This morning we drove over to Brighton to join in with a tour of the Earthship# at Stanmer Park. I’ve been aware of it for years as some local Home Ed folk had connections with it years ago but never actually visited despite it being on my list of interesting things to do at some point.
When we realised a conventional house build was not financially viable on Rum, not to mention way out of line with our principles and ideals anyway I googled it and discovered there was a tour for today, perfect 🙂 I mentioned it to Julie and she said she’d been meaning to visit for years too so would come along aswell.
We arrived on time (and oh, what a struggle that was! Ady and I had an hilarous argument about getting out the house this morning with him getting all stroppy that no one ever says thank you for what he does or gives him any praise. I put him very straight on my world view on extrinsic rewards and praise generally and a very long list of all the things I do without ever anticipating or requiring thanks….) and met Julie, Jack & Maisie (Lorna had stayed at home with Chris) and Julie’s mum. There were about 25 people gathered in the meeting p[lace for the tour but as time ticked on and everyone got colder (we have had NO snow at all at home but the other side of the downs in Brighton there was a good few inches) people began to doubt the tour was happening at all. One of the people waiting was a photographer who was on the tour to take pictures and she had phone numbers for people so made some calls and was able to ascertain that the tour leader was indeed on his way but running very late.
He finally arrived at about 11am, full of apologies and led us on a merry old dance all around the orchards and various projects of the Brighton Permaculture Trust and Soil Association. I love permaculture – the more I learnt about it the more it all talks to me 🙂
The actual earthship took ages to reach and we stood outside for quite a while with Jon, the tour leader talking at great length about tyres and lime as building materials and explaining how it all worked. It turned out he had spun it out for longer than usual because in his rush to get there he had forgotten the keys so was waiting for someone to arrive with a set! When they did we all went inside.
The Brighton model is not a family home, nor was it built as such. It is one long room with a kitchen area, a bathroom and an office. In terms of footprint it is not much smaller than we would aim for, albeit with a few extra rooms sectioned into the space for bedrooms / bathrooms. The feel of the place is gorgeous, all light and airy, simple space with gorgeous features such as bottle walls and indoor planting areas for water treatment and food.
This was very much a basic principle tour with an overview of the build and whizz through of the self sufficient principles of the earthship with time for questions. Jon was clearly passionate and knowledgable and has been involved in various earthship builds around the world. We asked a few questions (mostly Davies!) but it was clear than until we know better precisely what our land will be like we are not able to plan anything more. I am SO glad we have arranged longer stays on Rum and Eigg to get our heads round all these things.
On the drive back Davies asked to play ‘beat the intro’ – he loves naming song titles and artists, clearly a Popmaster contestant in the making ;). He made us laugh so much by naming the Rupert Holmes Escape song as ‘if you like cheap chipolatas and getting caught in the rain’ which will forever afterwards be what we sing to that song 😆 Oh the romance!
We went to Mum & Dad’s for late lunch where they were both on their best behaviour and showed lots of interest in the Earthship and got their heads around our schedule for the coming weeks. Frazer came and sat with us too and talked about travel and our plans. I think it has finally sunk in that we are going to do something different no matter what they think or say so they have decided to be supportive and interested. I do love my parents very much despite everything and would far rather have them on my side, even on their terms and in their own personal way. It’s making the most of what we have isn’t it?
We left there later than planned, pleased we had got dinner in the slow cooker this morning before we left – pheasant in gravy with various veg, it was delicious.
We bustled about packing up clothes and putting stuff in the loft space so the house is empty while we’re away. We have an early start tomorrow so the alarm is set for silly o clock and we are as organised as we can be the night before. Baths, Despicable Me, pheasant and chocolate and now sleeping would probably be a very wise plan.