Thatching and Coppicing

the coppice

After finishing the last bit of thatching (sticking the ridge down with long bits of oak held on with stainless steel wire screwed into the rafters below and twisted round the battens) we headed out to the willow beds to coppice willow. It’s a bit late in the season for it, really, but the ridiculous cold has given us a little extension. We didn’t get through a very great deal, but at least it’s now down and drying for firewood and whatever else they use it for.

my job was to strip the trunks

Steven mostly did the cutting down and I dragged the bits over to the piles and stripped the trunks of twigs. Somebody else will come along and bundle them and cut the trunks to burnable lengths.

my carving

And I spent the last hour of my work day finishing off the carving I’d started earlier in the week. it too me only an hour to finish the side, which had taken me half a day before. I think I might be getting the hang of it.

the fireplace

Now I’m sat in front of a roaring fire (which, sadly, isn’t able to heat this cold stone house in the way my efficient little stove heats my house-made-of-insulation) and writing all about it. And waiting for my dinner to arrive and my glass of wine to be filled.

Tomorrow after lunch we’re off back to civilisation and hopefully to some melting snow and a bit of gardening at Boggart Hall.

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