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Straw Bale Building

£0.00
Date: 
10 March 2010
Tutor: 
Barbara Jones
Cost: 
£270 for 3 days including home-made lunch, biscuits & cakes
Time: 
9.00 - 5.00
This three-day course is an introduction to straw bale building, with one of the country's leaders in the field, Amazon Nails, and will be a mixture of theory and practical.  In 2010 we shall be building a cartlodge to hold a tractor and a Landrover.

Early booking recommended for this course as we can only take 12 people.

The cartlodge will be lime-plastered on a course on July 9 - 11.  See Limeplaster for Strawbale Buildings on our website.

Strawbale buildings at Assington Mill:  the storytelling hut (foreground) built on the 2005 course, with the tractor shed in the background, built on the 2004 course.  The former is a "loadbearing" building; the latter has a timber frame infilled with strawbales.

Course content:

Foundations for strawbale buildings
Sourcing the materials and their cost
Building techniques
Re-tying bales to the required size
Reinforcement/structure
Renders and plasters

Useful books:

Barbara Jones, Building with Straw, Green Books, Dartington 2002

Pat Borer&Cindy Harris, The Whole House Book, Centre for Alternative Technology, 1998 (01654 702400)

Students' comments:

  • The book had already fired my imagination.  The course has now given me the confidence to proceed further.
  • Very inspirational teacher.  Good practical experience.  I would recommend the course.
  • Very impowering experience!  I am very grateful of having participated.
  • Fantastic course and venue.  Excellent food and great hosts.
  • A well rounded course - suitable for all attendees.  Very enjoyable - would recommend.
  • Overall a fun, fulfilling and thoroughly enjoyable weekend.
  • Marvellous tutor and hostess.  Thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.
  • I wanted a hands on course and this provided it.
  • My work at the farm was such an interesting break from my "dayjob" and as has taught me new skills and allowed me to mix with an interesting range of people from all walks of life and different parts of the globe.
  • Really liked the way the group was managed.  You brought us all together and gave us shared ownership and a common cause.
  • The team are delightfully well organised and make everything run smoothly.  The food is exquisite, real high quality home cooking, a very welcome spread, daily served with care and lovely attention to detail.  Ady Griffiths.

2006:  Starting to build the walls of the sheep shelter.  Barbara Jones is on the left.

 

2006:  Compacting the walls by jumping on them!





More of the same!


 

Stapling the corners together using hazel spars

Barbara in full flow!

The 2006 team