Gates to Paradise.

Which is just to say that the site now has a pair of wooden gates at its NW approach, put up by me yesterday. I'm not quite there yet but feel that it may get afloat again in the next few days. I painted the blue box Sherwood green and started to clear a space in the woods for an Earthship. We like the idea of building an Earthship, possibly before anything else as

1. The marterials are free or already on site.
2. Might even be paid to take 500 used tyres away from the National Tyres depot in town - they have to pay £5 a tyre, they say, to have them removed from their premises.
3. It could make a snug sleeping den for site visitors and useful day house, too in its chosen location.
4. A local charity wants to build an Earthship in Eiras Park as a youth centre. They may well be persuaded to come and help with the construction.
5. It'll also give me a reason to fell and plank some/all of the Scot's Pine on site. Thet're good timber but not really appropriate species - all the rest is native deciduous and holly. OK and sweet chestnut and horse chestnut and Christmas Trees but they're "exceptions" to prove my rule. OK, just I really want to harvest those 80 year old pines, and there's a few plankers around to bring their kit to the site to do the work.

So, an Earthship. Should I ask the Planners? No, I didn't think so , either! Trouble is I already want to ask them about

1. Making the renovation twelve inches higher, to get the crogs in comfortably.
2. Wind turbines - either on the top of our hill or just accross the road to that point as a small wind farm or both options.
3. Oh yes and ........ One has so many plans!

The Celtic Longhouse I'd like to be quite early, too. Plans will be drawn up!

I also uncovered the well again (from brambles) so must now devise a pumping scheme to draw the water out and to points of use. Solar or a small turbine?

Back to the future and all that!

Greystone longhouse

OK, this is just to establish the brief, the web site and, indeed, the physical site. Three acres, a caravan, a steel container box and, oh yes, "little more than a pile of stones". Yes, you guessed, a building plot. To renovate my dream home. Set in paradise, near to the Irish Sea coast of North Gwynedd. Even got plans passed by the local council to build the dwelling.

It's an old location with lots of history. Romans were in the area and there's a raised roadway of glacial stones (grey, of course!) retained between well laid and large edging stones. It is five metres wide and runs a long way through two of the fields. I call it the Roman road - it's certainly atypical of the standard local approach which is two parallel deep ruts cut out of ever deepening mud. Tractor roads. A local girl. Helen, married a Centurion based at Segontium, the regional headquarters of the Romans - in fact their North West frontier. Her name is celebrated to this day, and the local area is called "Penfforddhelen" - the top of Helen's road.

There is a well in one of the fields and the road leads towards it. Some say the road from Segontium down to the South of Wales passed along this route and the well was a useful stopping off point. Certainly, more recently, it fed pipes to several local houses, used until very recently for household water supplies.

There's fabulous views - over the sea to Ireland on a clear day - but also lots of trees on the holding. Of these a good number are fruit trees, especially apples. Also a few thousand native deciduous and a few Scots Pine. These latter should cut to useful timber as they're some eighty years old.
Otherwise most stems are twelve years old and will provide useful coppice material. If you find this space and are interested then I'll be back soon. Watch this blog!

Longhouse. These are found a lot locally and I'd like to build the predating structure, as built by the pre-Roman Celts. Up in the hills there are ruins of such dwellings as well as the more described roundhouses. So, using the masses of stone held in the neat-ish 19th century dry stone walls and the alder, ash, birch and aspen stems, I'm determined to build a serviceable bronze age Celtic Longhouse. The main house will be the subsequent project, I'll start here.

If I can sort a few details then this could become a "please come and join in" type project. There's loads to do. Such as the Amphitheatre. There will be camping, for sure, and potential for more but I've got to get some services sorted.