Kelston Roundhill and Roundhill Barn

You can now enjoy a range of outdoor activites for young people and adults on Kelston Roundhill. Activities include archery, orienteering, woodcraft, survival and bushcraft. They’re organised by Dan Spencer, founder of the outdoor skills business Moving Mountains.

Dan and his team of instructors already provide activities for students from Weston All Saints Primary School, who are regular visitors to Kelston Roundhill and the old barn.

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Limited edition prints available: more info here. Or drop into PencilTree studio at 5 Cleveland Terrace, Walcot Street Bath. More of Paul’s work at Saatchi Gallery

Nice visit this morning from map collector John Hancox, who is decluttering and kindly delivered a selection of relevant historic local maps to the door.

Based on surveys from the 1880s showing buildings, springs, field boundaries, antiquity sites and trigpoints the maps date from the 1930s to the 1970s. It’s beautiful detailed work, not made easier by the transition from traditional measures to decimal. As the 1930s maps note:

“to convert decimal parts of an acre into roods and perches you multiply by four to give roods and decimals of a rood, multiply this decimal by 40 thus obtaining Perches and Decimals of a Perch.”

You can see why they needed slide rules. By the 1970s the maps are fully decimal and metric. Selected details below…

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We were delighted to welcome the West of England Nature Partnership (WENP) and guests last week for a day-long workshop on social prescribing. The group included occupational and mental health therapists, psychiastrists and social workers and representatives of nature and wildlife projects and therapeutic outdoor activity providers.

Michéal Connors of the Natural Academy kicks off WENP’s social prescribing workshop at the Old Barn.

Social prescribing (see NHS description here) uses state health or welfare purchasing power to buy innovative and natural therapies such as outdoor activities in forests, gardens or sports clubs. Social prescribing is a great idea if it could be made to work at scale, and the sooner the better.

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We are wind stealers,
sun thieves,
We are Reapers of Light.

We claw in each whisper
we harvest the light.

We build up a store
To hold fast, when the night,
falls hard on our greed
and puts wisdom to flight.

Jon Hamp 2019

Thanks for all input to the preliminary wind array consultation, which is now closed. We’ll publish a summary of overall results shortly and share it with the local authority.

You’re still welcome to contact us by email with any comments or queries about this or any other matters: kelstonroundhill@gmail.com.

Thanks to TheWeekIn, which circulates 16,000 copies in Keynsham, for a thoughtful write-up on the wind array trial – see p13.

The consultation will run to 13 Nov; then we’ll take stock.

The prototype wind vane installation on Kelston Roundhill is performing well in present weather, although they’re still not yet connected to the farm irrigation system and the Old Barn. We’re still in B&NES’ pre-planning advice process about the renewables installation.

Many thanks to those who have responded so far to the consultation about this. This will remain open for two more weeks until Wed 13 Nov. So if you haven’t yet responded and would still like to please do.

We’ve had useful feedback from the process already. The designers have in particular taken on board feedback about sun reflection from certain angles on sunny evenings. They have agreed to paint the blades with a matt finish, in a neutral grey colour, to address the issue. The plan is for the turbines to remain static until this work is completed.

Work has meanwhile started on construction of a stone storage shed which could house electrical equipment such as battery.

This painting Early Evening Above Richens Orchard by Peter Brown, with Kelston Roundhill top right, is one of several being auctioned for the benefit of the local hospital – more info here. 

http://bathartistsstudios.co.uk/project/fundraising-auction/