Hemp and I thought it was for just making ropes

Now listen very carefully I shall say this only once, hemp actually is quite good stuff.  Following on from our visit to lets call it 'Hemp House next to a lovely vineyard' last Thursday my attitude towards this natural building material has begun to thaw.  What is so good about it?

• Great insulation both heat and sound. 300mm thick about 0.19 u value which is pretty good.
• It's natural and doesn't have to be transported half way around the world.
• With the right person in charge "most people" can have a go.... I have a cunning plan!
• Flora likes it because you have the ability to curve off the corners.
• Price comparison to other building products with the same U (thermal qualities) it holds it's own.
• Decent thermal mass making it retain the heat in the winter but is cool in the summer.

Ok I would like to say that I'm going to have to see some more examples but this may be good.

Other news.

We had a planning officer assigned to our build and then he wasn't.
But we've now got another one which I think is good.

Tom (architect) has a sleepless nights (bless) thinking about our house so he has showed us an alternative version which cuts out the necessity for the extension or sitting room as I liked to call it.  I'm certainly finding the whole notion of nearly starting from scratch just painful a little bit like Ground Hog Day.

Here's a short video of me giving a crocking narrative watching Dan pulling things up.