Natural Building

Get inspired, get creative and get your hands dirty

Each week we will be looking for participant to come and enjoy a volunteering week and experience all the magic, creativity and fun The Art Farm has to offer. You will have the opportunity to learn and experiment with many natural building techniques and learn about wild foods whilst enjoying all the romance of summer in France.

Natural building

Earthen Floor

Earthen floors are beautiful, durable, warm, easy to repair, and non-toxic. They are the cheapest and most eco-friendly flooring possible. Constructed with a mixture of sand, finely chopped straw and clay found in abundance in The Art Farm soil, mixed to a thickened consistency and spread with a trowel on a sub-surface such as concrete. Once dry, it is then saturated with several treatments of a drying oil.

The structure is built up of a drainage layer, insulation, in-floor radiant heat tubing, topped with compacted earth/cob layers and finished with a coating of linseed oil and beeswax to create a protective waterproof shiny surface.

Not only will you get the opportunity to build the floor you will also learn how to mix and make the materials required.

Straw bale & cob sculptural wall

Straw-bale construction is a building method that uses straw bales as structural elements, insulation, or both. It has advantages over some conventional building systems because of its cost, easy availability, and its high insulation value. It is also a very eco-friendly method and allows for a lot of creative freedom with its flexibility in shape and form and can be finished using various earthen materials.

We will be creating a beautiful curved sculptural walls using a combination of many eco-building techniques and artistic influences to enhance and accentuate the natural beauty of the 250 year old interiors.

Lime pointing

Like the restoration of a Michelangelo painting experience the magic of returning the works of the old stone masters from 250 years ago back to their original beauty. Accentuating the raw natural forms of the traditional French building with lime techniques lost in time.

Cob rocket stove

A Rocket stove is a highly efficient type of wood-burning cooking stove. It is easy to construct, with low-cost materials. These are low-mass stoves designed to burn small pieces of wood very efficiently. Cooking is done on top of a short insulated chimney. The stoves are typically constructed out of trash: tin cans, old stovepipes.They use branches, twigs, small wood scraps, or just about any small combustible material. The pieces of wood or other material burn at their tips, increasing combustion efficiency, creating a very hot fire, and eliminating smoke. The low-mass stove body and insulated chimney assure that the heat goes into the cooking pot, not into the stove. Rocket stoves used in conjunction with hayboxes can save enormous amounts of fuel, cooking complete meals while using very few resources.

At The Art Farm we will be creating an innovative rocket stove using recycled materials, vermiculite insulation, cob and lime. It will not only be used to cook food but also to heat the attached buildings through integrated radiant heat tubes.

Timber work

In 2010 we have may timber projects planned. We will be experimenting with traditional craftsmen methods and locally sourced timbers.

HOW TO APPLY Step 1 - Fill in application form Step 2 - Complete application fee of £25.00 Step 3 - Recieve confirmation from The Art Farm Cost of program per week £390 low/mid season. £490 high season. Accommadation, meals & activities included in fee.