The barn is a work in progress which we started building in July 2020. We stopped working on it during the winter and were very glad that we’d got it weather proof so it survived all the storms we had in early March 2022. We’ve got a lot more to do yet but it’s been a lot of fun – we’ve enjoyed learning along the way and really appreciate all the help we’ve had from friends, family and regular volunteer Steve.
When we bought Tiggins Meadow there was already an old mobile home caravan on site which we thought we’d get rid of as it was an eye-sore. However, it proved incredibly useful as a tool store, a place to run for shelter when a rainstorm came and a place to make a cuppa and eat our sandwiches. But we have battled with mice, it’s freezing cold in winter and way too hot in summer, and it’s not in the right location for Granny to do bird spotting out of the window. When our son Kit, an architect, suggested replacing the caravan with something ‘properly built’ we took him up on the idea ! He designed us a barn which could be built by us (we are not experienced at more than home DIY), using low cost and readily available materials which could easily be brought onto site and which wouldn’t have a huge impact on the environment. It needed to be vermin proof, have good thermal mass, longevity, and provide space for storing our tools, boots, and other equipment; have space to sit and watch nature on cold/wet days, house a ‘proper’ compost toilet, have workshop space, and have somewhere we can wash hands, cups and plates and get a hot drink.
We used ground screw stilts as the foundation in order to minimise the impact on the ground, to raise the building out of the wet clay, and to provide habitat underneath for creatures.
The wood frame was designed so that we could build it at home in our garden in kit form which we then transported to Tiggins Meadow in one journey. It was erected using the help of friends and family. We could never have guessed when we planned this that a global pandemic would throw all our lives into disarray so spectacularly. But what the barn building project provided was something we could safely do and involve other people in so that it felt hugely valuable giving people a common and sociable purpose in such difficult times. It was easy to work in a properly socially distanced way, and we divided our marquee into a workshop and a rest area with plenty of breezy space !
Part of the design is to use the ancient Japanese technique Shou Sugi Ban of charring the timber where it is exposed to the elements. This gives the timber resistance to weather, insects, UV sunlight and fire. We will be charring the cedar roof shingles and the weatherboards so that the barn will look like a traditional Suffolk black barn.
The walls were built using hempcrete made by mixing lime, water and hemp shiv. We were inspired to use this after reading lots about the use of hemp and visiting Margent Farm where Steve Barron showed us around. He says “Hemp is fast-growing and better than commercial forestry at sequestering carbon – and its long tap roots help to regenerate the soil. Beyond the relatively light processing and transportation emissions, the materials can be understood to be carbon-neutral (or carbon-negative if you count the sequestration), which is a vast improvement on steel, concrete, or petrol-based insulations.” (see link). We purchased the hemp from UK Hempcrete in Yorkshire. We chose to mix and place it by hand which is a slow process and we’ve learned a lot along the way !
We rendered the walls with a clay/sand/horse manure mixture using clay dug from the pond. It was full of bits of flint so it needed sieving before we could use it. We then gave it a final coat of limewash.
Next we started installing the cedar roof shingles, all of which needed charring first ! Luckily we had managed to get quite a lot done over the winter at home so that gave us a good quantity to start with.
While Ameer worked on the roof, Steve and Peter got the hempcrete floor laid. On one hard working day they achieved a record 7 mixes !!
Next we started on the south facing roof where shingles had to be fitted around the solar panel mounts. We also started rendering the interior walls.
It was very useful having climbers come to visit – they were very happy working up on the roof getting the solar panels installed. Gary also likes order in the workplace so built us a workbench and storage in the barn!
We chose to use UK grown larch for our weatherboarding, which we were able to source from a Wiltshire supplier. This too needs charring so we tried various ways of doing this and ended up using a chimney method quite successfully.
We installed most of the roof insulation using a sheep’s wool product with breathable ceiling boards over.
November 2021 – we got the two big windows installed with very able assistance from suppliers and installers Crown Glass. It’s great having natural light in the building to work by, and also it provides a lovely place to sit.
May 2022 – lots of help from Kit (the architect for the barn) and our youngest helper Otto:
August 2022 – Steve & Peter completed boarding the ceiling and worked out a way to seal the gaps between the boards using home made caulking. Steve created hemp rope from some hemp scrim we’d got, and then oiled it. The caulking is done before the plastering is started.
We’ve had fun experimenting with internal plastering mixes using the clay dug from the pond outside the barn, mixed with horse manure and sand collected from a friend’s garden at Yoxford.
May 2023 – we got off to a slow start as the spring was cold and wet, but we managed to lay two of the three layers on the Earth Floor. It was really helpful having demonstrations and advice from professional Gemma Sayers.
Our barn used as examples by Vastern Timber (who supplied our larch cladding timber) in a case study, and Suffolk Owl Sanctuary in their blog about designing buildings for positive wildlife impacts.
With a cold, wet summer and other commitments we only made slow progress during the rest of 2023 although we did get the final large window pane installed.
WILD ABOUT TIGGINS 