iainmcnabuk

The woodland in the snow

by iainmcnabuk
21 December 2020

It doesn’t look as if there will be snow at Century Wood this Christmas, but I’ve dug out some photos of previous years with snow, and a time lapse video of snow building up over a few days.

First here is the Log Cabin at the centre of the wood, with smoke from the wood stove. It quickly got comfortably warm inside.

by iainmcnabuk
21 December 202020 December 2025

Over on hutters.uk I’ve posted some seasonal stuff about Lego log cabins. As a family, huts and cabins are a Big Thing, mostly because of… Read More »Lego Log Cabin rebuilt as Thoreau’s cabin

Woodland Hutting

by iainmcnabuk
26 October 2020

I’ve added a page over on the Hutters.uk website about Woodland Hutting – a proposal to extend the rival of hutting that has started in… Read More »Woodland Hutting

A rocking chair

by iainmcnabuk
18 October 2020
1 Comment

Last month I invested in a wooden rocking chair for the log cabin. There have been benches there for years but on an evening you… Read More »A rocking chair

I’d planned to spend most of the weekend at Century Wood before the warnings about Storm Alex started, and after a close look at the forecasts I went ahead. Despite 18 hours of continuous rain, the overnight stay was comfortable and I got a lot done on Sunday which was dry.

I made this quick video of the rain when I arrived on Saturday afternoon. It was basically like that until about 9am on Sunday. I got some firewood from the log store, fired up the wood stove, and unpacked the car.

by iainmcnabuk
6 September 2020
4 Comments

I’ve been writing a response to this year’s England Tree Strategy Consultation. This is the essentially the final draft, which I will submit before the deadline on the 11th: TreeStrategy2020Response.pdf

I focus on three problems with the planning system and the the new firewood regulations:

Consistent national guidelines for the minimum size of sheds, barns etc which will be viewed as reasonably necessary for forestry.
Processing wood into finished products should be classed within the definition of forestry, when using wood from the same woodland.
Woodland-based education should be classed as forestry.
The legal requirement to join the Woodsure auditing scheme at the cost of hundreds of pounds a year will wipe out any profit for many small woodland owners.

Wood Tractor: lawn tractor

by iainmcnabuk
22 July 2020
2 Comments

I’ve bought this second hand lawn tractor to convert into a sort of “wood tractor” to use at Century Wood. At the weekend, I took the tractor to the wood to try it out in its stock configuration, before making any mods to it, and made the YouTube video at the end of this post.

Mowing the Glade video

by iainmcnabuk
30 May 2020
2 Comments

I’ve just uploaded a video showing the scythe mower I’ve written about before in action, in the Glade at Century Wood.

Henry David Thoreau

by iainmcnabuk
6 May 2020

Thoreau died 158 years ago today, on 6th May 1862, at the young age of 44. Tuberculosis finally carried him off 17 years after the… Read More »Henry David Thoreau

Facebook groups

by iainmcnabuk
29 April 2020

For a couple of years I’ve maintained two woodland groups on Facebook: “Woodlanders” (1666 members) and “Woodscraft” (1032). Today I added a third: “UK Woodland Owners” which has reached 121 members in 9 hours!