Ewan tok a few days off so we hoped to concentrate on straw but the ever unsettled weather made that difficult and somewhat frustrating. Franck and Alison got on with stuffing the wool into the roof while I dashed out between showers to trim and stuff (and trim and restuff and trim and ..... ) the outside of the walls Found it difficult in explaining to Franck that we would keep doing it till we, ie Wendy and I, were satisfied that all the holes that could be filled had been filled. After all - that straw plus a bit of clay and lime will be all that's between us and the winter gales. Early in the week, the roofers came back to fit the ridge pole and do the last few rows of slates. So ... read more

Bit of a hassle with the solar panels - due to Ally having broken his leg we needed to get someone else to install the panels and managed to arrange for them to be fitted on Saturday but before that we had another volunteer weekend. Thanks to the help of Gavin, Niome, Dave, Graham, Sarah, Obi, Elisa and Stephen we completed the straw in the south wall and made serious progress on the gables. Also a great night on the beach and the first of what turned into several barbies in our garden-to-be. Wendy had a week off work so to save boredom setting in she joined me at Tombreck and is now completely knac... worn out. Too many late nights and early (7 am) starts. Wendy's parents arrived on the Monday and treated us to ... read more

Another week of showery weather. What we need is a longish spell of dry weather to dry out the ground and let us bale the remaining straw. However some progress this week with triple velux installed and wall plates for upstairs made - awaiting polypropylene strapping before they can be fixed. Also made a start on upstairs wall. Thanks to Ewan, Carrie and Rob. So much time seems to be spent waiting for either the weather or deliveries - still only couple of weeks behind schedule so not too bad. Roofers arrive on Monday 14th to start on slating roof. Its now Sunday night just got back from rather hectic weekend yes another one. We drove up Saturday mornoing taking frank our latest woofer. Frank is a young lad from from Paris keen to improve his ... read more

Carrie, our woofer, arrived on Tuesday but weather was unsettled for most of the week (sunny intervals and occasional showers sums it up) too unsettled to do much with the straw though we did get the first 3 veluxes in. Another small step forward. Picked up Wendy Friday morning, visit by my dad, and my brother Roger and wife Linda in the afternoon. Most of the day spent tidying up in readiness for the party. Perfect evening a pre-party with early guests, an almost perfect summer's evening/night with a beautiful creamy moon, just past full, in an almost clear sky. Party Day - Wendy and I decided to spend some time prepping bales (a eupemism if ever I heard one) whilst waiting the arrival of the guests. Weather at this point still glorious. people arrived throughout ... read more

Monday 9th June - we've had our first weekend of building with straw bales helped by a really nice guy from Amazon Nails and a great bunch of people (including caterers et al). Great party on the Saturday night Thank you all. As you can see from the photos we've now completed the sarking (thanks guys). Bit of a saga with the straw which I'll no doubt bore some of you with sometime it had to be rebaled. This whole thing is a bit of an emotional roller coaster. We've now got part of the walls up -- enough bullsh..t lets add some pics... read more