Looking for Volunteers

We are now entering the final stages of construction of the Speckled Wood building, so the time has come for us to start to hunt for the people who are going to get the opportunity to be the first to come and live in it.

We are looking to recruit 3 long term volunteers to come and work with us on the National Trust’s Black Down Estate in The South Downs National Park near Haslemere on the borders of West Sussex and Surrey.

The successful candidates would get an opportunity to develop their experience of working in countryside conservation on an estate with lots of woodland, grassland and heathland as well as a small herd of in hand cattle. There would be opportunity to work with volunteer groups staying in our basecamp. as well as to get involved in small scale sustainable food production and our events programme.

The role would mostly involve working out and about across the Black Down Estate, but would also involve helping to look after the basecamp and its volunteers, maintaining the biomass boiler and looking after the basecamp vegetable garden and chicken run.

The volunteers would be offered free accommodation in the Speckled Wood Building, our brand new cruck framed eco building which was sustainably constructed using the products of our woodlands by the Black Down Countryside team in association with local craftsman Ben Law and his Roundwood Timber Framing Company. Ben became well known following on from his appearance on Channel 4’s Grand Designs programme and the publishing of his books on woodlands and sustainable construction.

The volunteers will help us to run the estate in a more sustainable way, whilst living in a house constructed from materials that were produced in the woodlands within which they will be living and working.

We anticipate quite a few people being interested in this rare opportunity, therefore a shortlist of applicants will be invited to a practically based selection process on the property. This will consist of working on a task with the countryside team over the course of two days as well as a short sit down discussion with the team. Free overnight accommodation will be provided on site. The selection days will be 23^rd / 24^th May and the closing date for applications is 9^th May. For further information and an application form please contact : gwyneth.byerley@nationaltrust.org.uk

 

The day Countryfile came to visit

A BBC crew came over to visit us today to film a piece for Countryfile. I like the idea of the project getting a bit of publicity, of course standing in front of the camera and trying to tell people about it is a bit of a different matter.

I’m not really sure how it went, but am hoping that the building, and the wider project will come over well. The idea was to get across how we wanted a building that would link people with the local landscape. It has been constructed from the products of that landscape, and is being built to house people who will be starting out on a career of helping to conserve, protect and enhance access to the woodlands and open spaces from which the materials used to make and heat their house came.

The building was playing its part well for the day, the scaffolding had just come down around the verandah, and we had finished shingling this side of the roof only last week. The sun even managed to come out for a few minutes on what was otherwise quite a windy and overcast day.

We went out into the woods and cut some sweet chestnut from trees that had been felled earlier in the year, then came back to the build site where I showed Katie how to make a shingle for the roof. Ben then took her up onto the roof to nail on some of the shingles our volunteer groups have been making. By chance it happened to be the day on which we were nailing on some of the shingles that have been generously sponsored by local people on the Transition Town stall at the farmers market in Haslemere.

Its apparently going to be on the programme on the 23rd October. I will be watching with trepidation from behind the sofa.

Finishing off the straw bale walls

The straw bale walls were being finished off towards the end of last week.

The feel of the building has changed dramatically with the appearance of its walls, the internal spaces are becoming clear, and you start to get a idea of what it will be like to live in.

Once the bales get to the top of the walls the last row of bale spikes has to be driven in. The membrane and sheeps wool insulation was folded back so that the spikes could be driven in from above.

The spikes hold the wall together, but it will not feel completely solid until it has its protective coating of lime plaster.

The two sides of a straw bale have very different textures, this is because of the action of the baler, on one side (the outside of our building) the straw is folded and on the other (the inside of the building) the straw is chopped. Our lime plaster will adhere much better to the chopped side. This is why the outside of the building has a layer of wire mesh against the bales, it will help the plaster stick properly. The photo below was taken prior to the mesh being attached and cut around the window frame.

On the inside the bales have been shaped around the windows and doors, this allows more light in as well as creating a sculptured feel to the openings. The windows will all have big wooden interior window seats so you will be able to sit and look out at the view.

To start with the bales around the openings all looked distinctly hairy.

But after they were trimmed up and the curved reveals were cut out they started to give more of an idea of what they will eventually look like.

As you can see from the wire to the side of the door the first fix electrics has been going in as well.

Roundwood Rafters

The verandah rafters have been going on to the building this week. They are made of coppiced sweet chestnut from Ridden Corner.

They span the gap between the wall plate of the building and the outer edge of the verandah, you will see them if you stand on the verandah and look up.

Their round profile fits nicely visually, but they need to have a flat face on the top so that the line of the roof doesn’t end up wonky. To achieve this we put them on the sawmill, choose the flatest side and mill a flat on the top of the round pole.

On top of this flat section will sit sarking boards, a membrane, counter battens, battens and then our shingles. We need to start getting all of that on the roof as soon as possible, we have a busy few weeks ahead of us.

The rafters also needed to have their bark peeled off. This is the only surface working any of the roundwood in the building has had. When the wood is green the bark peels off like a banana skin, these were cut a few months ago so weren’t quite as easy, but, in the hands of our volunteers the peeling spades still make pretty short work of it.

Then they went up onto the roof to be attached to the frame. A line was run across the building to show the height they needed to be fixed at, and then dishes were cut out of the wallplate for the rafters to sit down into.

Where the verandah turns a corner round the end of the building a bit of complicated joinery was required.

Before long they were all slotting into place. With them fitted the outline of the building has taken another step forwards, what was really nice was getting an idea of what the verandah space will feel like.

I remember last year Ben, Val (our architect) and I having a lengthy discussion about the size of the verandah, the problem was every time you tried to alter its dimensions it meant one of the other peramiters of the building (height, roof pitch etc) changed, it was a bit of a balancing act. I think we got it about right though, it is going to be a nice sized space, with plenty of room for our volunteers to sit and relax in the sunshine after a hard days work in the woods.

Withyfield Cottage

Last weekend I went over to Partridge Green for an open day to see a house that Ben Law and his team have recently finished building. It’s called Withyfield Cottage and was built as a self catering holiday let at Merrion Farm. I thought I could get some ideas about internal finishes, but it was also a chance to be a bit nosey and see how the build had turned out, I last saw it on a rainy cold day in January.

The roof and studwork had just been finished and the straw bale walls were starting to go in.

Six months later and the building is all finished and ready to let.

Some of the materials used at Withyfield are different to the ones we are using here at Swan Barn Farm, but the principle of using locally sourced sustainably produced wood is the same and it was really interesting to have a look around. The shingle roof in particular looks great, very different to the finish we will get on ours though, Withyfield’s is made of sawn western red ceder, ours will be made of sweet chestnut cleaved by hand.

The verandah looked like a lovely space to sit in the evening, and there were some nice touches on display in the way the wood had been jointed and finished.

Inside the cruck arches fly up through the open spaces to support the roof and floors.

Thanks very much to the owners for letting me have a look around. It was interesting to see how the building had turned out and made me start to think about how we are going to finish the inside of Speckled Wood.

Raising the Frames

Yesterday was the day of the frame raise for the new building, and what a day it was.

Everyone was up an about early, one of the first jobs for the day was to make a wreath, we wanted it to go up on the frames for good luck. I went out on to Black Down to find a pretty special tree I know. Its a Rowan, one of the largest on the hill, Rowans are thought by some to bring luck, which certainly couldn’t do any harm.

I took what we needed, said thank you, and left a small present in return.

We added in some hawthorn and wild rose flowers from the hedgerows here at Swan Barn Farm, and then it was hung on the first frame.

Ben led the raise, the Black Down Countryside team and Roundwood Timber Framing Company team gathered together for a safety breifing and a run through of the plan. Then something rather special happened. You may not believe me, but its true, and it set the theme for the day. Some time ago we decided to name the building Speckled Wood after the pretty little woodland butterfly. As we were waiting to start a Speckled Wood butterfly flew in and landed on a mallet, we could hardly believe it, in front of the whole frame raise team it then took off, flew into the site and landed on top of one of the frames before it took off once more and dissapeared. It was just that sort of day.

The ridge pole was brought in to the site and settled in the top of the first frame, and then the raise began.

There were four frames to raise, they were pulled up using a hand winch which was anchored to one of our tractors which we had parked at the end of the site.

The first frame reached up into the sky and dragged the ridge pole up with it.

We then used the telehandler to hold the ridge pole up and out of the way whilst the other frames were being winched into position.

We knew before we started that the first two frames were going to be pretty tricky, getting them in the right place before any of the rest of the structure is in place to brace things was really quite difficult. But the inevitable problems that came up were dealt with calmly and the raise proceeded as palnned. Quite a few people had shown up to watch from the field next door, which was really nice, if you came along I hope you enjoyed it.

As frame two came up there was a fair bit of manouvering of the ridge pole that had to be done to ensure it didnt push against the ridge and knock the first frame out of position. We had a cloudbirst of rain at this point as well, and everything was all rather tense. In the end though everything slotted in to place and it was on to frame three.

Things were gradually starting to get a bit easier, as the frames were braced together everything was becoming more stable, and the tension was starting to lift. Frame three was our target before stopping for lunch, which was sometime after 3 oclock !

Once this frame was in position we could finally remove the telhandler, which had been supporting the ridge pole all day. That meant the last frame came up without any noise from machinery, you could hear the birds singing in the woods as the frame was winched upright.

The last frame slotted into position and deep breaths were drawn all round. It looks pretty impressive now as you come down the lane to the farm, if you get chance to come and have a look its well worth it.

There is clearly a long way to go before it becomes a building, but yesterday was a very proud day. So many people have worked so hard to get us this far, I think the frame is a tribute to all of them.

By the time we were finished and tidied up it had been a  long day. Fortunately we had a batch of Swan Barn Farm cider chilling in the fridge. We fired up the bbq in front of the basecamp and settled in to toast the successes of the day.

As you can imagine we fealt in a pretty celebratory mood, and the party went on well in to the early hours.

Assembling the frames

The main A frames for the Speckled Wood building are now in the process of being constructed. They are put together on the framing bed which sits at the back of the build site. You may remember the components of the frame being lifted onto the bed in an earlier post. The framing bed has measurements built into it which allow the timbers in the frame to be lined up in their correct positions while they are being worked on. The bed also holds the timbers off the floor so that they are kept level and are at a convenient height to work on.

Above you can see Rudy, Rich and Nick starting to measure the timbers that will be jointed together to form the two sides of the A frame.

Ben and Rudy spent a while marking it out to ensure that everything would come together smoothly. You can also see above the tripod and block and tackle that is used to raise the upper timber out of the way for the joint to be cut in the bottom timber. These are heavy peices of wood, and as many mechanical aids as possible are used to make lifting and moving them easier.

The two sides of the A are traditionally known as cruck’s (sometimes an individual one is referred to as a blade), they form the strength at the heart of the main frame. Cruck framed buildings have been built in this part of the world for centuries, it was a very common construction technique in the early medieval period, often using two halfs of a curved oak tree that had been sawn in half to make the two sides. Ben has taken this traditional form of framing and adapted it by using roundwood poles to form a similar, but lighter structure, which can be built using materials that can be sustainably sourced in local woodlands.

Although they only came from less than a mile away it felt like these timbers had quite a journey to get this far, they still have a couple of much shorter, but much more complicated moves to make yet before they take their final place in the new building, but seeing them being jointed together was very exciting.

I was discussing moving the timber around for this project with a woodsman friend  in the pub the other week. It brought to our minds the occasion which sometimes happens when you recognise a piece of wood you are about to use for some purpose or other, sometimes, you even find you can think back and remember the tree it came from. I am not sure exactly what this says about how efficient we are in minimising the number of steps between tree and end product, you could look at that either way. But its certainly nice to know where the things you use have come from, and that the way they were produced had a minimal impact on the world around you.

There are 4 of these main frames to be built, and we still have to face the challenge of moving a comleted one onto its padstones. But if all goes to plan we hope to be raising the frames on the 12th of May, if you are not to far away and have been following the project you might like to come and watch the raise take place from the field next door to the build site.

The A frame has two horizontal timbers on it, the lower one (furthest away in the picture below) is the underfloor beam. This, as it says on the tin, supports the main floor of the building, joists will bridge the gaps between the beams and the floorboards will sit on top of these. It is made out of oak from the woods here at Swan Barn Farm, you may remember me posting about how complicated it was to make. We still have to make two more of these to support the verandah floor, another challenge!

The second horizontal (closest to you in the pic below) is the tie beam. This is made out of coppiced chestnut and ties the two crucks together as well as fixing into the jowel posts. It also supports the first floor of the building.

The jowel posts are the two vertical posts you can see outside of the A, they are held in place by the two horizontals and will eventually form part of the structure of the walls of the building. They will hold up the wall plate which in turn will support the roof.

Having just re-read this post I am not utterly convinced of how much sense I have been making, especially as with the bed underneath the frame its a bit confusing seeing which bit of wood belongs to which. Hopefully it will all become clear when they frames are raised and can be seen in their vertical positions. That is going to be quite a day.

The Framing Bed

Ben Law’s team have now arrived on site in order to start on the main phase of construction of our new building. One of the first jobs that needs to be done is to build a framing bed.

Rudy, Adam and Nick have been building it today in what is ordinarily the back garden of the basecamp. The framing bed is where the timbers that will make up the main A frames of the structure are fitted together and assembled prior to the frame being raised. The timbers it’s made of provide fixed points that can be measured from to ensure that when the frame is eventually raised all of the timbers will align correctly.

The uprights are made out of offcuts of sweet chestnut from the coppice, and the cross members are made out of the douglas fir we felled earlier in the year. When the bed is dismantled the douglas fir will be reused as roof rafters.

We have been busy milling as many rafters as possible, both for the framing bed and to start to build up a stock of them for the roof. In the picture above you can see how we have milled a square out of the middle of a log, 14 x 2 inch boards are being cut off this, which will then be cut in half to make 7 x 2 inch rafters. Its quite exciting to think ahead to the time when they will be going on to the roof.

Look, blue sky…

Well, there was definitely some for a while at least. We’ve been making the most of a spell of slightly drier weather here over the past week or so, lots more shingles have been made, and we extracted the first of the oak from Witley Copse.

Matt drove this load down to a well known local woodyard yesterday, later in the year it will return to us in the form of our interior floorboards. All the rest of the timber for the building will be sawn and processed on site using our own sawmill, but the interior floorboards need a spell in a drying kiln as well which is why the wood is going on a brief holiday to Petworth. The oak came from the standard trees in the coppice which were felled as part of our regular cycle of mangement of the woods.

We’ve been back up in Ridden Corner Copse as well cutting the sweet chestnut for the roundwood frame of the building.

Just across from where these poles are being worked is a block of chestnut we coppiced 4 years ago to produce fencing materials for a heathland restoration project at the top of the slope in the picture. Whilst we were there I took the chance to have a look and see how well the regrowth was doing.

As you can see the cut stumps are sending up a mass of healthy regrowth, the cycle of growth is working its way round again.

If you live locally I hope you can make it to our event at the Haslemere Hall this friday evening (see my post on this below). Its at 7.30 and Ben Law will be there to talk about his buildings and the processes that go in to their construction.

An evening at the Haslemere Hall

If you are local to Haslemere you might like to know about an event our Local Supporters group (http://www.haslemere.com/localnationaltrust/) are kindly hosting for the project at the Haslemere Hall in Bridge Street (http://www.haslemerehall.co.uk/about-haslemere-hall/).

Its on friday 28th January at 7.30pm and admission will be free, allthough there will be opportunities for people to make a donation to the project if they feel able. I think there may even be a glass of wine for people afterwards as well. The idea is to present the project to local people and to try and explain a little about what we are trying to achieve. I hope it will also be an opportunity to introduce Swan Barn Farm to some people who may not know much about the place or the easy access there is to it from the High Street.

Ben Law will be there to speak about his buildings and his designs for the project at Swan Barn Farm. I will be there to explain a little of the background to the project as well as how it links some of the beautiful countryside surrounding the town. There will be an opportunity for people to ask questions afterwards.

We have been lucky to have lots of local support especially with the planning application, I hope some of you who got involved can make it along to find out a bit more about what we are up too.