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 recycled room
One of the joys of doing Lackan Cottage up has been taking old 'stuff' and making something of it. Wherever possible we've reused things from around the house - for instance the kitchen units are made from the old ceiling in the extension. This floor above was also...
Yarn Bombers in Newcastle
On Sunday we went to Newcastle to see the handiwork of S.O.C.K, (Secret Outside Crochet and Knitters) who yarn bombed the promenade. Their handiwork was very fine, and we got there in time before it was all taken down. You can see more of their work on the BBC website...
Water, water everywhere..
A slightly random picture to celebrate the fact that my plumbing initiation is over, and that we have piping hot water from all the taps, heated purely by the sun, and that nothing is leaking, for the time being at least. Of all the jobs in the house, plumbing is...
Nearly there
Well, the kitchen is pretty much there, so time for a beer...
Our extreme flatpack kitchen
After a couple of frantic days activity, we have what passes for a kitchen. It came in a form that I like to call 'extreme flatpack' - ie some lengths of 3x2, and pine boarding. The old pine ceiling from the extension has come up well, and forms the fronts of the...
The smell of hard work isn’t so bad after all
One of the benefits of having two and a half inch thick cedar work tops is that although cutting them is exhausting, it does make one of the nicest smells imaginable.The kitchen (such as it is) design is evolving as I go, but I think I know where I am going now. A...