Month: March 2011

I'm carrying out some work on the site at the moment - so any oddities, errors or omissions are probably due to that. Back to the usual (ir)regular service soon...

The Renewable Heat Incentive (RHI), is a UK government scheme to encourage the installation of low-carbon heating systems. The first phase, the details of which have just been published is aimed at large-scale installations. A domestic version of the scheme will be launched in 2012 as a part of the governments Green Deal. Between now and the launch of the Green Deal, the Renewable Heat Premium Payments scheme will provide grants toward the installation of domestic systems - details of these will be published in May. RHI eligible technologies are biomass boilers, ground-source heat pumps, solar thermal collectors, and biomethane.…

I have lots of retaining walls and raised beds to build in the garden and quite a lot of flags to lay as a patio. I've made a start over the past few weeks, but thought I'd post some before photographs before I get too far... From Barn Conversion 2011 From Barn Conversion 2011 From Barn Conversion 2011 These were taken back at the start of February - things have already moved on as we managed to dig down the base for the patio another few inches with a borrowed digger last weekend. I was never going to get down there…

I completed the retaining great wall at the end of the path at the back of the barn and got on with putting in a mortared masonary wall to the garden side of the path that leads along the back of the barn through the gap in the wall that was one of my first acts of destruction at the barn. I'm also rearranging the rock garden that sits above this wall - it's quite hard to describe so I'll post some pictures shortly. This work has started to tidy things up but there's still plenty to do. I began…

I've been reading Walden by Henry David Thoreau for quite some time now. When you start to read about self-building or self-sufficiency you're bound to come across references to Walden and Thoreau. The book, first published in 1854, describes Thoreau's experiences over a two year period living in a cabin in the woods at Walden Pond near Concord, Massachusetts, USA. The result is a semi-fictitious and somewhat edited version of the events and Thoreau's thoughts in relation to society, self-sufficiency and living a simple life... I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the…