DVD Release -- Tim Kliphuis: Live at Iford Manor

A couple of weeks ago, we were excited to release our first recording of musical events in the cloister at Iford.  Iford Recordings will bring the finest artists to your home through the medium of DVD.

"Tim Kliphuis and Friends: Live at Iford Manor" was filmed in front of a live audience, on June 30th 2011.  The aim was to produce a DVD which would bring to the television screen the experience of attending an event at Iford, working with a spectacular artist in an inspirational venue.

Tim Kliphuis is a world class violinist, and an exponent of the immediacy of improvised music.  The understanding and response to the inputs from both audience and venue are what makes a great improviser and the eclectic styles at Iford proved great inspiration for Tim's music making.

A sample from the DVD can be found above.  Copies can be purchased at www.ifordrecordings.co.uk and would make a great Christmas present.  Copies should be with you by Christmas if ordered before Sunday 18th December.  This year, give someone the gift of great music at Iford.

The Turn of the Screw (not Britten)

It was with great excitement that, yesterday afternoon, we were able to witness the first turn of the screw.  Roger Hutton, of Potential Energy, proudly raised the main sluice gates and the turbine eased into action.  This was just a test of course, as the electricity board is still checking a few elements in the connection to the grid but we do expect to be contributing in a small, but nevertheless important, way to the sustainable output of the UK within a week.

All contracted plant is now off site as the civil work was completed on Monday, and it is now just testing, linking up the internet (so we can monitor performance) and work to get the telemetry settings right, all going on inside the 'shed of mystery' by the frightfully clever boffins who understand the wonders within.

So the heavy work is complete.  I will report once again when we begin the landscaping, fencing and aesthetic tidying work; but that will all have to wait until we are in a position to get machinery into the field, which would be impossible at present for the mud.

A walk round the garden this afternoon

I had twenty minutes spare this afternoon, and the sun was shining.  So, armed annoyingly with the less good camera, I set off into the garden to see what I could find.  Leaves, mostly, and the odd berry.

 

Archimedes screw update - sluice gate arrives.

Last time I brought you up to speed to the point where the screw had arrived (all 8 tonnes of it), and we had successfully negotiated the 1 mile journey from the A36 down the hill across fields and along tracks, to its resting place in the ready-prepared concrete cradle:

Since then, the bearings have been connected up, and a shed built on top of the concrete platform in which the gear mechanism and control unit are housed.  This is seriously solid kit.

 The shed:

You might recall that there was a large tree root which needed to be removed from the mill leet wall before repairs to it could be made.  This was the result (it came out with quite a bit of wall attached - all of which will be reused in some project or other).

The enormous 360 excavator gave the remaining stones a hefty shove back into the hole created by the tree roots.

And then shuttering was applied in order to create a concrete replacement to the top half of this wall, which will withstand attack by fast flowing 'torpedo' tree-roots and such much better than the old stone wall would have done.

More shuttering props are added:

 The results were excellent, and the plan is to tie this into the new beam (look back at previous updates from first weeks of the project) on the weir to give greater strength on the corner by the piles blocking the leet in the image below.

Some significant site tidying went on at this point, and we suffered from our first rain delays.  Fortunately this coincided in part with a delay on the arrival of the all-important sluice gates.  In the image below you can see the sluice gates have been installed finally, and the shed has also received its cladding which tones it down a bit.

We have been astonished at the speed that the entire project has been moving along.  I am touching copious quantities of wood as I write this, but hopefully all will run smoothly for the final fortnight.  Boy, will be pleased to see the project completed - not only because we are excited to generate the electricity, but furthermore because we are experiencing some pretty determined river flows just now, and a flood this month really would set things back!

This was the river taken this morning:

Hydro update (about 2 weeks behind where we really are)

After some weeks, I can update you in pictorial form on the progress of the hydroelectric scheme.  Sorry for the delay during the most exciting phase of the project, but I'm afraid we've had quite a busy time of it down at Iford lately.  Nevertheless, here is the update!

Endless shuttering...

 And this was the shuttering mould (upside down, here, and about half built) for the cradle for the screw itself.

 And then, one Monday morning, the procession arrived:

 The screw weighs about 8 tonnes.

 And it somehow had to go in here:

 There was a tree in the way, but this proved no problem for the enormous crane, which simply lifted the steel screw clean over the top of the tree!

 And, at 22 degrees, or thereabouts, the descent into the trough was achieved.

A second update to follow shortly, to bring you up to date with the most recent fortnight, then they were able to put in the gearing system, build a shed to house all the clever control gear, and prepare for the arrival of the great sluice gates and grille for the front.

A visit from the Harley Owners Group

Apologies for the lack of updates recently... it has been "all go" at Iford.

To our great delight we had a visit from the New Forest Branch of the Harley Owners Club.  Jim Murphy, Communications Manager of the branch, kindly sent through these photographs of the group riding away over the bridge, and in front of the house.  We hope they enjoyed their visit as much as we did.

We're always pleased to welcome car and motorcycle owners clubs, so if you would like to bring a group for a a visit to the garden, or just a cream tea, why not make us the excuse for a club outing?

Stormy day, sunnier evening

Today was one of those days, when the garden visitor's intrepid nature truly showed itself.  Just after opening time, the heavens opened.  Torrentially.

Some minutes into the downpour, we were visited by a lady in a motorised mobility scooter, who was being kept very dry indeed by her plastic covering, which enclosed both her and also her scooter - a brilliant solution.  Her walking companion was less fortunate, as he was wearing a mere raincoat.

Armed with the accessibility map they headed back out into the rain to negotiate the sloping paths and the accessible back routes to the upper levels of the garden.  An hour or so later I saw them return through an upstairs window, seemingly in good spirits - it says a lot for the determination and hardiness of the Great British Garden Visitor to negotiate the vagaries of the September weather.  These hardy pioneers certainly deserved their cup of tea - I hope they enjoyed their visit.

This evening, by contrast, was a stunner, and I was able to pop over to the kitchen garden to collect some rhubarb and apples for a crumble.  Some shots of the garden around 5.30pm.

 The last vestiges of the painted meadow, still just about in flower:

 Apples ripening in the distance behind the sculpted box bushes on the lawn. 

Onwards and upwards

Now we're motoring - the weather is starting to be less amenable, and so time is of the essence.  With seemingly endless steel reinforcement going in, the shuttering is being erected in haste to form the frames into which the walls will be poured.  Here are the latest update pictures.

Yet more concrete

Apologies to anyone not in fact interested in civil engineering or hydro-electric power... I appreciate that the project has rather taken over the blog as though nothing else is happening at the moment.

I am nevertheless conscious of the wide interest that the hydro scheme has created amongst the local residents, walkers through the valley and visitors alike.  On my walk from the house to my office over the river, I regularly get stopped and asked questions about the scheme, which is great - I'm pleased people are intrigued.

Indeed, yesterday I had a very enjoyable chat with an environmentally involved lady about our shared belief in  using our sustainable natural resources, especially where it doesn't impact negatively on other elements of the environmental system - since this scheme actually enhances the environment, especially for fish, she was very bullish about it.  Encouraging news all round, I'd say.

The photo above is a spot-the-difference with the one from last time, because they managed to get enough of a break in the weather to pour the next load of concrete today - exciting, because it is nearing the big moment when the screw arrives in 4 weeks time or so.

Bring up the reinforcements...

I really didn't expect to find myself getting this excited about civil engineering... conversations about piling, grades of grit and slump values were liable to leave me pretty cold, I thought.  How wrong I was!


Last week we saw the pouring of the foundation pad for the Archimedean screw.  This week the reinforcing bars have been laid out through which will be poured the main trough (using a fairly dry mix to avoid it slumping down the slope).  This is a make-or-break moment, because if it goes wrong it's a heck of a lot of effort to cut it out again - it's reinforced for a reason, after all...

When looking at the quantity of concrete going in here, it gives an idea of the forces which are being accommodated in the design - this is serious hardware, and a stark reminder of the underlying power of an otherwise tranquil river in spate.

Hydro week 6 or 7

Week 6, week 7, I've lost track rather of where we've got to timewise.  Nevertheless, it was a big week because that big hole that Suttle's had dug previously (where the eel trap used to be) has received its first concrete pad upon which is going to stand the trough to hold the archimedean screw.  You can see the shuttering being constructed to contain the second pouring.

Before:

After:

Whoever said concrete was pouring? (surely, "boring"? Ed.)

Blue sky thinking

Some rather imaginative cloud formations this evening.

Iford Bridge concerns

 Widening and prolific cracks in an ancient bridge.  Is that a good thing, maintenance-wise?

It belongs to English Heritage.
It is administered by Bath and North East Somerset Council.
It is at Iford.

Just asking.

Hydro-electric project: weeks 3, 4 & 5

It has been fascinating to watch the speed with which our civil engineers and contractors, Suttle, have been able to undertake the work.  With a '360' excavator and a dumper truck, you can turn a seemingly solid structure into a hole in a matter of days.  Astonishing.


But first, I mentioned before the need to repair the weir, and to include fish and eel ladders.

The bulk of the repairs are now complete (above, week 3, with the concrete beam half-cast), the fish and eel ladders in place, and the concrete beam which raises the river height a little has now been poured (week 4, below):

I'd say it's a work of modernist beauty - and it's not often I compliment concrete.  It was clear to see that the site manager was proud of the result too, which is always a good sign I think.  Here it is with water flowing over it:

Because the team is now into the phase of construction where they will repair the mill leet, they have shuttered the river such that the weir is now taking the full flow.  And doesn't it look spectacular?

And at the downstream level, work has commenced to create the hole for the enormous trough for the archimedean screw (replacing the former eel trap seeing in the last update's images).  Aggregate was brought in to offer a slipway down to the river, and downstream shuttering now holds back the waters.  Here is the 360 about to drive, with earth-shuddering power, a shuttering pile straight through the gravel, into the river bed.  Thankfully there are very few rocks in the river here, so it's fairly easy going (if you are an excavator that is).

And now, the eel trap has been ripped out, and we just have a large hole developing, into which the concrete trough will be cast.

It is proving to be as intriguing and exciting as we had hoped.