St Fagans

Along with the obligatory timber moving sessions over the long weekend (but at least most of the wood has now been moved up the hill), we managed to have a day out at St Fagans near Cardiff, otherwise known as the National Museum of Welsh Life. It's a 100 acre site based around a grand 16th century house where old buildings have been collected from all over Wales and re-erected.

I was pleasantly suprised at how interesting it all was, and recommend it as a good day out. One of the old tudor 'cruck' farmhouses was inhabited (for a few days) by a Tudor re-enactment group which gave it a more realistic edge.

So what's 'green' about St Fagans? - the drive there and back certainly wasn't. We went to look at the House of the Future, a 2001 eco-build to see if it inspired us or gave us any fresh ideas. Whilst it was interesting, and good to see timber cladding that had weathered nicely along with other construction details, there was nothing amazing about the house. Okay, so it's 6 years old and maybe it goes to show that our research over the last 3 years has informed us well about 'green' buildings. What suprised me though was the extent of south facing glazing - 2001 wasn't that long ago that we didn't know about global warming, was it? It was a pleasantly warm April day and as a result of the solar gain it was very warm inside the house. Surely it must therefore suffer massively from summer overheating, as anyone with a south-facing conservatory will know - a serious design flaw.