This is the UK's first two storey load bearing structure.
It is built on about an acre of terraced woodland with a
ruined dwelling at the top of the hill overlooking the Teifi
estuary and the west Wales coastline. After two years of
communication with Pembrokeshire Planning Authority Rachel
received planning permission to build a sustainable house.
In April 2003 the building was underway and Rachel contacted
Barbara of Amazon
Nails 
a women's building team and pioneers in strawbale build
in Britain and Ireland. August 2003 saw the gradual raising
of the ground floor of the house; from dust to straw. Barbara
Jones of Amazon Nails sent me the necessary drawings, adapted
for strawbale, in order to begin building. Sometimes I would
ring Barbara and say 'I need to find a plumber...' and she
would reply 'Rachel, you can do it yourself. It's just like
Lego. I'll send you the drawings'. My
only compromise with this building has been to use concrete
below floor level. A note on the use of concrete; recent
research has shown that 40% of the world’s energy
goes on the making of concrete. The making of lime uses
7 times less energy.
The
first week in August 2003 blessed us with sunshine as the
Straw Goddess shone down her rays. Barbara taught with great
softness, strength and integrity. We began each day at 9
am in a circle, hand in hand, connecting us as a group,
working with a common intention and spirit of co-operation.
Throughout the week, we focussed on cutting and pointing
hazel stakes, transporting bales, splitting and retying
them and finally raising the walls.... The second week had
more intensity with about twenty great people on the course
and volunteering. The six weeks between courses were spent
hiring carpenters, putting on wallplates and constructing
the green oak and larch beams and posts, all which took
longer than planned. The second course was to accommodate
joist before we could raise the first floor.
By
the winter of 2004 the roof finally went on and the structure
is completed. It was an enduring four months over the wintertime
for it took that long to complete the roof. Every time it
rained we had to go and leak check, of which there were
many and the straw cannot get wet!
In
July 2004 after a month or so of preparation, Rachel had
the first lime plastering course with Barbara. A really
enthusiastic group came on the course and all then opted
to stay on to help for five days and earn back the course
fee. The mixture is a ready mix of lime, sand and goat hair
from Ty
Mawr lime
merchants in Brecon, Wales. The mixture is applied by hand;
donned in black marigold gloves. The straw doesn’t
need any kind of mesh as the mixture sticks very well into
the straw as a base coat.
March
2005 and still clay plastering, 1st coat is a slip coat
of clay and water, thinly spread onto the straw. 2nd coat
is a mix of clay (powdered from a brickworks), coarse sand,
chopped straw and manure and the 3rd coat is a mix of clay
and fine sand. By May Rachel had erected a curved internal
strawbale wall, which surrounds the fireplace and creates
a partition between lobby and living room. Instead of sitting
the bales on a stone wall, Barbara gave her the idea of
using bottles. Ty Nant spring water company kindly donated
a few crates of their beautiful blue bottles. Rachel stood
them upright in rows of three with a hardboard template
made with holes in to push over the bottle tops. Then the
strawbales were pushed down onto the bottle necks to sit
on the bottles. It looks stunning when the daylight shines
through the bottles into the lobby.
You can read a fuller account of the building at Rachel's
website Quiet
Earth
