Orchard Barn

 Information about an open day popped up on the local website and as I'd read about this place it seemed a good opportunity to go and have a look.

Community run Centre for Environmental Education - practical courses in heritage building (IHBC Recognised CPD Provider) natural, greenwood and rural skills

It all began in 2007 when the old barn began to be restored, there is a youtube video - if the link works below or HERE if it doesn't.

They started with the restoration, using old building methods, of the  barn which is set amongst lots of overgrown woodland. 

All the 'tiles' or wood shingles on the restored barn were individually made by hand

Then permission was given to rebuild the Suffolk Tudor Long house, which had been in ruins for many decades.

Which is still being worked on but looks very good. The tiles or wood shingles on the long house roof are again all hand made, this time from Chestnut wood. I was a bit puzzled as originally surely it would have been thatch but the lady explaining things inside said they wanted to use sustainable things from on site.

Inside the long house with it's beams and wattle and daub walls. Everything is done by volunteers bit by bit over weeks, months and years and by students doing practical building courses at Suffolk College.

A new addition to the roof - an apple sundial

They've used on-site clay for much of the building. Below are bee-bricks- for bee nests and hibernation- being made - they will be added into some of the other buildings.

Some interesting Pargetting on one of the buildings.

Wood forms for making clay bricks

Much of the land is still woodland and orchard with paths through and around and piles of wood everywhere.

One of the huge flints that have been found when digging for clay

It was interesting to go and look and it reminded me of the 'Tales of the Green Valley' TV series from many years ago

Visiting Orchard Barn made me get out my book and DVD again as I've not looked at them for ages.

Having grown up in an old house which was part  wattle and daub and then restoring a C17 cottage from beams outwards, and done lots of apple pressing, a lot of what they had here wasn't new to me at all -  lots of good memories.

There should have been talks, music, coffee and cake but they didn't seem to be happening and it did look a bit muddled with no one knowing quite what was happening and when. This was their first widely advertised open day so maybe when they do another one it will be a bit more organised. 

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