You want a treehouse? how about this mother

Following up my tree-shed post the other day, saynotocrackhas a great post and wonderful pictures of this massive treehouse, or house in the trees if you are picky.

In 2005, the world’s largest all-wood treehouse was built amongst the lime trees of the non-profit Alnwick Garden in Northumberland County, UK. This 6,000 square foot treehouse is comprised of walkways, cottages, shops, a restaurant, and play areas. It is even wheelchair accessible, and holds close to 1,000 people, so everyone can play.

It's grown in sheds and harvested by candelight

Of course its rhubarb!

The beeb has a good piece on this veg, to be honest I never liked it as a kid(and have not had it since) but some do!



Yorkshire's biggest growers are attempting to get Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) from the EU for the dozen producers across the region in whats called the Yorkshire Rhubarb Triangle.

Good luck to them, as protecting your traditional wossnames is very important

The current PROTECTED FOOD include Modena balsamic vinegar, Parma ham, Newcastle brown ale, Kalamata olives, Roquefort cheese and Arbroath smokies.

Flat-pack homes - from Ikea to your garden?

Missed this last week, but are they just sheds on acid? or a great way to provide cheaper housing, can't wait to see some pictures.

from ananova

Ikea is selling flat-pack homes in Britain from £70,000 each.

The first timber-framed flats have gone on sale at the Swedish furniture giant's Gateshead store, reports the Mirror.

Buyers must be on incomes of £15,000 to £30,000 to buy the homes, called BoKlok - Swedish for 'live smart'.

They are the first of their kind in Britain, and have double glazing, wooden floors and fitted kitchens and bathrooms.

A contruction company will erect 117 of the open-plan properties on an estate near Gateshead's International Stadium.

Council member David Napier said: "These homes are cleverly designed, highly energy-efficient and they look fantastic."

Further developments are planned for Brighton, Edinburgh and the New Forest.

Going for Gold :(

Lovely old sheds to be demolished for the olympics


The observer allotment blog has a piece on the destruction of an allotment in Hackney Wick, which is 'paving the way' for the new olympic thing in London, its a shame.

quoting them

"The Olympics were coming, and a walkway was planned straight through their fertile soil.

The threat seemed reasonably distant; campaigns were planned, and there was fair optimism that the suits would reconsider. The 80 plots had been there for more than 100 years; some growers had tended them for almost half that. The painted huts and greenhouses stand next to wartime shelters, and they all have a weathered elegance about them, a wrecked beauty untouched by artifice or pretence."

Observer allotment - great pics

The Observer magazine has an allotment and blog , here is the progress of the transformation in pics, great, but I can't see a shed.

Jag XJ6 runs on cider apples

A Somerset farmer has converted his Jag so it runs on rotting apple fumes.

Henry Hobhouse, 52, who lives near Castle Cary, packs two underground tanks full of apples and collects the methane gas producted as they rot.

The 3-litre XJ6 saloon now runs on methane and costs around 40p a litre.

Henry says the 145mph car gains 10% in power by running on compressed methane and still returns around 28mpg, more

Icon of the Environment : Hedgehog

The humble hedgehog – immortalised by the character Mrs Tiggy-Winkle in Beatrix Potter’s classic children’s books – has been voted the number one Icon of the Environment in England and Wales, a pollution watchdog announced today.

As part of its 10th anniversary celebrations, the Environment Agency asked the public to nominate and vote for their favourite thing in Britain’s environment.

The hedgehog emerged victorious among 70 nominations, ahead of the otter, red squirrel and oak tree. Bluebell woods completed the top five.


Just check under your shed for any of these critters and make sure they are fine! and of course if you are burning any wood that has been stacked up, then check before your throw the petrol on!

School hopes to builds class out of straw

A Norfolk village school is building a new classroom entirely from straw bales.

Pupils designed the environmentally friendly room in a project on Celtic round houses.

St Andrew's, which has 59 children aged two to 11, has planning permission.

But it needs £100,000 to build the room, which will double as a village hall.

Head teacher Jeni Barnacle said: "The bales will be fantastic insulation in winter and keep it cool in the summer."

Wind farm operator Enertag has offered the school a turbine to make its own power in North Pickenham.

according to ananova.

Win a Solar Shed Light

Our friends at www.bettergeneration.co.uk, have given us a 5W solar lighting kit Worth £67.60.

A Solar lighting kit for illuminating locations without mains electricity. Perfect for sheds, outhouses, stables. Simple to install and provides up to 7 hours of light per day, for free!

click here to enter.

UK Social housing to be provided with green energy

According to the Press association.

"Over 20 local authorities nationwide are in talks with the country’s biggest power supplier about plans to provide social housing tenants with ways of generating their own free energy supplies.

British Gas will begin a microgeneration installation programme next year to provide social housing and other public sectors, with green energy technology such as solar panels, ground source heat pumps and household wind turbines."


Its great idea, but lets hope it does not add more to our bills then it saves, as British Gas/the localauthorities always seem to get their money off us, and when you see the price of a wind turbine you can fit to your house/shed at B&Q you wonder if you can every make your money back, ok its about saving the environment, but everyone needs to be doing it, and the cost of setting up such systems most be affordable to all.