This week's speaking engagement for Ian was at the agricultural college Bishop Barton near Hull. A lovely friend (and fellow Nuffield scholar) offered him the use of her straw bale cottage for a couple of nights - so I decided this was the one speaking trip Barney and I would just have to go on.
Here is the cottage - built by Carol Atkinson (http://www.strawcottage.co.uk/). Note Ian rushing to get to his talk on time....
We loved the way the walls curve in and out and the cosy feel of it - the walls are so thick you can't even hear the wind blowing outside.... it brought back memories of making hay bale dens on the farm when we were children. It's built on stilts cos it floods there - she's a brave woman to build out of straw in a flood plain.
While Ian was occupied Barney and I discovered the beautiful town of Beverley, and the sweeping beach at Hornsea. I've never been to this part of the country before and was amazed how beautiful 'up north' is (apologies to any northerners who already know this). The sun was shining, the waves crashing and the ideas flowing..... could we build part of our house out of straw bales? Or even better out of cob? Perhaps we could build out of materials only found on site.....clay, wood, stone, and all the leftovers of the main build....
Oops, turn around from watching the waves and you could be in Berrow Happy Holiday Village... but a bit more precarious:-
And as a gentle reminder of the industrial north, the River Ouse (I think) at sunset with chimneys on the horizon.
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