Tel. +44 (0)1273 600030 (UK)
The building is aerodynamically designed for maximum wind avoidance - to its south west dense copse 700 native Irish trees have been planted - alder, birch, larch and rowan to provide shelter from oncoming gales. The eaves reach to the the ground so as the very slight wall area is never getting full wind force - and never gets rained on. Also 1.5kg of rare and endangered wild Irish flower seed was planted and is spreading.
The effluent from bathrooms and toilets goes through 2 separate reed bed systems filtered through a deep bed of pea gravel containing differing reeds and irises to cleanse the water.
The building is mostly made of wood. The solid uprights are from renewably sourced forests at Florencecourt Estate in Fermanagh and the softer wood roofing is a mix of otherwise useless second cuts from local pine and the outer layers from better cuts of local pine
80% of the insulation is made from glass wool which was otherwise going to be dumped from a disused mushroom farm/ this was supplemented by use of 150 fleeces from local sheeps wool. The entire building was planned around reducing energy embodied materials.
For such a large edifice it is hardly seen in the landscape - this is because it sits into the hill - and much of its girth is beneath the ground - it is all gently sloped - with the walls virtually invisible - its mineral felt roof is a green similar to the surrounding fields. It is intended in Spring 2008 to put a living earth roof over the entire 700 sq metres of roof so as to blend the building even more into the landscape.
Rain water from the 700 sq metre roof is collected in a 1500 litre tank at the front of the building - it is then pumped through a dirt and dust filter into the building for use in washing and toilet flushing and showering.
The vegetable growing area to the north of the building are manured from our neighbours horse stables (no chemicals involved) and from our wormery, and the compost heap and the wood and turf ash from the fire.
The building is heated by geothermal heating powered by renewably sourced energy from 2 onsight wind turbines. There is also solar hot water for showers in summer. There is a wood stove for winter use. The building is carbon neutral.
We invite every traveller who books a holiday via us to send in a review. Because we don't run the holidays they're completely independent and unedited... remember to read between the lines though, as two people on the same holiday can have different views!
