Last week saw me on my travels for the day job.  I packed the Whippet X into the boot of the car (resplendent on his jacobs fleece) and headed west.

My travels took me through the outskirts of Sherborne - but we did not linger, principally because I was late for a meeting.  In fact it might have been difficult because as an older market town Sherborne was not designed for cars and parking and the traffic snakes its way through the town.  It looks interesting and so I made a mental note to go back.

I attended my meeting (feeling rather foolish as I was late) and then headed further west into the wilds of Somerset.  As I had Whippet X with me we did have to make time for a walk and found a rather lovely wood, which according to the sign is part of the Crown Estates.




And then we headed on to Taunton, and in particular the Genesis Building at Somerset College.  The day was gloomy and so I did not take any pictures of my own (which I now regret though I think that even if I had I am not sure that they would have shown you much.

The Genesis Building is a sustainable teaching and resource building.  From the outside it looks, well, like an educational building.

Image from BBC Somerset

 When you go in you enter a large foyer area which has a cafe space, an office area, a lecture theatre and seminar rooms off it.

Image from BBC Somerset

 So far, so ordinary.

 But each of these areas is actually called a 'pavilion' and is built using different sustainable construction technologies.  So the cafe area is made entirely from mud walls (cob blocks for one wall, traditional cob - that is mud mixed with straw -  and a modern compressed earth technique for the others) with polished mud 'plaster'.  What this 'plaster' looks like is a terracotta coloured paint effect with a lovely buffed sheen.  What it is is mud, dried, sanded and then polished with bees wax.  It is lovely to touch.

Image from BBC Somerset

The office area is timber frame, the  classroom area is straw bale construction and the lecture theatre uses a clay block process where the clay blocks are held together by the thinnest mortar layer.  There are PV panels on the roof and a biomass boiler provides the heating.

Image from BBC Somerset

It is a very inspiring building and demonstrates that using 'non standard building materials is not just for Grand Designs but has commercial applications as well.  It was one of those buildings that ticked all of my boxes.

(For a more comprehensive report go to the BBC Report )

A county that has wonderful skies and magnificent sunsets.

These photos were taken in our last cold snap in mid January.  It was nippy, hence the Whippet X is modeling his snazzy sports jacket.

Dog-Daisy Chains: The Big Reveal!

Very excited to find this on the web - one of the few hard copies of Quilting Arts I actually have (somewhere).

And not only that, but whey hey, a bit of functionality I didn't know existed on blogger!

Yep - another week has gone by and suddenly February is just around the corner.

I am feeling a bit of a damp squib on the creative front. I am seeing all these fantastic blogs on my blog roll with lots of lovely work achieved and what have I got to show for January - well just that Bletchley Park is finished!!



But hey, lets look on the bright side.  So what have the highlights been for this week?

• Well - except for my lovely friend Ellen, I have had the house to myself.  No house guests (though they will be back next week, I fear).  I don't exactly run a conventional bed and breakfast establishment - if they want breakfast I point them in the direction of the kettle - but I do provide an evening meal.  These guys take a bit of looking after.  (They are all work colleagues who do not live in MK but come down for 2-3 days per week.  When they are here I do find them a bit inhibiting.)

If, like me, you are a dog lover, don't worry.  Whippet X was finally released, and not at all traumatised by his experience.

Ps.  I wrote this last night.  I got up this morning and thought this is daft.  I shouldn't feel blocked.  So I got out a few bits and pieces and did some work on this page in the sketch book.  Feeling much better.