Birch Cottage has a new website of its own
Visit the Birch Cottage website to bookWelcome to Lackan Cottage Farm
We’re Steve and Claire Golemboski-Byrne, we live here off grid with our daughter, our dog, cats and horses. We make all our own energy using wind and solar, grow as much of our own food as we can (it varies widely) and have used permaculture design principles to help us create a great place to live.
Here on the website you’ll find stories about the projects we’ve undertaken – what works, what doesn’t. You can come stay in our guest cottage – Birch Cottage and we will show you round, or maybe you just want to find out how to do some of this stuff. Either way, welcome.
A tipi for Lackan Cottage Farm
Three years ago now, Claire and I set off for Wales, to spend several amazing days far away from roads, electricity, phones and people. Our home was the tipi above - Waterfall Tipi, and it was here that Claire agreed to marry me. Ever since, we have wanted to...
Our first permaculture weekend
This weekend saw our first two day permaculture course, led by Hannah Mole, and we had a ball. After a frantic week of preparations by our wwoofers Bettina and Caroline, the place looked amazing, and the energy of having some 20 people on site was really...
The very first South Down Food Swap!
As part of the South Down GIY (Grow It Yourself) group, we are pleased to announce the very first South Down Food Swap on Saturday October 12th, between 2 and 5pm. The idea is that people bring along their surplus, and are able to swap and barter for the things...
It’s volunteer time again
At last September is here, and our intrepid Wwoofers have arrived - Caroline (left) from Sweden, and Bettina (centre) who has hitchhiked all the way from Austria (again)!. We love having people here - it is great to hear their stories, and the feeling of community is...
The truck is reborn (again)
Somehow in amongst the other work, I managed to gut our truck, which was home for 18 months, and has subsequently been the residence of many volunteers. It ended last season desperately in need of a refurb, but even I was surprised just how much work it has taken to turn it into a really nice place to stay. Now it is complete inside, I want to move back in.
A tremendous treebog
We needed to get our truck ready for visitors early, and having the loo nearby was a part of that.