Hand made and recycled…carrying the lifestyle throughout our site

Hazel Swan posted this on 06th Feb 2012

Here at Bivouac we are passionate about creating items out of natural materials, recycling unused items and up-cycling previously loved items, giving them a new lease of life…

We love all things luxurious and rustic, sustainable and thoughtful.

At Bivouac, we love using our local materials to make furniture and a variety of items for around the site.  Our offering here in North Yorkshire creates a unique experience for our guests, with each one of our shacks and yurts having their own character and personality.  We have amongst our team some really experienced and creative joiners, making bespoke individual hand crafted items for all areas on site.

Tony, a local joiner, has been working with us for a few months now doing things ranging from restoring pieces of furniture to hand crafting some unique pieces to go in our barns and shacks.  When Tony is not working for us, he works at ‘Jenny Ruth’, a local productive workshop where adults with learning disabilities gain skills, confidence and happiness through joinery and various other skills.

Martin and his dog Cassie have recently joined our team here on site.  Martin is a bespoke joiner who makes some beautiful hand crafted pieces of furniture.  He is crafting beds, ladders, window sills and other unique items around the site, using materials he has sourced locally.  Our beds in the yurts have been specifically designed for the environment and space we have here at Bivouac

Come and visit us from April onwards and see some of the wonderful hand crafted items they have made!

Tree Bog building workshop this Easter!

Hazel Swan posted this on 19th Jan 2012

Learn some new skills and meet some new people at our Tree Bog building workshop this Easter!

Help build something that looks a bit like this in the Bivouac woodland...

TREE BOG BUILDING WORKSHOP
7th & 8th April 2012, 9am - 4.30pm at Bivouac High Knowle, Knowle Lane, Ilton, Masham, North Yorkshire HG4 4JZ

Have you ever wondered about what to do with human waste?
Ever wondered about an alternative to using your flushing loo?
Want to know about composting toilets?

If so, come along to our Tree Bog building weekend!

You will:

- Learn the theory of composting toilets - how they work, different types, why we need them etc.
- Learn specifically about the Tree Bog (a type of outdoor, above ground composting toilet that is simple, cheap and effective).
- Join in practical sessions to build a Tree Bog in the woodland.
- Meet lots of new people.
- Get involved in team working.
- Stay in a newly converted modern bunk barn for 2 nights.
- Have 2 evening meals in our rustic cafe.

The cost of the Tree Bog workshop weekend is £95, which includes your accommodation on Friday 6th and Saturday the 7th in our bunk barn, 2 evening meals, as well as the exciting experience of learning and getting involved in building a Tree Bog in the woodland!

For more info and to book your place on the workshop email .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or call 01765 535020

Our First Yurt

Andy Robinson posted this on 16th Jan 2012

Our first yurt arrived last monday…..

I spent the afternoon helping Kevin from ‘The Really Interesting Tent Company Limited’. I thought I would Share some of the pictures with you!

Microholding!

Becky Doggett posted this on 16th Jan 2012

Whilst getting our next newsletter ready to send out, I spent some time chatting to the guys working on the Shacks. We did a little Q&A for the newsletter to give people an insight into the building of the Shacks and while we were chatting away Andy mentioned he had a smallholding back in Sussex that he and his partner started five years ago. Their approach to it and what they have achieved is really interesting and so I thought I would share it with you!

Andy and Kate call it microholding because the plot of land they have is so small. They wanted to have their own workshop and grow their own veg so five years ago they bought a house and transformed the garden. It was the first time either of them had attempted something like this, but with a lot of common sense and some gardening know how they have created a successful site for organic food production.

They have tried to make their small holding have a low environmental impact and re-use and recycle where possible. The electric fence which keeps the pigs in is powered by a second hand solar panel, they collect rainwater from all their roofs and have used coppiced sweet chestnut for various structures around their garden.

Currently they grow a range of vegetables year round, have a selection of different fruit trees and bushes, keep former battery chickens and quail for eggs and have started breeding pigs for meat. The majority of the food they eat has come from their own hard work and the only produce that they need to buy from the local store is flour, bread and oil!

As they both have jobs that take them away from their smallholding for short periods of time they have designed it to be a low input system. The chicken run is completely fox proof and is set up so the chickens don’t have to be shut in at night, but can let themselves in and out. They grow their vegetables hard which takes more time but means they need less attention and in Andy’s opinion taste better too!

Any smallholding will need attention though and in April and May Andy and Kate are at their busiest sowing and planting, keeping birds away and picking slugs off their plants. I asked Andy when his favorite time of year was, June and July was his answer, when the gardens rammed full of produce ready to be eaten. The winter months were less rewarding as the root veg which is associated with this time of year such as carrots, parsnips and squash, take more work and are less fun.

In November 2011 they won Smallholder of the Year, an award given out by country smallholding magazine and Kate has gone on to write articles for them. They also make a range of products such as table lamps, wine racks and outdoor furniture from reclaimed wood in their workshop to sell. If you are interested in finding out more about them why not look them up on the permaculture association website:
http://www.permaculture.org.uk/people-projects-places/kate-and-andys-microholding
or have a look at the fantastic things they make in their workshop:
http://www.phoenixwoodcrafts.co.uk

Snow, wind and rain stop nothing!

David Sorley posted this on 08th Jan 2012

The weather has continued to throw itself at us over the last month or so, you’ll be glad to know it’s done nothing to stop us! This is a little video snippet showing a snowy day back in December.

Shot by the lovely Giles from Box-head*.

Music by the ever talented Hunting Bears.

Happy New Year!

Becky Doggett posted this on 03rd Jan 2012

Its the New Year and its back down to business here at Bivouac Swinton! Everything is really starting to take shape and we’re feeling incredible excited about this next chapter.

Although a few Christmas dreams may have been disappointed by the lack of snow, here at Bivouac there is an audible sigh of relief that the white stuff hasn’t made much of an appearance - allowing work to carry on!

With the fourth Shack frame raised and standing in what has to be my favourite place, the Shack team are making good progress. Not content with all the amazing building thats going on for the project, they’ve also been busy on their days off building their caravans impressive porches to provide them with a barrier of sorts against the mud. The array of materials and items used is a testament to the resourcefulness and imagination these guys have. Makes me smile every time I walk past!

The Yurt bases are moving forward too and we are getting our first Yurt next week. I’m sure we’ll be posting up pictures of our new arrival in no time at all. The doors and windows are in place around most of the reception and cafe area and the painting of the internals is starting this week.

If you would like more in-depth news about whats happening on site or want to find out more about the people involved in making this happen, why not sign up for our newsletter? Just click on the ‘Our Newsletter’ button at the bottom of the page and fill in your details.

An afternoon in wellies

Beth Hardwick posted this on 12th Dec 2011

On Sunday we had the privilege to meet a lovely family who wanted to come meet us, see what we are up to at Biv and ponder on what connections there might be for further thought. Jo, James, Oscar, Annie - joined in the fun around site for a few hours before heading home. Jo wrote a blog entry for us last night - made me shed a tear I have to admit! I thought you should get to read it….

Thanks Jo x

Don't jump!

This afternoon we braved the wintery weather to make a trip to North Yorkshire to meet Beth & Sam, the inspirational husband and wife team at The Bivouac.

Armed with directions we headed north of Ripon, turning left when we got to the market town of Masham.  As the lanes got narrower, we got more excited about what we’d find at the end of the road.  We headed uphill through woodland towards the Druid Temple and hung a left into the farm, at least that’s what the directions said, but we parked up on the road deciding that if we parked in the field we may never get out again!

We donned our wellies and with our 18 month old ensconced in the backpack, we squelshed towards the farmhouse, with our 5 year old saying ‘I love slippy slidey mud, I think I’ll call it “fun mud”!’  As we arrived at a long stone building, debating which door was the door to the farmhouse, there appeared Beth to greet us and welcome us into her home.  And welcome us she (& the rest of the team) did!  The minute we arrived we were made to feel at home, the kettle was on, and the kids ran off to play with Beth & Sam’s kids.

Around the big farmhouse table, over tea and cakes, we met Hazel, another member of the Bivouac team, and Georgie, a family friend who was up for the weekend.  Following a sharing of our stories – what had brought us together – and some time spent hearing Beth & Sam’s vision, Hazel and Georgie kindly offered to keep an eye on the kids whilst we had a tour of the site.

Wow!  The vision was impressive, but seeing the vision coming to life was even more so.  After spending only a couple of hours at The Bivouac, I’m not sure I’m qualified to successfully convey the vision – you’d be better talking to Beth & Sam for that, but here’s what we found so impressive…

Amongst the mud (of which there is much) there are “shacks” as Beth and Sam term them, being put up in the woods.  “Shacks” really doesn’t do them justice… they’re round cut timber cabins sleeping up to 7 with verandas, en-suite bathrooms and wood burning stoves.  As we viewed the impressive timber framed, wooden clad structures, Beth shared with us a story of the happy times she and Sam and their eldest daughter had had whilst living in a converted garden shed!

The tour took us to see the bases for the yurts which will soon be arriving onsite; a number of barns which are taking shape as: a camping barn; a shop and reception; housing for the biomass boiler which will heat the main buildings and a 60 seat café with additional outside space in the courtyard and walled garden.  All of which sits in a fantastic location looking out over the valley with views stretching over 40 miles on a clear day to York and Roseberry Topping – a hill which, incidentally, I spent many a happy childhood hour climbing!

As Beth and Sam, talked of all the people they were working with to make the vision a reality – investors, suppliers, partners, volunteers, locals – it stuck me how brilliantly they epitomise true partnership working.  They know that collaboration is what will ultimately deliver their vision.

Returning to the farmhouse and back to the farmhouse table to warm ourselves by the fire and for more tea and cakes, we had a further chance to hear of the current challenges The Bivouac team are juggling… meeting the needs of multiple stakeholders; recruiting and motivating volunteers to help them develop the site; project managing multiple teams who are all working on site concurrently; preparing all the elements of the site (shacks, yurts, camping barn, shop, café, road, car park, landscaping, etc.) to be ready for visitors in April 2012; recruiting staff to run the site post-April; sourcing reclaimed and recycled furniture which can then be renovated and used on site; developing relationships with partners to provide different offerings enhance the guest experience.  And these are just a few of their challenges – there are many more besides!

Following further talk of next steps in our exploration of how we can work together, Beth, Sam and the kids along with Hazel & Georgie dashed to the local church for the Christingle service as we squelshed our way back to the car reflecting on Beth and Sam’s drive, focus, commitment and courage to make their vision a reality.  Their values of sustainability, family and connectedness really came across to us in the short time we spent with them and we saw how their creativity, ideas and energy along with their openness and desire to create meaningful relationships will make The Bivouac an amazing place to be enjoyed by many people.  They’re a genuinely visionary couple who are making a difference in the world.
As we drove back down the hill through the woods at dusk, we were blessed to see a deer cross our path.  It was a magical moment.  The deer embodies many of the principles of The Bivouac… love, grace, peace, beauty, humility, creativity, spirituality, happiness, a keen awareness of environment, connected, trusting, co-operative and ‘homonym’ the Chinese word for deer which means abundance.
But as we drove away I wondered whether the deer appeared to remind us of all that The Bivouac symbolised or as a message to us to trust our instincts and be enticed into a new adventure…

Battling against the elements…

Hazel Swan posted this on 08th Dec 2011

Snow, hail, ice, wild winds and rain…

Sat on a hill in Ilton, we have appreciated pretty much every form of weather (apart from the sun) this week!

We have had snow, hail, ice, wild winds and rain.  Today we have had both crazy winds and rain, so much so, various bits from site have been flying around the countryside and we have spent much of the afternoon fetching it back (I say ‘we’, when actually I was manning the office inside).

It has been a tough and challenging week as far as working on site goes. 

BUT, at the same time, it is amazing to see so many things coming together…

- Our first wood burners have arrived for the first shack and the first yurt
- Our main cafe and shop doors have arrived
- Our 4th and 5th shack frames are starting their journey up from Sussex
- The car park is nearing completion
- Our first yurt base is almost complete

We are so thankful for everyone who has been pushing on through, despite the horrendous conditions! 

We have been so busy I can’t even believe it is December already and Christmas is fast approaching.  2 weeks to go…eek!