Kelston Roundhill and Roundhill Barn

We’ve done three funerals now at Roundhill Barn. It’s just transformative; entirely different from the usual offerings. The remoteness and sense of peace and open ended time create a special atmosphere for intense memorial events. We’ve worked it all through with Filippa at Bath Funeral Directors in Twerton; she’s now ready to offer funerals here. We’d welcome others.

As it happens, Roundhill Barn is configured and laid out very much like an English church. The coffin can enter the main entrance on the south side, and are carried off towards the setting sun in the west, entirely in the ancient tradition. The interior of the barn has the feeling of a secular chapel, without any religious or municipal clutter.

We’re happy to work with any other sympathetic, contemporary local independent funeral directors who put the bereaved customer first and are flexible enough to offer them what they want at an affordable price. We won’t have anything to do with that culture of “upselling on instructions from head office” which seems to prevail in the mainstream funeral services duopoly (insiders know what we’re talking about).

Take your time. Save your money. Do it right. Funerals are important.

Thursday 15 May we enjoyed a visit from 60 or so of our neighbours the Kelston villagers. It’s remarkable and diverse local community which has changed a lot over recent years but retains an underlying rural farming character through it all.

We owe thanks to many villagers, including Rob our neighbour who is very practical and always helpful, Paul and Gerald Robinson who use the upper fields and do an immense amount of works across the whole farm, Doug for advice and Harriet for landscaping, Graham and Hugh Padfield who lease the land, graze cows and use the milk to make some of the finest cheeses in the world, and Andy Dinham who farmed this land all his working life and still keeps a watchful eye. There’s also people who have been inconvenienced one way or another including cars guided by satnav up a dead end, parcels gone astray or taxis showing up in the middle of the night. Thanks for your forbearance.

Anyway, it was a treat to meet so many of the neighbours who could come, bearing wine, salads, brownies, cheeses, and a case of fabulous honey (gratefully received, even if it came from distant Wiltshire). Let’s do it again next year.

Bath City Farm regularly use Roundhill Barn for their annual team get-together. And – hardy folk that they are – they choose to do it in February.

Even today, when there was such a hard frost that the padlocks were frozen.

So it was a nice surprise for them to find – for the first time – a new warm floor, powered by solar thermal energy. Also a full battery which means they don’t need any generator to switch on lights and the odd kettle (or even a full-sized electric urn…just not urn and kettle at the same time, we’ve learned).

That plus two woodburners should make for a cosy and memorable awayday. We look forward to hearing how it went.

We’re keen to support worthwhile new ventures and this looks an important one: the first series of Liminal Time workshops. Roundhill Barn has already hosted three powerful sessions by the founders of Liminal Time; one post-Covid reflection, one discussion on all aspects of end-of-life and one specifically on assisted dying.

All were deeply moving, effective and highly rated by all participants.

Getting end of life right is among the most important things we do, and there’s a lot of scope for improvement. So we wish the new Liminal Time venture all success.

Don’t be apprehensive: sign up.

Marking the shortest day is one of the most important things we do all year.

Knowing that we’re now looking forward to longer days somehow takes all the strain out of Christmas. Can’t recommend it too highly. If you want to join us next year be in touch.

Tuesday started with an early visit from an eight-wheeler, with vital rear-wheel steering, delivering the screed to cover the underfloor pipes which we now expect never to see again.

First there’s a “slump test” to check the mixture is the right consistency:

Then the curiously satisfying filling of the floor with screed pumped through a fat hose:

So now we finally have the floor at the originally designed level. The pipes will carry about 100l of hot water, about a tenth of the total 1000l capacity of the solar-heated thermal store. From here the floor will take a day to dry enough to walk on. It should be ready to take heat once it’s thoroughly dried in about four weeks. Bear with us while there’s that interruption in service.

Once it’s all dry and working we can see how much the solar thermal system warms the floor extending the season into spring and autumn.

Just being pressure-tested: these pipes add up to around 100l capacity, which is 10% of our thermal store size. There’s been some sun today, and the thermal store is at 45c. Screed goes down next week.

Seen from Newton Park on a sunny October day.

Work is now under way to complete the barn floor – which a decade ago was just plain earth – with underfloor heating pipes. The idea is to extend the season and make the barn cosier for memorials and awaydays in spring and autumn.

Heating will come as far as possible from the Abora hybrid photo-voltaic thermal panels, with backup from an efficient LPG boiler. Barn will be out of use for six weeks or so.

James and Luke setting base layer of insulation before adding the pipes.