Plaque is only a problem at your dentist !!

Ey up my faithful blogworms,

Checked out the Cumbria Wood Festival, as promised, good show but nothing significant to report that helps our quest to be more Eco friendly. More aimed at Loggers, Biomass producers and renewable heat incentives, more of a business to business show really. Hints and tips for helping the general public think a bit more about eco issues were sadly lacking. Still there's always next year !

We do however, have the winners of our free Roadstone Plaques following our newpaper appeal, here's their entries, I'll show you the pics of the plaques as soon as we get them made !

Great action shot from Yorkshire Trike Tours showing our local Ilkley landmark
 "The Cow & Calf Rocks"

A fabulous & very rare Austin A30 pick up, one of only about 100 made

Nice to see the old guys represented in the form of a 1932 Morris

And a shot of an early Mini from a guy who clearly believes that Minis weren't short enough to begin with and who needs a roof anyway !

A pretty diverse bunch I'm sure you'll agree and destined for fame by featuring on our first comprehensive leaflet promoting Roadstone Car Plaques, set to become the hottest ticket in town for classic vehicle enthusiasts. 

To see these vehicles in the flesh and receive their Fantastic Free Roadstone Plaques, you need to get down to the Burley-in-Wharfedale Classic Car Show on Sunday August 18th. Google Burley Summer Festival to get details on location. It would be great to see you there.

Obviously, for our followers from the corners of the globe, it's one hell of a commute just to see a classic car show but I'll make sure I get loads of pics at the event and post a selection of them here for you to have a peep at !

And just think, if you like what you see, then don't miss out & be among the first to own one. These amazing plaques can be yours  by contacting me at: julian@milestone.uk.net  

Use the reference: Car Plaque Blog to claim a 10% discount for my faithful followers

It really doesn't matter where you are in the world, I know we can get one to your doorstep.

See you there ! Jules.

The Wonderful World of Wood

Now then, my faithful blogworms.

In the interests of all things eco and sustainable, it has come to my attention about a, hopefully, great inaugural show being held tomorrow up at Hutton in the Forest in the Penrith area. Free to get in, free to park and the promise of a great informative family day out. It's junction 41 off the M6 and signposted on the B5305.

Forestry Festival, at Hutton-in-the-Forest Estate, Penrith

Sunday 21 July 2013

Sponsored by The Forestry Commission themselves it's a show about all things timber, sustainable forestry, green crafts and eco issues surrounding the best efficient use of our natural timber resources, so yours truly is going up the check it out and find out what can be learned from the people in the know.

There are 56 seperate stallholders planned with topics such as using wood fuel effeciently, eco living tips, Biomass heating, Green fuels, landscaping to help nature, basket making, logging, forestry concerns and entertainment for the kids.

If you're free tomorrow and at a loose end, go up and check it out yourselves, look for our campervan Pandora and come and say Hi!. We'd love to meet you.

If you don't make it, I appreciate it's short notice, I'll be posting hints and tips gleaned from the people I meet on next weeks blog. Follow the link below to find out more.

See you next week. Jules.

http://www.cumbriawoodlands.co.uk/courses-events/2013/7/forestry-festival-at-hutton-in-the-forest-estate-penrith.aspx

A snippet of what's on offer:

Entertainment and exhibits

Entertainment includes our logging competition, a shooting range, a local folk band and forest storytellers.

Exhibits will include: forestry contractors, equipment providers, biomass producers and greenwood workers. We're also not charging exhibitors a fee for their stands, and are planning lots of opportunities for live demonstrations of their work.

Festival aims

The Festival’s aims include raising awareness within the forestry sector of a variety of equipment, techniques, innovation and networks, as well as educating the general public about the sustainability of locally produced timber products, woodfuel, woodland management and the benefits well managed woodland can bring.

If you’re new to wood fuel

Considering switching to wood fuel no doubt raises lots of questions. Take your time to read about why you should burn wood in order to understand if it’s right for you. If you decide that it is, find out about Funding and Grants available to you, and take a look at Burning Wood Well to make sure you get the most from your wood.

If you already use wood fuel

There are lots of further options to consider and tips to improve your efficiency and save resources and money. The information and videos about Burning Wood Well will help you ensure that your wood fuel use is as economical as possible, and our Wood Fuel Advisory Service can help you find ways to become even more self-sufficient.

Jam & Wax, an odd combination !

Ey up my faithful blogworms, lots been happening since my last blog.

Camper Jam went extremely well, my VW crossword was well received with lots of entries, someone very soon will be getting a fabulous FREE roadstone plaque of the ride of choice. Weather was scorching, higher than in Spain over the weekend, lots of folk doing the crossword to keep out of the sun.

 If you're reading this as a VDub fan and going to Harewood VW Fest in August, there's another opportunity to have a go and win a plaque AND we've even got another chance as Malvern Bus Fest have taken a third VW Crossword to go in their show programme in September.

Our 'Reclaimed Madness' kitchen project is going particularly well ( see earlier blog for details ) with all the doors & panels etc now finished, just waiting for the cabinets to arrive on Monday and off we go again towards the finishing line. Going over on Monday to lay the new floor, made from timber salvaged from an old Victorian Engine Shed, it's all prepped and cut to length so hopefully it should be a doddle to lay.
As a detail thing, I'm even going to use old victorian floor nails to lay it that I've salvaged myself from old floors I've removed over the years. You can't beat authenticity !!
The timber is very old and gnarled and I want to preserve that, so instead of sanding and lacquering I'm going to use a good brand eco friendly floor oil to treat it with and to give good long term durability.

Massively Important Top Tip:

Definitely worth mentioning here about oil finishing timber floors. If you're looking to do this yourself at any time, when you select your oil LOOK AT THE INGREDIENTS on the side of the tin, many floor finishing oils contain a wax of some sort as part of their formulation and they're not very eco friendly !!

DO NOT BUY THESE OILS !..They will give you loads of problems when you come to refinish your floor in the future. If your floor needs a good sanding back during refinishing, trying to sand a floor that's been treated with wax content oils will clog up your sander for fun !!.... Except it's no fun, trust me !..... It will take far longer than it should  and you WILL have to scrub it all with a brush and white spirit to get the wax out and use a hell of a lot of sandings discs, I know because I've done it on floors finished by other people using wax oils.

You can, of course, leave your floor as it is and re-apply more oil over the top .... Don't ..... when the Victorians etc. had waxed floors, they had staff to continually buff it up and polish it and keep it looking nice and I wouldn't mind betting ....... you haven't ! ..... so don't go there unless you plan on selling you house and leaving the problem for someone else, which is a bit of a dirty trick ! You never know it might be me that has to sort it out.

When this job is finished I will be posting the story of the kitchen in photo's for you to have a look at and hopefully gain some knowledge of it if you were thinking of trying this style yourselves. It really is going to look fantastic. Our client is so blown away with what she's seen already that I do think the odd tear may be shed when she sees it completely finished.

That's all for this folks !

Jules.