.8. Put another way, if we add up all the gaps in our building we have a hole the size of a dinner plate between us and fully airtight.

However, the AECB's Silver target level is 3.0 for a house using a Mechanical Extract Ventilation system, or 1.5 for MVHR (our option); in other words we need to try and reduce our dinner plate to a saucer!

So where do we look? Thermal imaging and smoke tests under pressure showed airflow through the service void, all of which are connected to the 1st floor joist void and loft space. This leads me to suspect we have some leakage at the soil vent pipe penetrations and possibly the airtightness membrane joints within the loft. Another significant 'problem' is clearly the seals around the large sliding patio doors, of which we have three sets, and which were actually letting water in last week during a driving rain storm. Our tester reckoned that sorting the doors alone could bring our figure down a futher 1 to 2 m/hr, getting us much closer to our target. Other issues included leaks between plasterboard and window frames.

As a postscript to this, today I noticed a 1.5 inch waste pipe in the kitchen open to the elements with a gale blowing out of it into the house which we had omitted to seal; so that's an egg cup off our dinner plate!

2008-04-05T20:42:00.002+01:00

Today the tilers are here enjoying the peace of the weekend to get on with their work without a dozen other folks hoofing their way over the floor. Its looking good. We can't quite work out when we'll be in..so close but not certain. One of the most inspiring things is the view from the windows. We've had beautiful weather this morning and threatening clouds this afternoon; majestic skies all day.

2008-04-02T09:02:00.003+01:00

Lots going on both inside and outside yesterday. The 24hour rainfall we've had is a reminder of the testing conditions for a house in an exposed location. There is a little water seepage under the doors on the SW corner so we've contacted the supplier to get a maintenance bod out. It is clearly a window issue rather than a building one but strong winds driving rain at that corner are as testing as you would expect in the UK.
Outside we've got a local contractor ripping up the concrete which formed the base of the old dairy shed, its an area of approx 28m x 8m and is being carted off to use as hardcore somewhere else. After its bashed down we'll be buying a lorryload of gravel to finish it.
The builder's groundworks crew have dug the trench which will carry the LPG pipe and the elec cable from the woodstore to the house. We are only using LPG for cooking but wanted the bottle away from the house (for visual reasons) and the cable is for the solar PV to connect into the house. The 1.08kw solar PV array will be mounted on the south facing roof of the woodstore and the roof is being constructed to a 36deg pitch to maximise production. The theory is to take your latitude (ours being 56degN) and subtract 20degrees. Work starts on the construction of the woodstore today and is being done by a local joiner using wood we have salvaged from the old house. They are setting up a workshop in one of the barns.

As you can see the staircase is in place and the slate flooring continues (picture of the dining area)

Latest.....

2008-03-31T10:45:00.003+01:00

The patio area around the southwest corner of the house - sunspot for summer days and evenings. It will be topped with black limestone slabs which are due to arrive on Wednesday-ish.
After much delay the American blond oak staircase has arrived but is needing some adaptations by our onsite joiner. The timber is beautiful though and despite the general mess in the house is one of the final landmarks in the building of the house.
The above photo is of the porch area by the front door. We've continued the larch cladding in this area which looks good with the height created by the continuation of the roof line. Jim the electrician is fitting the lights we've bought in the next day or so and this includes one to uplight this area, low energy of course!
Herewith the slate flooring in the family room which attaches to the kitchen/dining. I felt most sorry for the tiler who is trying to lay 82sqm of slate tiles whilst all around are busy with their own trades, typically on Friday this numbered around 12-15 people. At one point he locked the front door so no-one else could come in. The above slating has not been sealed but the bathroom has and the finish looks super. The floor will need resealing every 3-5 years but as this can be done with a mop and bucket it doesn't seem too onerous.

The ideal low energy house?

2008-03-29T08:20:00.006Z

What we've set out to do at ECF is to build a house which will use 70% less energy than one built to current building regulations. Its timber frame construction detailing hasn't wavered too far from the 'norm' to present any major problems for a timber frame kit manufacturer, decent building contractor or building control, and the costs of going this 'extra mile' haven't been excessive to the extent that they will be paid back within a decade in terms of reduced energy costs.

In essence, we have built to a standard which is accessable now by most contractors and self builders which is around 5-6 yrs before its time if the UK Government is to fully implement its Code for Sustainable Homes (CSH) strategy, on which this building should come in at around 3-4 on a scale of 1-6. There is clearly some distance to go from this to 'zero carbon', so what represents the 'optimum' for 'Level 6 living', the magical zero carbon level required by 2016 for all new homes?

Well, the same principles apply, namely...

building orientation to maximise solar gain in winter, spring and autumn whilst avoiding overheating in summer

high levels of insulation around the entire building envelope

high levels of airtightness coupled with heat recovery ventilation

highly insulated and well sealed doors and windows

...but for CSH level 6 the wall insulation would need to be increased to >300mm (from our 200mm), roof insulation to >450mm (from our 350mm) and windows to be triple glazed krypton filled units with insulated frames and glazing spacers (vs. our argon filled double glazed units). This would result in a building which could feasibly rely on the heat given off by its occupants and collected though its windows to keep it at a comfortable temperature without having to introduce a heating system. Construction might rely on internal masonry/concrete walls to store heat and keep a steady internal temperature, with the insulation fixed to the outside of this.

On the face of it quite simple, but a seriously long way from what the UK housebuilding industry is used to. Roll on 2016.....there is a lot of catching up to do and mindsets to be re-programmed.

Earth Hour

2008-03-26T22:20:00.004Z

I've spent part of this evening contributing to a National Park meeting on renewable energy and sustainable building design and feel quite fired up on the whole subject. I came home, had a great discussion with Steve (before he went to Ikea for late night house shopping), then watched Grand Designs revisited about an underground house which essentially didn't need heating even in winter.

The whole debate about 'eco' and 'sustainable' is massively involved. We have built a well insulated, airtight, timber frame house with a thermal mass of 40 tonnes of concrete in the foundation slab to keep the internal temperature stable - that's great from an energy efficiency perspective, but is that scale of concrete usage a good thing, not least as the production of cement is an energy intensive process? Someone somewhere could maybe establish the whole life cycle energy equation.

Energy efficiency is a very important part of sustainability but I'm not sure if I can get my head around all of the issues. We've got fantastic argon filled double glazed windows with 'u' values of 1.4 (standard windows being between 1.8 and 2.0) and they are from Norway 'cos the Scandinavians having been building sustainable houses for years but ideally we should be buying UK produced windows in order to minimise transportation and support home industries...but it couldn't be done remotely near the cost as they would be regarded as 'one-offs' and 'specials'.

Anyway that's nearly enough...I looked at another blog this eve which prompted me to tell you about Earth Hour whereby you switch off your electricity at 8pm this Saturday for one hour. Its one of those experiments in activism which last year saw the city of Sydney reduce its 'leckie load by 10% thus illustrating the impact of individual actions. See the vid at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcHz6Jv4l-g

2008-03-26T14:18:00.001Z

The construction of the 'commute' between the office and the house is underway (above) and the patios are being formed around the south gable (below).
Internally the kitchen is on its way. The installers are great, very flexible in their approach which is good because there's a few bits and bobs of adjustment to sort out as well as an evening trip to Ikea tonight to change the handles! The measurements in the utility room don't stack up properly so there's amendments needed there too.

Paint colours - redcurrant glory and simply pearl in the sitting room.

2008-03-25T13:37:00.002Z

The staircase is 'in production'......not sure what stage that means or when it'll arrive.

This lunchtime I've been buying 110sqm of external slabs to be here by the end of the week; large wardrobe for the hallway to be here tomorrow (Steve has a slot between 8.30 and 10pm this eve to collect that!?); securing the contractor and price for grubbing up and tamping down the massive concrete base of the old dairy shed opposite the front door; finalising the details for the grant contribution to the cost of the heat pump.
Now back to earned employment for the rest of the day.

2008-03-24T20:06:00.004Z

We walked up our local hill the Dumpling this morning which is always a pleasure, the view of Loch Lomond is awe-inspiring every single time. We've had lovely weather this weekend with tiny specks of dry snow sneaking in from the east. Yesterday was tiring as it was spent in town at various furniture/plumbing/DIY places so everyone was grumpy and fed up. Today has been filled with fresh air and sunshine with walks and outdoor activities. This afternoon we used some spray paint to mark out the areas immediately outside the house which will be hard landscaped for footpaths and patios, it wasn't too difficult (away from the cold easterly) to imagine summer evening barbecues. We then salvaged trailer-loads of wood from the site which are surplus to the build but will provide fuel for the wood burning stove for many years to come.

This week is massively busy with the kitchen and utility room fit-outs starting tomorrow, the external hard landscaping including sorting out the levels around the house will be underway, lighting is being fitted and the tiler continues with the ground floor slates.

There's no staircase yet, the design was in theory signed off in December, delivery 5 weeks thereafter, some apparent communication issue between architect and timber frame manufacturer whereby one expected measurements from the other which didn't happen, builder expecting delivery, calls not being returned.

local wildlife

2008-03-19T21:00:00.004Z

Its noisy here tonight - half an hour ago there were 2? foxes shrieking outside, I haven't heard that noise before and thought someone was in trouble or an animal was being killed, it being such a piercing shriek. I managed to catch them in the beam of the big torch so they scamped off. An amazing and most unpleasant noise. Then a barn owl has been hunting and there's a whole lot more shrieking going on.
There is some woodland 100metres east of the farm which provides plenty of cover for foxes and deer. Two weeks ago a young deer was killed by a vehicle just past the farm entrance, 20 minutes later it had been reclaimed by a neighbour for lunch and dog food (sorry are you eating?).
The huge greylag geese population we have locally over winter has significantly moved on to pastures new, the curlews are here with their wonderful call and a 'swarm' of starlings were doing that fabulous sweeping dance through the sky.
A magical sight yesterday was watching two brown hares boxing in the field below the house and caravan. There is a big population of brown hare here, they are beautiful creatures. Springwatch here we come, I'll be Kate Humble rather than Bill Oddie though!

Hens eat fries!

2008-03-19T14:28:00.001Z

The apple trees in position - if you look closely you can see 2 McDonalds fries on the cardboard, the scaffolders thought the hens might like a snack

The exterior revealed

2008-03-19T14:07:00.004Z

The scaffolding is just about down after a day and a half of disassembly and the render is dazzingly white. The polythene over the ground floor windows will be removed after the renderers have finished covering the grey you can see at the bottom of the house, this may happen tomorrow depending on the extent of rain forecast. We haven't had rain for a week now I think.

Next week we'll work out the design on the ground for external hard landscaping close to the house. The architect drew a rectangular area of paving on a plan but the levels on the west side need a bit more thought so we're just going to work to our own design in conjunction with the groundworks crew. Some number of tonnes of hardcore are arriving tomorrow afternoon to start that process. There's always something arriving on site, today's delivery were the 122 boxes of kitchen which the fitters will commence construction and installation on Tuesday. The appliances arrived yesterday, the kitchen sink last Friday but we still need to buy taps...a job for the weekend.
Two days ago the vinyl flooring went down in the 2 upstairs bathrooms so Willie the plumber has now fixed the sanitary ware in both those rooms. The gorgeous bath tub is in the ensuite.
In the ground floor bathroom Billy the tiler has started fixing the slate tiles, setting up the lines took a while as this slate will run through the majority of the ground floor.

Feel Good Day

2008-03-17T19:37:00.004Z

We're back in the caravan now and love being at the heart of it again. Glorious weather here at present so I spent the early morning putting cardboard 'mulch' circles around the newly planted apple trees to keep the weeds at bay. There was no wind so it was really beautiful being out in the Spring sunshine and I was thinking of putting a bench seat in the new orchard. It's a bit rich calling it an orchard yet but Steve and friend Allan planted 12 apple trees yesterday. I chose mainly Scottish heritage varieties from Butterworths organic nursery who are renowned for the quality of their stock and for the range of species they grow. Very kindly the nursery added an extra tree to the bundle but I haven't worked out where that should go - should I just pop it in with the others and ignore the separation distance they're meant to be or put it in the ground elsewhere and hope it pollinates, ether way its temporarily heeled in nearby.
Here's my list of species:- Dessert Apples are White Joaneting which dates from before 1600 and produces early fruit from August, Thorle Pippin (2 of) a Scottish apple first described in 1831, Charles Ross which fruits from Sept to Dec and is a cross of Peasgood Nonsuch and Cox's Orange Pippin, Golden Pippin (2 of) which was described in Scotland's first gardening book in 1683 as the 'best variety for Scotland', Wheeler's Russet which is originally English but was grown in the big Clydesdale orchards in the late 1700s and is a late cropper from Jan to March, Maggie Sinclair is also probably from Clydesdale and finally for the dessert apples is the Ribston Pippin which I chose as it heralded in 1707 from Knaresborough which is the nearest apple connection to my place of birth. Culinary apple choices are Stobo Castle which is an early cooker from Stobo, Golden Spire which originally hails from Lancashire (as does Steve) and is a good cider variety so we can dust off our apple press in seasons to come, Scotch Dumpling which has particularly attractive blossom apparently and is another Clydesdale species, Scotch Bridget which dates from the 1850s and crops from Oct to Dec.
I've spent quite a few hours reading up on the subject and working out the best species for our site (wet and windy west), its conditions (fairly shallow soil with rocky strata), the pollination days of each species to ensure they remain fertile and cropping times so we that we don't end up with too many apples at the same time. Obviously we'll have far too many apples but it'll be fun to see it all grow over years to come.

Ventilation strategies

2008-03-14T11:27:00.003Z

As for living comfort at the levels of airtightness we are building to, it becomes necessary to use a whole house ventilation system. For this there are two main options; Mechanical Extract Ventilation (MEV) and Mechanical Ventilation with Heat Recovery (MVHR).

MEV uses a constantly operating fan which extracts warm moist air from the warm moist rooms (ie. bathrooms, kitchen etc) via ductwork, with fresh air effectively being sucked in via trickle vents and gaps in the structure. MEV is fairly economic to install, especially as it eliminates the need for dedicated extractors in the bathrooms. However, for very airtight buildings additional openings in the structure need to be introduced and warm stale air is replaced with fresh but cold air, thus driving heat out of the building and reducing its efficiency. As an aside to this, an MEV option is available for our heat pump which actually uses the heat from the outgoing stale warm air to pre-heat the ‘brine’ before it goes into the heat pump, thus recovering some of that energy. This is a great idea and an option well worth considering for self builders opting for a heat pump, but we eliminated it on the basis that that our first floor is largely unheated and such a system might lead to the cooling of that area via the trickle vents in the Velux windows which would need to be open for this system to work properly.

MVHR combines MEV with an intake system which supplies the ‘dry’ rooms with fresh air, preheated via a heat exchanger which takes heat from the extracted air. This is the system we have chosen, a (claimed) 95% efficient unit made by Dutch company Renovent and supplied by Ubbink in the UK. The unit has three settings and is virtually silent in operation. At the lowest setting (normal operation) it uses just half the power of a 60W light bulb and should be adequate to ‘heat’ the three first floor bedrooms alongside the heat convected from the ground floor. Other advantages are good air quality by using fresh, filtered air from outside, and the ability to use the unit to provide cooling in summer by bringing in cool air at night into a solar heated building.

Airtightness details

2008-03-07T17:34:00.002Z

Having specified and designed a house to meet the AECB’s Silver Standard, airtightness plays a key role alongside high levels of insulation to achieve a low energy house. In our case we have followed the AECB’s Silver Standard construction details for timber frame buildings which advises the use of a continuous air/vapour control layer inside the building with all joints lapped, sealed and mechanically trapped.

This has probably been one of the most difficult aspects to achieve on site for our construction team which, in common with most UK builders, is simply not used to working to such a tight specification. With this in mind we opted for a solution which has largely avoided the need for specialist tapes and sealants, and in the main relies on the mechanical trapping of taped and lapped joints to provide a positive seal along with silicone sealant. We won’t really know how well this has worked until we do an airtightness test on the building, but on the basis that opening the front door feels somewhat akin to opening the door of a luxury car (ie. that air suction noise!) gives me some confidence. Also when it’s blowing a gale outside, there are no obvious draughts entering the building apart from the open trickle vents (shutters not yet fitted) and the yet to be connected stove flue.

Brickbats and Bouquets

2008-03-05T14:40:00.003Z

Life is immensely busy so when we get great service from someone it is terrific and of course when we have to spend lots of time chasing people or doing someone else's job its a real pain. One of our future projects is the development of two holiday lets (more another time on those) so we're building up bank of people and places we'd like to use again. This list isn't exclusive, maybe at the end of the project we'll compose a list of the best products, people and places.

On my list for bouquets are the builder and every tradesman who has worked on our site (no kidding, I know its unusual); Sainsbury's online for kitchen appliances (subject to delivery of course); Ecoliving for the ground source heat pump which is working tremendously well.

Currently on the blacklist are B&Q's delivery service; the products are good and well priced they just don't do delivery within or close to their estimates and are a nightmare to chase.

Not for blacklisting but 'could do better' - the timber frame manufacturer is not high on the favourites list but the builder has had the burden of chasing them and the joiners have had the problem of insufficient supplies. The Architect has been on site only three times since Christmas so there's a bit of a gap on the project management which we and the builder have filled. That's fine 'cos we have filled the gap but isn't the service signed up for.

And the weather has been pants since Christmas too!

Internal and External Finishes

2008-03-05T14:09:00.010Z

We have had snow in the early part of this week but this isn't it! Here we're got the roughcasters flinging the wet dash render onto the east elevation. You can see where they completed one area at the end of last week as the mix dries whiter than when it is applied (thankfully otherwise we'd have a magnolia house!). Its a very messy task.

The larch cladding on the SW corner - this is really looking fabulous and we're very pleased with the choice of timber, its profile and the joiner's work. The timber frame company haven't been doing such a good job on the timely supply of the correct quantities of materials but this appears to being resolved after many calls from our builder. The timber itself has come from Russwood who are based in North Perthshire.

Not a great photo because of the light bounce but this is the toile negro tile which we choose for the ground floor bathroom. It looks terrific in place, especially in the shower with a single spot shining down.

one ensuite shower area

paint colour Winter Teal 5 for Finlay's room.......Dulux have done a fine job with that colour matching and shading/colour depth system as its a terrific marketing tool in providing the customer with thousands of options....so all our paint colours are coming from them and the marketing tool has worked!

Storms & membranes

2008-02-29T10:12:00.002Z

Once again, now the joiners have finished the roughings (plasterboard etc) inside the house and are ready to move on with the larch cladding outside, we’re getting battered by gales and rain. Nevertheless, despite getting a soaking in their first ten minutes outside yesterday Craig and David did one wall of the three to be larch clad and we’re delighted with the results. Ironic really, as the larch which the kit company sent was completely the wrong profile to what we specified, but we actually quite liked it and went with it!
The profile specified was ‘bevelsiding, which is wedge shaped in cross section and simply overlaps the board underneath. But we were sent a more robust tongue and groove profile which interlocks with adjacent boards, a detail which I feel adds a more robust line of defence against the weather.

Talking of which, my mind has been considerably exercised recently as to whether we really needed a layer of breather membrane on the outside of the woodfibre board cladding, something I really need to get off my chest on the blog and hopefully solicit comment. As a reminder to construction detail geeks who are still with me, from inside to out our wall build up is as follows:

Plasterboard
Battens to form 25mm service void
Polyethylene airtightness/vapour control membrane (VCL)
OSB3 (‘stirlingboard’) racking board
140mm structural frame
60mm Pavatherm Plus woodfibre board
Vapour open breather membrane
50mm Cavity
Brick / larch cladding (this outer layer often referred to as ‘rainscreen’)

The problem with the breather membrane is that it has a tendency to be blown off in high winds when exposed, as the staples don’t get a good fix into the Pavatherm boards. Once the bricks are up however, it is properly fixed back with large plastic washers which are clipped onto the wall ties, and of course it is fixed in place in the timber areas by vertical battens. Inspecting the cavities from unfinished window reveals shows this solution to be just fine (looks rather like a quilt!).

On the minus side there is the cost of material and about a day of labour to fix it on, plus a fair degree of effort in marking out where the studs are so the brickies know where to bang in the wall ties. On the plus side however it does add that extra line of defence against the outside world, and at the very least has provided a good degree of protection to the structure during construction prior to the rainscreen being built up.

Breather membrane is a ‘must do’ detail in standard timber frame construction which has the following build up:

Plasterboard
VCL (or this and the above are replaced with foil backed plasterboard)
140mm or 89mm structural timber frame
OSB racking board
Breather membrane
Cavity
Rainscreen

The conundrum is that the suppliers of Pavatherm advise that the breather membrane is not required as the outer layer of this board is water resistant, but also say its not a problem if a membrane is used!? So has it been worth the effort to add this extra layer? On balance yes, but only on the basis that we are building on a very exposed site.

Progress...

2008-02-22T16:11:00.009Z

I must admit to being a little tardy with my blogs of late, not least down to the fact that our cosy holiday let has no broadband so onlin leasure time is restricted. But, after a solid week in the office I'm ready to knock off early for the wekend so here's a pictorial tour...!

Kitchen area; dining to take place where larch cladding and frames currently being machined (covered in plastic)

Entrance hall on entering front door and looking up; stairs to be against wall on left (to replace ladder!!!). Next photo shows view into utility room from kitchen - heat pump on right hand side with electrics/TV/SAT/DAB/Cat5e wiring all terminating on board on end wall (must work out what magic boxes to buy to distribute signals!)

Room with a view - our bedroom to be precise, and this is the ever changing picture that we will wake up to... Next photo is the hallway looking down.

2008-02-19T14:54:00.000Z

8.30am long view towards the farm from behind our local hill, The Dumpling

Tiles 'R' Us

2008-02-19T14:27:00.004Z

We've now sourced, and agreed on, tiles for all three bathrooms. My able assistant is showing the accent tile for the ensuite shower. For those of you who know the Hillington industrial estate in Glasgow you will appreciate the number of tile showrooms there are available and the angst of then getting the man of the house to approve selections. I bought the tiles for the ensuite and family bathroom this morning and just need to go back with accurate measurements for the downstairs bathroom as the dimensions of that have altered recently. The tiler is booked for next week so we'll see big changes inside. The white goods for the bathrooms are all in place now. I also swapped the shower tray for the downstairs room because of last minute adjustments there ensuring the door width complys with disabled access regs. The change made the shower tray larger than plan.

Back to the office for 11am so did the day job too.

2008-02-19T14:08:00.004Z

We've found the camera so here's a few pics from the holiday lodge we're renting. For the past 10 days we've had cold, dry and mainly sunny conditions which has been marvellous. It has been very cold at night so we're glad to be out of the caravan for the time being. The lodge has 3 bedrooms so we've got plenty of space to play with and its generally very pleasant to be in a real house again. The lodge is set in woodland at the end of a long track and there is plenty of wildlife around, particularly deer and pheasant but we also have owls and woodpeckers both of which make plenty of noise at different times of day.

Friday

2008-02-15T13:59:00.002Z

Our camera has gone awol so unfortunately there are no photos again today. Its looking good though on another sunny chilly day! It seems fairly quiet on site today (only 2 white vans!), the joiners have plasterboarded the kitchen and dining room today and the electrician is tidying up/routing the masses of wiring to the consumer unit in the utility room. It looks like mission control in there. The BT cable is being fed into the house before the external render is started which is due to happen from Monday.

We had a visit from Ordnance Survey the other day. Amazingly in this era of satellite and other mapping technologies there are still people driving round in cars checking on changes to the landscape, apparently its a whole lot cheaper too. In order to accurately update the OS the surveyor is going to return in April to plot the buildings etc.

A lady also called by as she has traced her family history to the area and in particular to a joiner who lived here in 1871. I've promised to send a photo of the house which stood here, parts of which date from that time.

2008-02-12T16:46:00.000Z

Hello again after another week has passed in a flurry of activity. The weather has changed significantly for the better and it has been dry for nearly a week which is quite remarkable after at least a month of driving storms. We spent a lot of time outside at the weekend, I was planting bulbs and Steve was building the climbing frame. With the advent of fine weather after such a long spell of hibernation it seemed that many of our local friends were out for walks and cycle rides so popped by for a viewing and it was a real pleasure to have so much progress to show people.
The big event of last Thursday was the switch on of the heating system and by Friday the builders were over warm and had all the windows open. We were mightily relieved and feel quite chuffed that it is already performing so well - partly because some observers are unsure of our reliance on renewable energy so its good to have an early positive response and mainly because we're desperately looking forward to living in the house. The system is being commissioned tomorrow. It will be interesting over the course of the first full year in the house to see how the comfort levels change and what running costs we encounter.
We need to have paint colours decided and bathroom tiles purchased by the end of this week for the upper floor so feel slightly under pressure. The bath and washbasin are fixed in the family bathroom and most of the other goods are in our en-suite if not actually plumbed in. I'm collecting an alternative shower tray tomorrow whilst on the way to order the kitchen and utility room cabinets.
Externally the brickwork is complete and I think the rendering commences next week. There appears to have been a change from the early days when Steve and I thought we were getting a smooth white render and the current drawings specify wet dash. I think this is being resolved but to be honest I can't remember where we're at with this..........just about sums things up as we juggle house building needs with the business and family. Plenty of evenings of work for us and lots of scraps of paper and lists here and there.

Getting there....

2008-02-05T12:27:00.000Z

The final window in the house has been fitted and is this triangular piece to the south west corner of the master bedroom window. This is one of those architectural details which just adds something a little more to the overall scheme. Originally it was to be 50% larger and would have been the better for it but it is still a refreshing detail. One of the balances in self-build is to order goods in sufficient time to avoid delays so we had ordered (and now own) the original 50% larger window. Unfortunately it transpired that the architect's plans did not concur with the timber frame manufacturer's and...the client picks up the tab, hmm. We have thought to use the spare window in one of the holiday lets but its not a great idea to design a whole building around one window just 'cos it happens to be spare...but we'll see if it fits somewhere.

We're keen to make progress on the holiday let plans but the architect hasn't moved forward with these since our meeting before Christmas which is a bit disappointing.

We've measured the areas for wall tiling in the two upstairs bathrooms as the plumbing work there is well on the way and the plasterboard is due to be taped at the end of this week. It brings to focus the need to have some idea of final finishes upstairs. The painting will commence in 2 weeks so colours for the bedrooms are no longer a distant thought. After so long on the detail of the build its quite a prospect. In certain areas we've got very clear ideas and aspirations, in others the blank canvas seems daunting! Last week I went up to Perthshire and sourced the midnight black slate which will cover most of the ground floor. The tiler is coming this Thursday to help me (and 3year old Finlay) measure the area.

The master bedroom has two areas for wardrobes/cupboards etc which will probably need some made to measure kit. We spent a couple of hours last evening working out what could go where - we know how to spend an evening in!

The final picture today is of the holiday let we're enjoying. We managed to have a children's party here on Sunday to celebrate Molly's 5th birthday. Aside from the usual birthday stuff it was just very pleasant to have friends 'round, something that isn't easy in the caravan

Heat pump installation

2008-02-02T11:05:00.000Z

Work started on installing our heat pump last week. We have specified a Nibe 1240-5kW - the smallest capacity they make - with integral 'tank-in-tank' hot water cylinder. It 's a very neat unit, being the same size as a 1.9m tall fridge freezer. The pipework next to it will be ultimately enclosed in a cupboard which will still have some storage space at the front, whilst allowing access to the pipes at the back if need be.

Specifying a heat pump uses the opposite logic to specifiying a combustion boiler, as it must be just undersized to operate at its most efficient when taking into account the building's heat loss and anticipated peak heat requirement. The reason for this is that heat pumps dislike being 'cycled' - switched on and off - and actually benefit from running for longer periods at a time than conventional boilers. In extreme circumstances where, say, there is significant heat and hot water demand (eg. Christmas with visitors!) then the heat pump employs an electrical element to supplement itself, but the trick is to set things up so this hardly needs to be used at all, electricity being a relatively high-carbon form of energy.

The unit is being installed in our utility room where all the pipes from the ground loop, hot and cold water, underfloor heating and 1st floor radiators/towel radiators terminate. The guys are making a neat job of connecting this spaghetti together and hopefully by late next week we should be in good shape to switch on and get some heat into the 40 tonnes or so of concrete which forms the floor slab.

As it happens one of the founders of the heat pump supply company - Ecoliving - popped round yesterday to look at our windows (he's building an extension to his own house!) and he told me that the heat pump even had a setting to dry the floor slab out over a four day cycle, this will be important before we fit engineered board flooring.

Anderson Floor Warming of Glasgow are doing all of the plumbing in the house using a German plastic/aluminium pipe system. Hot and cold feeds are fed to manifolds from which each tap is fed, thus reducing pipe runs. Also the hot water feed is circulated from and back to the hot water tank at peak use periods (controlled by a timer) such that when a hot tap is switched on, hot water appears almost instantly.

Apart from the plumbers, the rest of the guys on site have never built a house with a heat pump in it and we are all waiting in anticipation for switch on!

2008-01-30T15:34:00.000Z

In amongst the quagmire, building rubble, scaffolding and general building site detritus we have signs promising the return of life to the land. There is very little planting to speak of here (so far) but the rhubarb last year was gigantic and gorgeous so its exciting to see new growth. If I get my act together I'll get some buckets over a couple of plants to force some early crop. However as its driving rain and howling wind just now and there's a huge dump of snow forecast it'll certainly not be happening this weekend.

Inside the building the heat pump is being installed. It is a heavy piece of kit and took everyone here today to move it into the utility room. We've agreed its final position and from there Steve and I can order the utility room cabinetry. In a few days time the heating will all be connected and set to work. It'll take quite few days to come through as the pipework is deep in the slab but this will help dry the concrete before we look to putting flooring down. It'll also help to warm the rest of the house. Before the electrician left earlier he switched the heat recovery system on as it is now in place. We're pleased to report it is silent in its operation.

Still raining in Scotland

2008-01-29T14:48:00.000Z

Where to begin? Like many 'phone conversations and chats if you speak to someone often enough you catch up on lots of news but if you haven't spoken to them for a while you can't think of a thing that you've done. As we've been in our friend's house for a week and have now moved to a holiday house nearby we're not on the internet so blogging has been sporadic in the past 10 days. Activity at the farm has been considerable so we'll let photos explain where we're at.

One of the past day's issues is the internal wallhead height in the upper rooms. As the house is 1.5 storeys the trick is to achieve a well-balanced room which is usable without looking like a triangle and providing lots of awkward corners. The architect has proposed 1.55m wall head in the master bedroom but we personally have huge difficulties 'wasting' all that floorspace behind the joinery/plasterboard. The elevation shown looks west; here we've agreed with the joiner not to put any internal joinery on that side, other than boxing out the flue which can be seen, but to reduce the wallhead on the east elevation to 1.35m. This still entails the 'loss' of floorspace but provides proper walls for placing a bedhead against. The second photo shows the framework in place for that. On one of the landings we're creating an eaves storage cupboard. We're hoping to achieve optimal usable floor space and create a desirable room.

The second photo looks east and shows the framework now at 1.35m, this will be plasterboarded imminently.

Downstairs and the hallway looks a little less finished.

Tomorrow the heating guys return to start work on the heat pump installation in the utility room. Jim, the electrician is connecting the last elements of the heat recovery ventilation system upstairs and will then move downstairs. The wood burning stove arrives tomorrow and the final long lost window arrives. The slates were finished last week and look grand.

2008-01-21T15:11:00.000Z

We've spent the last three nights in our friend's house and it has been really lovely! Terrific to have warmth, spacious bathrooms, properly hot water, a real fire and plenty of space. I cooked a gorgeous roast dinner yesterday, the first for 7 months at least and it was much appreciated.

Various people have been working on site this weekend as we had pretty good weather. Most of the leadwork to the windows is complete, with just the remainder of the dormer to finish off when it has stopped raining....today is very wet and very cold. The groundworks crew are back and have been building the external brickwork up on the east elevation. Today, inside the house, installation of the ventilation system continues and the joiners have commenced work on the plasterboard ceilings on the upper floor. The slaters haven't progressed too much today because of the weather and unfortunately the rest of the week doesn't look too kind either.

Grand Designs

2008-01-16T21:58:00.000Z

Good to see Grand Designs back on TV this evening as it was always inspiring before we even thought of building. My overwhelming reaction isn't about the house though - just that the programme doesn't convey the zillions of decisions self-builders make. Obviously from an entertainment point of view it never will as it would make very dull viewing indeed but every day involves so many decisions, not a stressful thing as such but amazingly time absorbing. Thank goodness for t'internet.