Inshriach goes sustainable.

Phase 2 (or is it phase 5) of our winter of renewables is now underway with the wood fired boiler. The slab for the hopper went in before Christmas but the blocks had to wait until everyone left and we had a day that was warm enough. True to form it was fully dark before it was finished and the morning revealed blockwork only a mother could love.

Then we needed a trench to the house through which a vacuum transfer system will draw the pellets, up the bank, past a tree, shallow at the hopper and at the house and deep where it crests the bank. This again was all good until I hit the foundations of the house that sat here before Inshriach, a Victorian farmhouse then known as South Kinrara. 5 foot of beautifully dressed stone were firmly mortared in my path. The trench got wider and wider as the blocks gradually worked free. Just outside the foundations I hit a seam of earthenware and old bottles, builders rubbish perhaps. I think I broke some with the spade before realising there were intact bits, then I came over all Tony Robinson, fished out these lovely little pots and chiseled the last bits of wall out of the way.

Next week we decommission the old boiler and strip the tanks, then have a mad rush to get the rest installed in time for the first booking.