The weather has remained dry up until Easter weekend, making progress easier than if it were cold and wet. This pic is from last week and I have since completed the walls. (it’s round so there is only one wall, but it feels like there are many as it is a long process!).

The next pic shows the entrance where I’ll make a pair of solid Oak doors in a Medieval style. The window has oranges and green leaves which look great in the afternoon Sun.

This pic shows the skylight at the centre of the the Round house and the whole build has moved on substantially from my last blog to the point where the walls are almost complete but i’m going to put those pics up a bit later. We even had one of the chickens that roam around here lay a couple of eggs in the Roundhouse,

Well we’ve spent most of the past 5 days putting the different layers on to the roof frame with 4 days carrying bag loads of soil up there. To reduce the weight I ordered a pallet load of Perlite an expanded volcanic rock which can be used as a lightweight aggregate. Today we finished putting the soil on the roof and I sowed a mixture of Cornfield Annuals for instant colour this year as well as a perennial mixture of meadow flowers, but not meadow grasses as these tend to take over too quickly pushing out the more interesting flowers.

To ensure success with germination and growing I have installed a mini sprinkler irrigation system which you can see in this photo.

Well it’s the beginning of March and we have erected the Sweet Chestnut roof frame over the English Oak Frame (trying to keep all materials as local as possible). I’m very pleased with the progress so far and the whole structure is going according to plan, which is not always the case! We have got a week off this coming week as I’m having to do a Church garden in Ipswich which has been on hold for some time while permission was sought to proceed – it’s a shame to have two projects on top of each other as it adds to the stress and worry of finishing either of the projects and very unusual at this time of year. Here is a pic of the Roundhouse so far.

I should have started blogging on my low impact Cobwood Round House that I am building at Jimmy’s Farm a few weeks ago, so i’ll just say a few words on the process so far.

This beautiful and versatile building is going to be 5 metres in diameter and be of a load bearing Oak ‘henge frame’ (think of Stone Henge). This will have a ‘reciprocal’ roof frame made up of Sweet Chestnut that I coppiced my self from the woods at Jimmy’s Farm. This roof frame supports its self without the need for a central post to hold it up as each inward facing beam rests on the previous one with the last one tucked under the first one but on top of the previous one – keeping the whole structure up in the air. A mixture of wild meadow perennials and cornfield annuals will be planted on the roof.

The gaps between the henge frame are filled in with ‘Cobwood’ – short lengths of logs bedded together with ‘Cob’ – soil mixed with water, hay and a bit of lime (chalk). Also there will be a mixture of leaded glass windows and large Perspex viewing panes.

Finally the floor will have broad 12 inch Larch planks that I’ve ordered from a local saw mill. Thats it for now, thanks