Rest and Recuperation
Firstly, I must apologise for the infrequency of my recent posting.
I’ve been away in France for a little ‘R and R’ staying in a barn conversion in Normandy (can’t stay away from the bloody things).
The place we stay at now has four barns converted for holiday accommodation. We stayed in the first conversion at the farm more or less exactly two years ago and since then three more have followed.
What I find interesting is that whilst there are many similarities in the buildings and the climate between here and South Wales and in essence the conversions are similar in design approach, the building regulations obviously differ greatly. These buildings have nothing like the (expensive) levels of roof & wall insulation or high specification windows and doors that we use. Now I don’t know if there are different standards for temporary holiday accommodation in France or other factors at play here, but anyway it makes you think…
Perhaps we have something to teach the French…? Or is that the other way around…do we over-specify?
Put another way, where should we draw the line between energy efficiency, pragmatism and cost? That line seems to be drawn differently in different countries.
If you enjoyed that post, then read these...
Copper Nails! on August 11th, 2006
There are all sorts in interesting(?) facts that you learn when you begin to dabble in an area with which you've had little previous experience (such as converting a shed to a house is to me).
I'm certainly no bathroom designer / the strange 1 metre wide space on November 8th, 2007
The original plans for the barn had two largish bathrooms one of which contained an airing cupboard that to my mind was a waste of space.
Lucious Lime on April 29th, 2007
After my ‘introduction to lime’ course I have a great fear that I may be joining the ranks of sustainable / healthy / traditional / vernacular building fanatics - those guys who, have a glint in their eye (perhaps caused by a small fleck of caustic lime) and a passion in their speech when discussing lime mortars, white-washes, sheep’s wool insulation …
The course was at .
Offer for Barn accepted! on June 28th, 2006
The ball starts rolling.
New Pictures ~ Before on November 6th, 2007
I've been promising these for a while, but eventually I've got there.
Posted in Journal of my barn conversion |
