GREEN STUFF
Carbon footprint? What carbon footprint?
GENERATING ELECTRICITY
By generating 32,000
kilowatt hours of electricity a year in the watermill, we
hoover up the carbon footprints of eight average homes.
ENCOURAGING GENERATING
Brian is in the unique
position of being able to give vital early encouragement to others
thinking of using mills to generate electricity from water power. He
organises day tours of six local mills, providing detailed information
packs on all aspects of setting up their schemes. The mill-owners
and water engineers who have been on the tours have found them
invaluable for understanding the issues so they can move forward
with their projects.
DOMESTIC HEATING
Not only do we create electricity, but we reduce our use of it
by using the unique environment of Gants Mill & Garden.
Domestic heating
is a major factor in use
of power. Brian is able to cut wood from
our field boundaries and where it's fallen in the river.
He saws it up at the sawbench powered by water in the mill and
stores it
to dry in sheds round the farmyard. It
then goes into the woodstove in the farmhouse. This heats
the entire ground floor of the farmhouse, and much of the heat rises to the
bedrooms.
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GROWING VEGETABLES & FRUIT
Much of what we eat is measured
in food yards rather than miles. The garden soil
is very productive from the addition of
muck from the farmyard a few hundred yards away, and we grow
much of our
own fruit and vegetables throughout the year. Cakes for summer visitors are baked by local Women's Institute
members.
DRYING CLOTHES
In winter damp washing from the washing lines is
finished off overnight
on racks by the woodstove, keeping use
of a drier to the barest minimum. This saves around 1200
kilowatt hours a year in drying clothes of our two families.
RECYCLING
Like everyone else we recycle, but produce little or no food
waste because we eat leftovers and everything else goes on the
compost heap or in the dog.
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ACCESSIBILITY
GARDEN AND MARQUEE
Parking
for wheelchair users and the slightly infirm is signposted. There
are no steps from this car park to the garden, marquee or
conservatory.
There are firm wide paths round the garden for wheelchairs, and
the whole garden can be seen without using steps. There
are two steps up to the fenced vegetable garden, with a strong
handrail.
There is a wheelchair accessible loo, which is reached from the
garden across a stretch of mown level lawn, or from inside the
marquee across a short flat mat.
MILL
The narrow entrance to the mill is not accessible to
wheelchairs. Those who do not wish to climb the stairs in
the mill can enjoy the first half of the mill tour, which is on
the ground floor. This is the part of the tour where there is
most to see, and most action.
DOGS
Guide dogs are welcome throughout the property. Other dogs
on the lead are welcome in the garden. No other dogs in
the mill or the farmhouse.
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