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Log Cabin

Connecting to outer space

Ten years ago I wrote about TV as a slightly unwelcome visitor in the Log Cabin at Century Wood. We took a tuner to watch an episode of Shed of the Year when it was still on TV, but it felt like an intruder and that radio seemed much more natural. TV has not visited since and we’ve relied on radio for a connection to the world outside when we’re there. But this month I’ve taken the plunge and got a Starlink Mini dish to get a high speed internet connection.

Over the last decade the lack of phone signal became more inconvenient. Signal has always been patchy, especially when the trees are in leaf, and if anything got worse over the years as we shifted from 2G towards less penetrating, higher frequency 5G. I’ve found I can get an ok connection from one of the fences with a farmer’s field as there is a direct line of sight to a distant cell tower. I dreamed up schemes with a base station there and hundreds of meters of armoured mouse-proof ethernet cable running to the Log Cabin, but it really didn’t make sense financially (£100s) or logistically (a pain to set up and maintain).

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Holiday at Century Wood

We’ve had the Log Cabin at the wood for 12 years now and as well as being genuinely useful for forestry, it doubles up as a getaway we can use any time and without any notice. With all the travel disruption at home and abroad this summer we decided to have a couple of weekend breaks away, and spend a Monday to Friday week at the wood when the weather hadn’t gone haywire.

The setup is very similar to these pictures from solo stays when I’m doing forestry work. Camp beds, gas stove for cooking, and electric 12V lights or gas lanterns. You can see more in this video I did.

During the days we did touristy things, including the Ironbridge museums, Lilleshall Abbey and Lilleshall Hall National Sports Centre, Hoo Farm which now has an impressive woodland dinosaur park, and Wightwick Manor near Wolverhampton.

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The woodland in the snow

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.

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Storm Alex in the log cabin

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.

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Five days at the wood

Last week I spent five days at Century Wood, living in the log cabin and working on the new drying barn. We’ve stayed at the wood for a weekend at a time before, but this is my longest stay and didn’t involve any breaks: I didn’t even climb the gate and walk the rides shared with my neighbours during my stay. It was quite an experience.

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