Somewhat in anticipation of being able to take up residence we’ve bought a great new bed for the barn. King sized, so an extra six inches for the baby to spread out in during the middle of the night whilst his mother and I teeter at opposite edges of the bed.

Ours is a Snowdon organic mattress handmade in Wales and 100% organic (organic cotton and sheeps wool). We also invested in a hardwood bed frame which complements both the mattress and the room that the bed is in perfectly.

There were two factors that influenced this purchase, firstly the bed has been manufactured locally, only a handful of miles from the barn and secondly the materials from which it is made are in line with the healthy house ethos of which I am an advocate.

But most importantly, this is one of the most comfortable beds I’ve ever been in.

Abaca Organic

In their own words: "The organic bedding products used by Abaca are produced using materials created by traditional farming methods, avoiding the use of highly toxic fertilisers, pesticides, herbicides and fungicides. These production methods not only offer great benefits to the farmers and the environment, but increasingly enable you to choose products which will be safer for you and your family."

Whilst way beyond my own humble aspirations for energy self sufficiency, the fantastically named Island Micro Grid just commissioned at the Centre for Alternative Technology is an interesting development.

I was shocked to read:

The developed world’s centralised electricity system wastes around 65% of energy through heat loss in power stations and transmission lines, before reaching our homes.

How wasteful! And what a great reason to consider and for governments to encourage local energy generation.

An Island Micro Grid is a way to connect together diverse electricity generation technologies (wind, hydro, photovoltaic etc.) and to use generated power locally rather than exporting to the grid. A grid connection is mantained (in effect a bridge from the island grid to the national grid) to allow excess power to be exported to the grid or to allow a draw down from the grid when sufficient power is not available locally.

Read more at the link given above.

The rainy damp Summer of 2009 continues … damply …

I’ve completed regrouting the grubby bathroom tiling at long last. I’ve not fully cleaned them yet as I’m trying to avoid spending any more time on tiles at least for the next few weeks.

The travertine floors downstairs have been completed and look great. I’ll publish some more pictures as and when we get it things a bit more shipshape – the sink is currently in the middle of the living area having been moved out of the way to allow tiling in the kitchen.

I’ve made a slow start on finishing the untreated oak stairs and bannisters having started sanding and filling. This is the next indoor focus for me.

The kitchen is pretty well getting there now, the sideboard has been put together, corner unit assembled (after having to rework one of the end pieces having been supplied with two the same, rather than two opposing pieces) and wall and shelf units have been put up (and stayed up so far – touching wood on that one).

Outside work has started on the paths so at least we can get in and out without a trail of mud … as I said, this has been a very damp Summer …

As I’ve already mentioned I bought a chandelier from Scavengers. It looked great on the web:

My Chandelier

Not too fancy (if that can be said of any chandelier and I think I’m having second thoughts on that one), classy (well I thought it was when I bought it) and in pretty good condition. When it arrived, well packaged but obviously traumatised from a boisterous journey that condition had somewhat deteriorated.

Now the crystals have mainly come off their fixings and I’d sure the metal body of the chandelier has a slight twist in it (that wasn’t there on the original photograph).

I’ve ordered some additional parts – a couple of brass chains, some of the small bow shaped metal clasps that are used fix the crystals in place and a brass hook for attaching the whole thing to the ceiling.

I’ll have to see if my craft skills, I’ll being getting the brasso out soon, are up to reassembling the parts to make a chandelier worthy of hanging in quite a prominent place in the galleried part of the barn.

I’ll post again once it’s up and lit.

I wrote about the Lammas ecovillage back at the start of the year. At the time, I aired my feelings of ethical support, but real-world unease. Now things have moved on and the development has been granted planning permission not by local planners, but in an act of centralised government colonialism, by the Welsh Assembly Government, against the wishes of local politicians and residents.

“The local MP, the county council, the AM and most importantly the local residents, were all against it and yet the Welsh Assembly has come in and just ridden roughshod over everyone’s concerns.”

Preseli Pembrokeshire AM Paul Davies

It’s from the point of view of the local residents that I agree with the opponents of the scheme. In the words of Counsellor John Davies the leader of Pembrokeshire County Council (who thinks the decision to grant the permission is “wrong”):

Hard working families cannot get permission to build a single dwelling if it is outside a village boundary and yet this community has got permission for an entire village.

On face value this seems like double standards and favouritism. In their defence Lammas can claim eco credentials that a traditional block and brick or timber frame building with a typical usage pattern may not have. A test case of a planning application for single dwelling for a local family on a traditional site, but with improved eco credentials would move this on in an interesting direction and perhaps (depending on the outcome of the application) lead to a more equitable range of options for all involved.

In the sake of even-handedness, I’ll leave off with the words of Paul Wimbush of Lammas:

It is an opportunity for society to begin to implement the radical change that is so desperately needed to develop vibrant local economies and sustainable land use. The Welsh Assembly Government can see this and thank goodness we have central government leadership with the vision and courage to welcome change.

Quotations from and thanks to the Tivy Side Advertiser.