Stroud Eco-Renovation Open Homes - day 1

The Stroud Eco-Renovation Open Homes Weekend 2011 started today and I chose to visit a house which was demonstrating external wall insulation, super roof insulation, biomass heating, solar thermal & solar PV. I found it with difficulty at Iles Green, near Far Oakridge, which is a small hamlet set high on the hilltop above the far end of the Golden Valley, beyond Chalford. This house is sited right on the edge of 'The Tops', which I talked about last Wednesday, where the flat farm lands of the Cotswolds drop down steeply to the valley bottom several hundred feet below, where the railway, canal and roads all congregate.

When I arrived there were other various visitors, some of whom happened to live very near to us. They were talking to the owner, who turned out to be an old friend of mine, Roger B., who I first met about 20 years ago when we were both involved in trying to establish a 'sustainable village project', which came about through mutual interest in Permaculture. Roger still owns and runs the local garage, but his heart is in sustainable futures.

At this country garage, he added the 'Green Shop', which has expanded enormously over the years and provides an important resource for the supply and fitting of all the technologies that are required for sustainable futures.

I hadn't visited his house before, and in fact this is not his 'house', although he and his wife have lived here for many years. We were in the kitchen of this converted weaving building, which was an addition to their house that lies a few yards away awaiting their renovating skills. They decided to prepare this small building as an annexe, which they could move in to before starting the major works on the house, which consists of several old Cotswold stone weavers cottage. The original one room building had a cow shed attached, and here we are standing in part of it. They have converted it into a bathroom with a bedroom next door, and the roof is supported by these old railway sleepers, which the previous owner had brought up the hillside from the railway track, where he had worked after the second world war.

Above this ceiling on its roof is a large photo-voltaic system for electricity production, whilst above the single roomed cottage next door, are the the solar-thermal installations. I was interested mostly in the external wall insulation, which is just being finished, whereby an additional six inches of various materials have been added to super-insulate the building. Roger was aiming to have a cost-free energy supply, and this year so far they have actually received a return of £600 already for their energy production surplus. That is after the costs of the wood used for the wood burning stove have been accounted for.

Tomorrow I will go to some other local buildings, which have different technologies on show. What is most valuable is to see working examples of these technologies and to be able to talk to and quiz the people who've committed their resources to this path. I believe that seeing (and feeling) is believing, and coming here today proved the point.

I took several pictures of all the various technologies, but I decided to blip this picture as it showed Roger, who is so important to the local development of these essential services, and who is a good man. When I took this picture he was chatting to some other visitors, a young couple who are looking to improve their own home. I didn't like to interrupt and so tried this rather tricky shot, looking into the light through the south-facing window. I like the collection of raspberries on the draining board, as they look yummy.

Through the left hand window you can vaguely see the bottom of the garden, in the lower pane. The upper pane shows the far hillside about a mile away. Shame I don't know how to expose it in a better manner :o((

You can see the web site for this Festival HERE. Roger's house is the first on the list and you can read more details there.