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.

A visit to Partridge Green

This morning we have been over to Partridge Green to meet Ben Law at the site of one of his current projects. There were a few particular details we needed to look at that were relevant to the building we are working with him on, but also the build there is at an interesting stage and it was a chance to see some of what we are letting ourselves in for.

This building has a roof made of sawn cedar shingles, which lends a different feel from the split chestnut we will be using, I suspect our roof will have a much more rustic look. Ben and his team are currently working on the interior of this building, constructing the straw bale walls.

They are great insulation, and give a really nice feel to the finished walls when plastered over, one of the details I particularly like in these buildings are the big window seat alcoves which fit into the straw bale walls.

The dimensions of the walls and the openings in them are all based around the dimensions of bales of straw, meaning that the bales should slot nice and easily into place. The bales are held together with sweet chestnut spikes as well as being firmly held in place between the main frame and the exterior studwork.

Here you can see where the bales have almost reached the roof, at this point sheepswool takes over as the insulation, filling the spaces between the rafters.

It was really interesting to see another of Ben’s buildings taking shape, it also make me think about the timber we have been working with and where it will be going in our building.

On the way back the skies started to clear on what has been an otherwise pretty grey day and I couldn’t resist stopping off at one of our coppice Woodlands at Roundhurst Common on the edge of Black Down. Towards the north of the woods there are the remains of a tiny old cottage, and spreading out from what may well once have been part of its garden is one of the prettiest patches of snowdrops I know of in the area. Just as I suspected the first few flowers had started to open.

In a couple of weeks time there will be the most fantastic carpet of snowdrops in this corner of the wood.

Just round the corner at Roundhurst Farm a community vegetable garden has been established by a group from Transition Town Haslemere. Its a beautiful place to go and spend a bit of time and the project is looking for more people to get involved,  if you live locally and would like to have a go at growing your own veg you can find out more at : http://transitionhaslemere.org/newsite/participate/landshare-group