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You will
notice that we have printed the newsletter in larger format this time. A very
valid point was made that not everyone is able to comfortably read the smaller
format, hence the larger size. I think you will agree that the small additional
expenditure on paper is well worth while if it helps members to read the content
more easily.
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From the Editor
I
am anxious to reflect in our newsletters, the spirit of the membership. The
following article reflects that ambition. If you have a favourite place, event
or memory of The Valley, why not send it to me for inclusion? Email to info@tamarprotectionsociety.org.uk
or sent to the Editor, Elliotts Store, Lower Fore St, Saltash Cornwall.
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A Cottage That Goes Back To
the Future –
by Michael and Janet Andrews.
Just
upstream of Halton Quay, Michael and Janet Andrews have built a unique cottage,
that reflects its past and acts as an environmental beacon for the future.
In 1968 we bought a ruined stables at Halton
Quay. Everybody thought we were mad. We had just married and my father-in law
said he would not keep a bicycle in it. “Why don’t you buy a nice bungalow
instead?” The locals asked. We were ahead of the game, and nobody would give us
a mortgage. We were broke, so we did as much as we could ourselves, feeling
like pioneers. We also adopted new methods – we even insulated the floor!
In 1985, our wonderful next-door neighbour,
John Hill, finally gave up the lease on his market garden. Its ten acres had
allowed him a living and his parents a living before him. Picking his
strawberries, we had come to know the gently disintegrating corrugated-iron
cabin that the Hill’s had built in 1920 as their home. By then it was no more
than a rotting tool-shed, but it was in a quite outstandingly beautiful site.
So we bought the land, and with it the ruined cabin. When I put a ladder on the
roof it fell through – it was so ripe.
The cabin was only 30 feet by 12 feet (9.5 x
3.7 metres), the walls were of simple studding with corrugated-iron on the
outside and thin wooden panelling on the inside. The wind whistled through the
cracks and rabbits threw up earth against the floor. Rain and squirrels drummed
on the metal roof, and jackdaws nested in the crumbing chimney. The nearest
water was at the quay, and our ‘shack’ (as the Community Charge form called it)
lacked plumbing, drains, and electricity. Yet John Hill’s sister had been born
in it.
Having spent 20 years
making TV programmes about wildlife and the environment I felt that every one of
us has a duty to take a step back towards a sustainable society. In 2001 my wife
and I told the Caradon planners that we wanted to rebuild the cabin as an
eco-cottage. They looked at us in amazement - but finally agreed to our plans.
The conservation officer – whose gaze was firmly directed backwards – insisted
that we retain the ‘vernacular’ corrugated iron cladding. Our aim in rebuilding
was to repair, re-use, reduce consumption and recycle materials as much as
possible, to buy locally and to reduce both embodied energy (for example by
using less cement) and toxic materials like formaldehyde glues and lead.
We damage the planet most
by the way we use energy. That’s why our cabin is now super-insulated (with a
product from old newspapers), and has a photovoltaic roof and a solar water
heater. Our cottage is not just zero-energy, it actually uses a third less
energy than it generates as a miniature power-station. Our space-heating comes
from burning logs coppiced from our hedges. It is not easy to build without the
usual environment-damaging Tanalised timber, polystyrene, PVC, chip-board and
tropical meranti hardwoods, and it cost us a great deal more - if you measure
cost in pounds. Of course we made mistakes, but now I can lie in a solar-heated
bath or watch the lapwings skitter down across the frozen reeds as the
electricity meter winds backwards to the mains, and I can at least feel we have
tried to leave our one world a better place for our grandchild.
The original
version of this article appeared in the Schumacher UK newsletter -
www.schumacher.org.uk
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Film
of Mary Newman’s Cottage and the newly created Elizabethan Garden
As
our project to create an Elizabethan Garden at Mary Newman’s Cottage is now
completed we have for sale a DVD telling the history of the Cottage, the
creation of the garden, right through its progress including the Grand Opening
by Mr David Howard (At that time Head Gardener to HRH Prince of Wales)
The price of the DVD is
£7.50 and can be purchased during the opening season at the Cottage,
alternatively from Brigette at 01579 384381 or E Mail brigette@brigette5.wanadoo.co.uk
It is hoped now to have a
film Made of the Elliotts Store, in Lower Fore Street , Saltash, detailing the
history of the Elliott Family, showing the shop as it was when it closed in the
early 70’s and the rooms which have now been turned into a museum. We hope to
issue more information about this project in future Newsletters.
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Plant of the Season – By Sandra Pitkeathly
Tanacetum Vulgare – Tansy
A strongly hardy aromatic
perennial with dark green toothed divided leaves.
Flowers - clusters of
yellow button flowers from mid to late summer. Ht 90cm- 3ft spread 30 to 60cm (1
to 2 feet) or more.
In the Elizabethan period
it was a favourite stewing herb, and used in beds and bedding to discourage
vermin.
It was hung up in the
Kitchen in bunches and placed on window ledges to repel flies.
Tansy was also regularly
employed of old in cakes and puddings traditionally eaten at Easter. It was used
in salads, and was a source of yellow dye.
Medicinal
- Used for pains of the bowels, aching joints, tooth ache and intestinal worms.
Modern
uses – Treatment of scabies and
rheumatic joints.
Cultivation
- Tansy likes a well drained soil, in a sunny position. It needs to be
positioned with care as the roots spread abundantly.
Propagation
- Divide root runners in spring or autumn.
Tansy is rarely bothered
by pests or disease.
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Mary
Newman’s Cottage – An update by Sarah Page
The garden project now
being over in terms of the manual formation has been lovingly tendered by Sandra
Pitkeathly over the year and watched in fascination by all those who worked
closely with it. The Elizabethan garden has taken on a life of its own and the
majority of the planting has developed into fine specimens and have graced the
earth in which it sits with unprevailing beauty.
The seasoned oak arbour which is a fairly exact
replica of its Elizabethan original is fast becoming swamped in roses, jasmine
and hops and has a charm all of its own, along with the cloister with its
medieval elegance.
We have continued on with the development and
produced new postcards depicting the outside of the cottage and sections of the
interior and the garden. We have kept a photographic record of the garden
through the seasons over this year and will produce a new range of cards from
these photos, as well as noting historical horticultural improvements for the
future.
In addition we have with the aid of Freerange
TV, produced a video for sale, of the history of the renovation of the
house, in which my father Oliver Prattent, president of the TPS, explains
the discoveries that were made by the first renovation team in the cottage, and
the detailed methods for the protection of the fabric that were initially, and
then the garden project team who lead the development of the Elizabethan
garden.
The Landscape architect, Peter Leaver gives a
descriptive explanation of the rationale behind the development and design for
the garden and its ideas for the planting. John Page, my husband, who was the
project manager explaining the difficult issues that we all confronted and
how the project team managed to overcome them.
We have started in a small way preparing teas,
coffees and locally made cakes in the garden on the days that we are open, and
have been surprised by the success that we have met with, so the intention next
year is to take it on a pace or two more and look at opening the house more
frequently and having a more expansive menu.
A considerable number of the volunteers have
been through their First Aid and Health and Hygiene courses to ensue we comply
with our legal obligations and meet with the increase in visitors, so the
original project though drawing to an end has provided openings for so much more
in the cottage, and lessons that we have learnt along the way will be adapted
for the Elliott's Store museum, and the new project we have up our sleeve for
the future.
We have found that we can use the success of
the Cottage and its garden to engage with the community on the protection of the
environment within the Tamar Valley, and our web site
has become a popular place to visit for news and views, which we intend to
expand on.
But all in all none of this could have been
achieved without the loyal support of all the volunteers past and present in all
their varying capacities and to whom I would like to thank for their long
sighted vision and I hope that somewhere out their will be another such group of
people that our present volunteers will be able to pass the baton to.
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An Invitation to Make
Use of The Properties
During
September of this year, as in as previous years we have an exhibition of works
from the artists of ‘Drawn to the Valley’, a group working in and around the
Tamar Valley. These exhibitions have
been very successful and attracted a large number of visitors, both locally and
from further afield.
If you or a group you know might be interested
in holding an exhibition at either of our Saltash locations, Elliotts Museum or
Mary Newman’s Cottage, the latter with its newly created Elizabethan Garden
please contact us on 01579 384381 or brigette@brigette5.wanadoo.co.uk
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Forthcoming
Events
Carol Service December 16th
at Mary Newman’s Cottage, Culver Road, Saltash. Starting at 1900 promptly so aim to arrive by 1845 if you
can.
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