Arrowvale

Environment

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CASE  STUDY: Roland and Liz Scott, Staunton-on-Arrow

Wood is collected locally and they buy in cord wood lengths which they saw themselves.

The house was a very basic two-up, two-down with a small add-on to the ground floor to form a kitchen. They have been able to build on this to add a box room and loo upstairs, on the back of the two bedrooms that previously existed; and a larger kitchen and bathroom downstairs, to add to the sitting room. The original bathroom was very cold and damp and they have lined the inside with batons and polystyrene insulation, covered by plasterboard. The design includes a moisture barrier and this has substantially reduced the mould that used to form on the bathroom wall..

Soon after moving in they also installed central heating, though in practice it is barely used. The house is not on mains gas and the heating runs on LPG. However the main innovation was the installation of solar panels a few years ago

and a new boiler cunningly located behind the panelling in one of the bedrooms.

system including the water piping and boiler though grants were available that covered almost half the total cost, and an interest-free loan paid for the rest. Roland and Liz said that the grants were not easy to find, but Herefordshire Council has considerably improved grant accessibility through its website.

Solar Panels:

Click to enlarge

Although solar panels obviously do not work at night or in inclement weather, the first summer after they were installed all of the hot water in the house was heated via sunlight and the water came out of the tap “seriously hot”. It cost £3,400 to install the

Additional insulation has also been laid in the loft though the Scotts would like to see more natural materials available for insulation, such as wool, rather than artificial polymers. A major project remaining on the house is to develop better insulation for the outside walls. They are of solid brick so that cavity wall insulation is not an option. However with retired architect John Andrews, also a member of the Arrowvale Environment Group, they are looking at a technique that would enable wooden batons to be attached to the brickwork onto which would be stapled tri-iso (an insulator), which is covered with weather board to complete the finish. If they carry out the plan we will write it up for the AEG website.

Roland Scott and John Andrews

Outside, the Scotts have developed a high degree of self-sufficiency in their garden. The land available totals about 2 acres though not all is available for vegetables. They are virtually self sufficient in vegetables and soft fruit and about a quarter of an acre is grown intensively, albeit organically. The major purchase for the garden was a 40 foot polytunnel which is still using the same polythene cover after eight years.

They save their own seed and make their own compost using leaf mould which is rotted down and sieved. They also grow comfrey which is harvested three times a year, the leaves are cut and put into a weighted press, and the juice is a valuable fertiliser. The technique was pioneered by Laurence Hills and the name of the fertiliser produced from the Comfrey, Bocking 14, is named after the place where he first developed it. Comfrey can also be used as a mulch around onion sets etc.

All images and site content © Arrowvale Environment Group 2008

Whilst most plants are sown initially in the polytunnel and transplanted outside later, bringing them on sometimes two months in advance of plants grown solely outside, the Scotts also sow flowers adjacent to vegetables to act as natural pesticides. In particular they recommend marigolds as “companion plants” to help reduce infestations of whitefly and greenfly.

Harvested produce is stored in the ground or in a shed outside the house and they freeze or bottle in prodigious quantities. At one time that also extended to making their own beer and wine. Virtually the only staples that they buy are confined to dairy products, eggs (they kept chickens for a time but the local foxes had a detrimental effect!) and flour.

Harvested produce is stored in the ground or in a shed outside the house and they freeze or bottle in prodigious quantities. At one time that also extended to making their own beer and wine. Virtually the only staples that they buy are confined to dairy products, eggs (they kept chickens for a time but the local foxes had a detrimental effect!) and flour.

Roland and Liz Scott have gradually adapted their house and garden to reduce their carbon footprint as time and resources permit.

They moved to Staunton-on-Arrow in 1985, coinciding with a very cold winter, which prompted the first step – to convert their open fireplace to a wood burner.  The rough rule-of-thumb is that the heat from an open fireplace is conducted either into the room or up the chimney in the ratio 1:4; whilst the wood burner reverts this to 4:1.