Here is a beautiful film about our Roundhouse build by Esther Cacace-Soret
original track by Thomas Calladine Music.
What better way to add to our eco friendly alpaca farming business than build a low impact Alpaca Round House?
Last summer we were lucky enough to be chosen for the location of the annual roundhouse build as part of a Practical Sustainability Course run by Sheltercraft UK. This is a year long permaculture course, culminating in a 10 day roundhouse build for an eco friendly business. Of course the dangling “cute alpaca” carrot helped clinch the deal for our business!
Planning permission was the most stressful part of the build, being up against the clock, but we clung onto the hope that no self respecting planning officer could refuse such a low impact building which ultimately paid off.
Work began on the foundations before the permaculture students could arrive – a large trench was dug and a soak away was installed to divert the rain water. The clay excavated from these was put to one side for the cob walls (to the cria’s delight!) and then the base floor was laid complete with flag stones for the pillars.
We had around 30 students, from young college leavers to retired professionals, all from different walks of life, coming together to build a more sustainable future, including a couple of vets (who came in handy during a plasma transfusion!)
At the start of every day the students would have a grounding circle time in the field and would take great delight in the newest cria bouncing up to them, running in and out of the circle and untying as many boot laces as they could.
After the groundwork’s were completed with locally sourced materials, the next task was to lay a dry stone wall. The proverb “many hands make light work” definitely came true, and this ancient wall technique built without mortar or binding agents found as far back as 3500 BCE, provided the foundation of the structure.
Whilst the wall was being built, the roundwood timber frame was prepared with hand tools using natural tree poles. This method creates minimum waste, and captures and locks up carbon from the environment. Roundwood frames are also less flammable than many modern buildings due to no chemical treatments.
One of the most impressive parts of the build was the construction of the self supporting roof, geometrically exact so it literally holds itself up without any poles. Again this technique dates back far in history.
The next part of the build was the most fun and the alpacas would definitely agree! The cob walls were made from alpaca manure, clay from our foundations, and locally sourced chopped straw. The cria were particularly intrigued and loved watching the strange humans mixing it up with their bare feet, then scooping it up into balls to be thrown along a line of people to the roundhouse, and carefully sculpted around straw bales and logs, creating the cob walls. The aroma from the manure was surprisingly subtle and disappeared after a day. What a great resource!
The inner plaster was made from clay, chopped straw and alpaca fibre to bind it and create some insulation. And we even had some artists on the course who sculpted some alpaca figures onto the walls.
To complete our rodent proof building we have added reclaimed doors, windows and even a stained glass window. The sedham roof was planted along with a wild flower mix and a dome window placed in the centre of the roof. You can see how strong it is supporting the weight of all the volunteers sitting on it!
Although still not quite finished, we are planning to hold another cob day to fill in a few gaps around the windows; add a lime wash render, and install a raised wooden floor and eventually a wood burner. However it is completed enough to store this year’s fibre on our custom made alpaca fleece sized shelving, and we have held alpaca crochet and knitting workshops and BAS affiliated alpaca husbandry courses. It is also the best ever discreet viewing platform for birthing season and an ideal space for skirting our fleeces.
Click here for a short film on Instagram
And click here for a fun cob day with the Somerset Toiletry Company
