House of Straw

Leaving my new home in Wales all packed up, awning removed and water drained from the pipes, I climbed into my Jimny and exchanged a few unpleasantries with the pheasant perched defiantly on the bonnet before embarking on the two hundred mile journey back to the community at Pilsdon in West Dorset. I have to trust that the wind won’t blow my net protection off from the six fledgling blueberry bushes I planted, leaving them to the mercy (or otherwise) of the ravenous pheasants, and that my hastily erected fencing around the 150 recently sown garlic cloves stays standing. Next spring the gamekeepers will install an enormous net over the entire 700m² growing area as protection from their birds but they won’t do it now for fear a heavy winter snowfall might bring it down along with their fencing.

I broke the journey near Builth Wells where a couple of friends, let’s call them Gerard and Hannah, have recently moved onto their land in a caravan. The difference between them and me is that rather than sensibly escaping the bitter winter frosts by upping sticks and finding shelter, they are actually trying to build their own house on the land before the real bad weather starts, using straw bales and timber. When I arrived they were just about to lay the very first straw bale onto a large rectangular platform base, resting on tyres filled with stone. I helped them place the initial layer of bales around the edge of the platform, creating the beginnings of some extremely thick walls.

I had never previously done any straw bale construction and it was fascinating to see how simple and quick it was. The base bales were pinned to the platform with short wooden stakes pushed into holes in the platform, spike upwards. Once the bales are stacked six high, staggered like brickwork, they will be held together with long stakes forced through from the top. The exterior will be clad with timber, leaving a narrow gap for ventilation, and an insulated tin roof fitted from which rainwater will be collected as their water supply (this is Wales, after all - you can depend on the rain).

Hannah and Gerard’s home will be single storey but straw bales can be used for larger, more complex buildings, and are becoming more common since they provide such fantastic insulation for minimal cost. The amount of compression the straw is under prevents it from being a fire risk. Straw can normally be bought locally from farms so the carbon footprint is tiny. All in all this should be a much more widely used building material; probably the reason why it isn’t is the inertia and conservative approach of the British construction and insurance industries. 

Before heading on my way I paused to admire and nervously stroke their enormous fluffy Angora rabbits which they hope to turn into a wool business supplying ethical clothing companies who prefer not to buy the stuff from China where (a) Angora wool mostly comes from and (b) rabbit welfare is pretty low on the list of things people bother much about. More than half of their land is a very large field from which they will grow hay to feed to their rabbits thus reducing the need to buy expensive rabbit food.

The whole project is driven by a desire to live more simply with as little impact on the environment as possible - it’s a huge job for just two but I’m sure they can pull it off! Check out their planning application for more details.

Arriving at Pilsdon with the late afternoon sun making everything glow warm, it was wonderful to be greeted by so many familiar and friendly faces, each asking how I had survived the last six months in my Welsh bog. I am back in a world where floors don’t tilt, toilets are inside, walls keep the heat in, taps work and gush hot water, meals are (mostly) prepared by others, and the internet does not require a long bike ride. I’m going to make the most of these next few months.