Inspiration Seagull House in Devon

When you've been married a while, you get to cherish those nights when your beloved spouse is out for night, and you have the place to yourself.  This typically involves sloppy lounge wear, grubby food of some kind that you can only eat when alone (whole packet of biscuits, large hunk of cheese on its own, nutella from the jar) and a marathon of programmes that don't float your other half's boat.  This kicked off with a bit of totty and gore in the form of Last Kingdom (loved the books and Uthred is very easy on the eye) and progressed into the stack of Grand Designs episodes clogging BT box.  There are some great ones on at the moment - really early ones that I haven't seen in years - with an eerily youthful, fresh faced Kevin.

As the episodes slide by with soothing familiarity, the laptop comes out and as the mind inevitably drifts to the project, the fingers start exploring Google.  I've been looking more at Scandinavian style kit houses lately and keep coming across the same sites.  The houses are nice - some are beautiful, some look like ski chalets and you know, they seem so practical with the costs all neatly defined up front, and everything neatly designed with precision expected of that region.  But there is still a part of me that still wants to have something bespoke, more personal and more local.

So moving away from what is practical  and sensible, and ready made - i tried to think from the point of view of what do i really want to have?  What features would make it perfect?  And one of the things on the list is to have access to a covered outside space and a raised outside space, to make the most of the view - like a balcony, a terrace - I even have a slight hankering to be able to get out and sit on the roof.  So I searched for images in "timber frame house balcony" to just try and help me form a picture.  Almost straight away i found an image that just blew me away - Seagull House in South Devon - about a mile away from where i used to live on the River Dart - I can't believe i never saw it!

Gorgeous Seagull House

Look at it! I love this galleried balcony that wraps itself around the building - part southern Gothic mansion, part medieval jetty, part Victorian boat house.  The Wisteria enveloping the river side face gives it an extra kick of whimsy that just makes me swoon - you expect a red headed Weasley to emerge with a broomstick from one of those sets of doors.

The house stands above the river - and you can see how balconied gable end definitely takes something from the real boat house that sits at water level (below).

Seagull House seen from the River Dart

Might be a hangover from watching Last Kingdom earlier, but the interior is definitely remeniscent of a medieval great hall or guildhall. The huge wooden ribs are also very boat-like we recently paid a visit to the astonishing Cutty Sark in Greenwich, and the inside of Seagull House definitely has the same feel - a vast upturned hull, linking neatly back to the boating association.  I think its a bit too much for me, too much wood, too darkly over whelming to be comfortable - and I don't quite understand the layout (clearly I need a tour) but there is no denying that it is an remakable piece of craftsmanship.  That's quite lucky really  - as I don't think i could quite stretch to the recent £2.95M that it was being marketed for!





Oooh got distracted - one of my favourite episodes ever came on - Deni and Doug rebuilding a stunning ruined French Manor House in Creuse - mainly armed with an obstinate refusal to be told something is impossible and books ***LOVE***

Looking a bit more into Seagull House it is clear that I am far from the first to be bowled over by it - and apparently it has even been on my beloved Grand Designs (I may have to watch them all to find out which one).  It was created by architect Roderick James, and been used as the template of many more oak framed houses acros the country.  James is very much still working and was one of the founders of Carpenter Oak Ltd who are creating some beautiful projects and who I very much want to speak to about my future project.   They created the Cruciform House in Lambourn waaaaay back in 2001 - its not actually one of my favourites, too much open space, but you can't fault the workmanship or skill.  Carpenter Oak have show houses available to visit, so might just have to take a look next time I'm down in Devon.  It looks like they offer a range of services from initial consultations though to full turnkey - who knows - this could be the beginning of something beautiful...

Green eyed monster - Grand Designs S16 E6 Concrete Cow Shed

This week I've definitely been a green eyed monster.  Have you ever had a hopeless dream, that you know i your heart of hearts is probably never going to happen - but deep down you cherish a tiny bit of hope that it could, some how some day become a reality?   I'm not talking about marrying your favourite celebrity, or even winning the lottery - but a dream that is rooted at some level in reality and if everything in the universe aligned in the right way you might actually achieve it.

Well I had one of them.  There was this barn, up on a hill top called Windy Ridge, between the family farm and some outlying fields.  It was a bit of an ugly brute - all concrete blocks and ridged asbestos roofing sheets, but my god the views.  Miles and miles of green tapestry stretching across 3 counties to the sea, and the distinctive silhouettes of Pilsdon and Lewesdon hills separating land and sky.  The barn would be a unique opportunity with a unique view.  Sure it would be windy, but you could put something there that hunkered down against the wind, with underfloor heating and log fires to keep you toasty and an expanse of glass to protect you from the elements and let you drink in that glorious view.  I even pictured sipping Spanish hot chocolate from a favourite mug, curled up watching a storm come in.  My dreams have details.

I've walked past this barn beating for the local shoot, I've run past it in rare enthusiastic (yet inevitably short lived) quests for fitness, I've ridden past on ponies as a kid and racehorses as an adult, I've driven past in dad's truck on the way to check the sheep (generally via a pub) or on the way to different jobs picking strawberries at Forde Abbey, or riding out at different yards.  And I've always harboured that dream that nobody else had noticed it and some how I could buy it and turn it into my dream home - my grand design.
Unfortunately it was noticed. For years it remained empty, abandoned even by the cattle it once housed and gradually descending into decrepitude by the assault from the wind and weather that gave the ridge its name.  Various attempts to get planning were submitted by the farmer that owned it and summarily declined.   The dream still lived.  And then the crushing news I had dreaded for years - not only had the barn been sold (and to beastly Londoners no less!) but they had got planning permission to turn it into a house- AND horror of horrors - it was going to be on Grand Designs!

Jesus wept.  How could this be? Not only had these people stolen (well worked and saved the money to buy *technically*) my dream conversion, but they were getting to live my Grand Design dream too!  It should be me chatting to Kevin not them!  And to add final insult to injury - the bloody episode was aired ON MY BIRTHDAY.  What the actual ***k?  It seems the universe did align - but in a horribly ironic way against me!

When my indignation subsided and I actually watched the episode - Series 16, episode 6 "The Concrete Cow Shed"  It was totally gutting.  And as much as I wanted to hate it and them, they actually seemed like a really nice couple and as per usual on the lower budget, hands on approach Grand Designs, I was rooting for them albeit reluctantly by half way through.  It wasn't finished at the end, but you got the gist of what it would be like and it will make a great revisited.  I wont put a pic from when it's finished - the reveal is always the best bit!

Maybe next time I'm home, I'll swing by and take a look in a non stalkerish type way.  The best part of a fantasy is that it could come true.  But I'll have to let get of this particular dream, and just enjoy the thoughts what could have been...

Seeing the wood for the trees

There are two pieces of woodland on the family farm. When we were kids i remember there were chalk paths though the woods that you could walk, ride or drive (in a land rover) through.  In a typical "lies to children" move from parents and grandparents - any time a column of steam could be seen rising from the green canopy, we were told there were witches in the woods!  So we were mainly too scared to go in there, but they were a big part of our growing up.

The big wood from above - hazel clearing top left, poplar plantation bottom right - big jumbly jungle everywhere else

Gradually over 30 years priorities have changed on the farm, labour became more expensive and farming has been through some tough times - hence the maintenance has lapsed and the tidy piece of forestry has gradually morphed into the boggy, tangled messy bits of woodland there today. BUT the woods are full of trees - and full of wood! Most of it native varieties of deciduous trees like beech, ash and oak plus a big stand of poplars that dad planted in the sixties which is pretty much ready for the chop now.

There is also a hazel grove in the big wood that used to be coppiced and regularly maintained.  It is predictably very over grown at the moment, but it is there with a little clearing - almost certainly where the witches lived, although possibly where the hazel was worked and even charcoal made.  I'm sure if you know what you're doing it could be brought back into use - hazel seems to be infinitely resilient, and could become a productive source of firewood, and who knows maybe for wattle and daub walls?

It seems to me that there has to be potential here to use materials from the woodlands to build the frame and build and clad the walls of my fantasy house.  I know you can buy timber.  I know you can buy flat packed houses that are built in a factory and shipped in and erected in a day.  But  - in the style of Ben Law's remarkable cruck framed wooden house on Grand Designs (S3 E3), though maybe not quite that extreme, you can build a beautiful building from the materials available around you.  This also appeals to my basic human skills mentality - make it not buy it.

At the moment turning big leafy tree into usable strips of lumber is a bit of a mystery - but how hard can it be we've been doing it for thousands of years - right?!  I've set myself a bit of homework:

• identify the trees in the woodland - and any potential ones in hedgerows
• investigate what is needed to harvest the wood and extract it
• understand how much usable timber comes from each type of tree
• find out if it should be seasoned and how you store it to do that!
• how to coppice hazel

There is a small tree preservation  company in a nearby village, so they might be a good place to start, plus a walk around the wood with dad just to see what is there.  And of course some interweb research!

Plenty to be going on with then!

A room of one's own

I would love to build not only a room of my own - but in fact a whole home one day, or even homes.  There it is - the infamous "one day" - but I genuinely do have a plan of sorts.  My family own a farm, and as long as the current crash in lamb prices doesn't mean they have to sell it before I've saved up the pennies - I've got my eye on a couple of likely spots on the old place to park some kind of dwelling.

I'm clearly not alone in this particular whimsy - it seems to be a bit of a national obsession judging by the success and sheer volume of programmes like Grand Designs (with its subsequent spin off exhibitions and magazines - not to mention massive international syndications), Amazing Spaces, The House £100k built, My flat pack home and so on ad infinitum.  And I'm addicted to most of them - even the ones with George Clark.  Tolerated to a remarkable high degree, this does generate a quantity of eye rolling from the long suffering hubby who naturally has to watch most of them too, but as long as I'm careful to intersperse my shows with a good smattering of rugby matches and American crime drama, I can usually get away with it.  Hey - at least its not TOWIE or ANTM.  Ahem well mostly anyway...

Dunno what it is about building a house - some basic need to create shelter, or maybe its just massive showig off ego trip, or maybe a manifestation of the need of ownership perpetuated by the corrupting influence of capitalism.  Sorry that was a bit Russell Brand.  Personally -  I want a space that is my own, in the context of the place that I grew up - with my family but not with my family if you know what I mean, a route out of the rat race and into a low impact, sustainable place to escape to.  The idea is that it would be let some of the time to make it viable financially and then we can use it as a bolt hole - and who knows maybe one day be a place to work for myself.  Its a dream at the moment, but while I'm saving, I can research what is needed to make it a reality - planning laws, building techniques, sustainability and green techniques, suppliers, financing - and indulge a bit of fantasy at the same time.

I have lots of conflicting ideas about what it could look like - a single storey pre fabricated log cabin is probably most sensible from a financial and planning perspective.  But what options are out there?  What about something Scandinavian with clapper boards in a soft pastel shade and acres of glass? What about something that borrows from the surrounding agricultural buildings? I do have an absurd irrational yen for corrugated tin buildings and tabernacles - is there an option that could include some of those elements? Is there an option to do something in a traditional building technique like cob or rammed earth - or something super modern?  So many options to explore - Can't wait!

Adventures in cheese - home made Ricotta

Making cheese is one of the basic skills I want to learn - so I'm starting with the easiest one there is - a basic Ricotta.  I'm not quite ready for fully self sufficiency just yet, given that I am cheating and using a Mad Millie kit that I was given last Christmas - but hey its a start right?

Actually the pack "Mad Millie Italian Cheese Kit" is great  - its a New Zealand company (such a creative bunch) but you can pick it up for about £20 in the UK and it has all the basic equipment  you need to get started - so great if you just want to have a go before you embark on full scale Cathedral City style industrial production.



I used the recipe from the booklet and handy video tutorials (I'm a sucker for a good video tutorial) that came with the set, and virtually hold your hand on this cheesy journey.  I halved the volumes as just for two of us and have added any observations of my own going through.  This has inadvertently turned into a bit of product review, so if you want a bit more of detailed guide to making and perfecting Ricotta I recommend checking out Serious Eats comments on the subject.

Ingredients
1 litre full fat milk
1/2 tsp salt (from the pack)
1/2 tsp citric acid (from the pack) dissolved in 2 tbsp cold water

Equipment
Saucepan
Small stainless steel sieve or slotted spoon
Measuring spoons
Ricotta basket and container (from the pack) you could use a small sieve for this
Food thermometer (from the pack) can't get round this - you need to know the temperature
Sterilising crystals (from the pack) you could probably use sterilising tablets like Milton

Method

Mmm apetizing!

1. Start off with sterilising your equipment - I did it in the saucepan I was going to use and did the ricotta basket, thermometer, slotted spoon.  Drain thoroughly or presumably you will have Milton flavoured cheese YUM
2. Pour the milk into your sterilised pan and add the salt. Pop in the thermometer making sure the little temperature nodes are submerged
3. Heat the milk to 95 degrees C/203 degrees F, stirring all the time.  I heated over a medium heat (6 or 7 on my hob) so the milk didn't catch.
4. Once up to temp, remove from the heat and stir in the citric acid solution
5. The milk mixture will curdle immediately.  It looks disgusting - like baby sick, which I guess its not too dissimilar to actually.
6. Leave to cool for at least half an hour, to let the ricotta firm up
7. Put the drainage basket into its container (or sieve over a bowl). Once firm enough - it needs to clump and not just fall straight through the holes in the drainer, carefully scoop up the curds and layer them into the drainer basket.  The waste liquid - is that whey? - smells a pretty gross
8. The liquid will continue to drip out and will change the consistency of the finished product.  The longer you leave it, the drier and crumblier it will be.  Using the info from the Serious Eats guide, I drained mine for 20 minutes for a fairly dry texture to use in ravioli - it all looks ok so far!
9. Keep in the fridge for up to a week

And there it is - I made cheese!  Next stop  - to make Ricotta and Swiss Chard ravioli, and then Mozzarella will be next in the cheese making odyssey.

I maked cheese!

I would recommend the product - definitely good to help you find your cheesy feet - the whole curdling bit is so alien (looks and smells grim) that its nice to have everything made easy for you - you don't need to buy any other specialist kit or ingredients while you are just trying it out. Probably won't need to replace anything once I've done it a few times and got my confidence. If you fancy one - you can pick up the kits in Lakeland and of course Amazon and ebay.

The first post

No bugle calls, just the start of this blog.

This is purely a place for rambling and writing about the things that interest me - the pick'n'mix of my brain.  I get manias - mini-obsessions about things or places - they can be food, or photography, or periods of history or styles of architecture or gardening or... you get the picture.  I like that feeling of being in the middle of something, working on a project - and while some things - like baking a cake are tangible and have a definite (hopefully delicious) outcome - others are just dreams or at such an early phase that its easy to get disillusioned give up while you get on with life.  So - rather than just lose all that exciting research - why not create a short term outcome with an article?  I can't see anyone wanting to publish them to they will be the output of this blog.

We'll see how it goes!