Another big piece of our original plans for living at The Secret Acre has finally fallen into place, after only ten years in the planning!
We are declaring our energy independence. No more hostage to Putin, dirty fossil fuels, or uneconomically expensive nuclear, and all the evil dinosaur corps that continue to peddle them.
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Kitting out the new outdoor kitchen continued this summer with the arrival of a wood-fired outdoor cooking oven.
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While we were enjoying our spring equinox BBQ earlier in the year, we were also getting round to starting the final transformation of our rebuilt ‘lean to love shack’ into a new outdoor kitchen.
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Following our unexpectedly early ‘three seasons’ spring equinox BBQ, the UK weather delivered a prolonged heatwave.
Thanks to the growing climate crisis, after last year’s continuously unseasonable cold and wet spring and summer, causing England’s England second worst harvest on record, spring 2025 could prove to be one of the hottest and driest on record. We are already suffering the most extreme marine heatwave since satellite monitoring began.
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It’s been a quiet few weeks at The Secret Acre having been unexpectedly struck down by pestilence and plague. I spent the hottest day of the year, shivering under a duvet, unable to get warm. Annoying when there is so much to do. Hopefully we can start getting back to the harvest soon.
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With spring approaching, it was time to complete the external parts of our barn rebuild, by creating an open lean to work area where the old woodshed used to be.
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As Christmas edged ever closer, and with the British Larch cladding and roofing membrane now on, it was time to battle November’s almost constant rain and wind to get water tight before the snow.
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With the structural frame of walls and roof safely constructed, it was time for the cladding and roofing membrane.
Like the pig sties, we again used British Larch cladding supplied by Vastern Timber, which had recently arrived across the fields.
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With a level baseplate constructed, the structural frame could start to be built, and the shape of the old barn began to re-emerge from the ashes of its demolition.
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Having safely demolished the old barn, and removed the asbestos, before it fell down, it was time to start preparing the foundations.
Since preparation is key, the first act was actually to install a new field gate in the paddock to allow access to get materials deliver to site.
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The Secret Acre 