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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Last year, we rebuilt the pig sties, turning them into useful sheds.
This year we are tackling the Barn, which has miraculously survived the last two winters without falling down completely, although we did lose part of the roof.
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January tends to get a bad rap as a month.
We blame Pilot for letting the rot set in when they sang in their 1975 No1 hit single “January, sick and tired, you’ve been hanging on me”.
But as Josephine Nuese, author of The Country Garden pointed out, gardening really begins in January, with the dream. So come last year’s cold snap, or this year’s unseasonably mild weather, we kind of quite like January here at The Secret Acre.
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As the September harvest with its late summer sunshine gave away to increasingly damp and cool autumnal weather, we gathered in the last of the crops at The Secret Acre and started clearing down the veg beds.
Here are a few pictures from October and early November’s gradual decent into autumn.
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Here’s our quick pictorial look at some of September’s harvest season action at The Secret Acre.
As is so often the case now under climate change, awful August gave way to warmer days again in September, as soon as the school had gone back (September was second warmest on record for the UK), before autumn could return again properly in October.
In the garden, flowers, fruit and veg all continued in abundance as we moved into this harvest festival and apple pressing season.
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You might remember that last year, Emma tied on points with another competitor for first place overall as ‘Best in Show’ at our local Fruit and Veg Show.
We are nothing if not competitive here at The Secret Acre, so as the start of Village Produce Show season loomed again at the end of August, Emma was plotting to go one better this year.
And that she did, claiming the ‘Best in Show’ trophy as outright winner this year, picking up the section winner cups for Best Baker and Best Brewer en-route.
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The Secret Acre 