Caroline Barry’s straw home

A third eco-home in central Somerset went up in flames this week, following an arson attack at a prototype round house in Moorlinch and a fire that destroyed Glastonbury town councillor Caroline Barry’s well-known straw bale home at Butleigh in January.

The timber frame house in Godney became a tower of flames in the early hours of Tuesday morning. Fire fighters were called to the building at midnight and discovered it was a partially-built eco-house, made from timber, straw, peat and soil that was being consumed by flames.

The building was 30 feet tall and 15 feet wide, and by the time crews arrived from Glastonbury, Street and Wells, along with a water carrier from Bridgwater, it was alight from top to bottom, along with a caravan nearby. The building was almost completely destroyed by the fire, but the caravan was only slightly damaged.

The cause of the fire is still being investigated.

Farmer and environmental campaigner Caroline Barry never got to the bottom of the fire which destroyed her straw bale home last January. Local Fire chiefs branded it “Suspicious” But last month she was celebrating the complete rebuild of the structure which she called “better than new.”

Also in January, arsonists at Moorlinch torched the country’s first timber-built Round Home. It took 14 firefighters to put out the blaze in the village near Street.
The prototype house, which could sleep up to 30 people and be built in a day, was being marketed for use in disaster areas around the world, as well as for other uses. the firm, Round Homes UK Ltd, was in talks with Michael Eavis, founder of the Glastonbury music festival, to get support to promote the structures for use in disaster zones.

“We’ll have to start again from scratch and really we have to think hard about moving elsewhere,” said a spokesman.
“We were trying to get Bob Geldof and Bono to come to see the house and we’ve already had interest from Oxfam and Action Aid.
“We have had investigators here all week, including a team of dogs yesterday tracking the smell of accelerants. I suspect it was carried out by someone locally.”
Police have confirmed the fire was arson and are appealing for witnesses to contact them.
The house design is round in order to resist tsunamis, hurricanes and earthquakes.
Currently tents are supplied in disaster areas and will last just months, but once a Round Home is built it will last about 20 years.

The best known of the homes was Caroline Barry’s straw bale home. Miss Barry, 56, of Butleigh, near Street, made seven planning applications and endured three public inquiries and a magistrates court hearing to win permission for the home.

The fire that burned it down was so fierce that only one wall was left standing, and she had to seek planning permission for its replacement.

Supporters rallied to her aid, and though she and her helpers began the building before planning permission was given, it was granted yesterday and she is looking forward to the day when she and her two cocker spaniels can move back into their home.

She said it has cost “less than £10,000″ to rebuild the two-room dwelling, an open-plan living area and separate bathroom, and added: “We could solve the housing crisis with homes like this. There is no reason why these buildings should not work elsewhere.”

Mendip District Council and Butleigh Parish Council wanted it to be demolished as she only had planning permission for a “temporary structure” and councillors did not believe there was any need for a permanent home on the site.

The matter went to a planning appeal and, last year, Mrs Barry won the right to stay on the site. She grows a variety of small crops, which she sells at local farmers’ markets, and keeps a number of animals, including goats and ducks.

Local schools are frequently invited to the site to find out more about eco-friendly living and she has also created a play area for children.

A number of educational courses which focus on the environment are also held at the site.

The original design met building regulations and though the final regulation approval has yet to be given on the current dwelling, Mendip District Council says there is no indication of major problems, and the construction method for the new house is an improvement on the previous building.

The house is on a three-and-a-half acre site on the edge of Butleigh.

Miss Barry, who suffers from MS has planted 200 trees on the land and says she had always dreamed of living the self-sufficient lifestyle in an environmentally-friendly way. She grows vegetables and keeps a few chickens.

She said: “The house is the same as the previous one. The design is strictly ecobuild, which means that when it is taken down it will leave no sign of its every having been here.”