Any Old Iron and Happy Christmas!

Best wishes for the festive season, and for the new year of 2012 that lies ahead.

It serves us well to reflect on the changes that the last year has brought; and in absolute terms mine are pretty drastic: transitioning from contracting in the City of London at the end of March to becoming a gentleman of leisure in the Scottish Highlands.

Of course "gentleman of leisure" is sadly a complete misnomer, and the reality of restoring a ruined castle is a chaotic patchwork of trying to do the organisation; sourcing things on the cheap; and pitching-in with the labouring! In fact, the most rewarding thing and the one on which I wish I could spend more time is just working on the building. Unfortunately, reality intrudes and other day-to-day things need attending to. However, my builder is brilliant and keeps things moving all the time even when I am out of the area.

The archetypical distraction was this August, when I drove to my house down south for a fortnight’s holiday to attend some social functions. During the stay, my pick-up truck broke down beyond economic repair and buying a new one (with no transport) turned out to be a nightmare. I had four truck sales agreed, but when I went to collect each one, they proved to be un-road-worthy, not as advertised or sold already! I finally purchased a new pick-up at the end of November, and got back to the castle for the winter season, after almost 4 months away!

I made the most of being stuck down south, and was able to make huge progress on my house there. After being rented out, it needed a lot of attention. In October, a new lodger arrived who proved a tremendous help in sorting things out yet further!In fact, the South of England had the most amazing Indian summer:  the best summer I have ever experienced. At the end of November, I was still able to garden in my tee-shirt in warm sunshine. The very next day, I drove back up to Scotland to find snow at the castle! My emigration had coincided with the turn of the weather. This and the change in latitude was a huge shock to my system. I had become a "southern softy" and I didn't think I would be able to live at 0C (the temperature inside the castle). I was pretty demoralised. However, gradually I realised that my body had once acclimatised to this and was doing so again.

My neighbours told me that before my arrival the weather had been mild, but that the whole summer and autumn has been disappointingly wet, so perhaps I had been in the right place after all. In any case, this winter has been relatively mild so far, compared to the previous two Baltic ones. Last night the snow melted away, and it is an incredibly 8C inside the castle today - my builder and I are buoyant!  I am really hoping the winter stays mild to allow work to continue and, being positive, the shortest day is the 22nd Dec, so days will be getting longer before no time.

Before leaving London, I climbed up the Big Ben tower at the Houses of Parliament. This was a rare privilege indeed - you have to write to your MP to request tickets. This was a couple of days before I finished work at the bank, and as I stood there under the bells with the whole of London spread out below,  it was somehow a fitting end to the period of my life that I had spent in London: something I thought I would never do. Let's hope we all take some of the "never say never" spirit into 2012! :-)

ANY OLD IRON: On the drive back to Scotland, I picked up some antique Victorian beds

Ring-Fenced in Angus !

A second wind farm (Cormaud - in pink) has been proposed for behind the castle (the blue Saltire). This is in addition to the wind farm in the planning process (Carroch - in green) in front of the castle. As a teccie type, I decided to plot them both on google maps to get a feel for the overall layout. The outcome below shocked even me: I am surrounded! Anyhow, hopefully, this map is a useful resource that allows people to put the wind turbine locations into their true geographical context.



View Carrach and Cormaud Wind Farms in a larger map


To the best of my knowledge this map is correct. Please submit any corrections as comments. I should clarify that neither of these wind farms is a done deal at the time of writing. Carrach is currently at the planning application phase, and Cormaud is in the scoping (pre-application) phase. Naturally I am not in favour of either application going ahead, as they would devalue the significant time, money, emotional and physical investments I have made in Balintore Castle. To say I feel strongly on the matter, is a gross understatement. However, this particular blog entry is about the facts presented succinctly and graphically. I daresay I will express my own views and feelings at length is subsequent blog entries.


Teccie Details


Don't read any further if you couldn't care less about how the map was produced! 


For Carroch I used the coordinates (eastings and northings) from the scoping report, so the plotting is 100% accurate.

For Cormaud, I took the positions from the scoping report map by eye, plotted these by hand on google maps and then downloaded the coordinates.

It took me a day to write a program to convert eastings and northings into latitude and longitude which google maps needs for plotting. There was lots of trigonometry! :-)

All programming was done in Python,  output was in KML which google maps can display. Needless to say, I found some bugs in Google's implementation of KML and had to program around these.

In the full page google maps display,  I would like to make the menu on the LHS hierarchical so you can switch on/off different wind farms. I tried to use the "<Folder>" tag to do this but it had no effect. Anyone know how to achieve this functionality?


I used the "convex hull" algorithm to create a polygon which enclosed the turbine locations for each farm.


I found the following PNG format icons on the Web, which possess the appropriate transparency for overlaying a map.

Castle Panorama !

You might not believe this, but it was only on my third trip to Balintore Castle - the first after I had bought it - that I realised that the view from the building was something pretty special. Before this I had always been looking "inwards" towards the building fretting about its state of disrepair.

Anyhow, on this occasion my advising architect for the restoration and myself were carrying out the necessary survey of the building that Angus Council has stipulated. OK, all I was doing was holding the end of my architect's 50m tape measure - he did the rest. :-)

As we finished one measurement, my architect said "David, look behind you.". The intensely white cloud was lying in a layer far below us at the bottom of the glen. The sky was an brilliant blue, and the sun was glinting obliquely across this white ocean. The instant thought went through my head "I know why they built the castle here". Without a shadow of a doubt, the castle had been strategically placed not just to command the landscape but to afford the residents a transcendent view. The view is even more spectacular from the viewing platform at the top of the great tower: so incredible in fact that one is never quite sure if it is actually real. Needless to say, it took a couple of years before scaffolding was erected to even get to the top of the great tower.

I mentioned to my friend Bert, that I had never managed to capture this view in a photograph, as the main vista, to the south, extends over 180 degrees.  To the north one is looking close-up at the side of a mountain! Anyhow, Bert has just sent me this panorama, stitched-together from three photographs. Thanks Bert!

view directly south from Balintore Castle

The currently proposed Carrach wind farm would extend from the tree on the left to the edge of the frame. :-(

Freeze Frame that WC

On my hunt for bogettes of distinction, a certain 1980's repro Dolphin-themed model appeared time and time again. I couldn't make up my mind if I liked the somewhat-overpowering design or not. It was certainly fun, but was it authentically Victorian?

1980's repro

However, one evening as I was watching the delightful Lucy Worsley present the history of the bathroom (part of the documentary series "If Walls Could Talk"), I spotted the self-same loo in a museum of the WC that she was visiting. See bottom right in the freeze-frame below.

Victorian original (bottom right)

You will, at one stroke, be overawed by the sharpness of my porcelainic observation and appalled at the utter sadness of one who freeze-frames said items. Personal tragedies aside, what do make of this loo? Is it a bad sign or a blessing that so many appear to be on the market? Feedback welcome.

Stylish Illumination in Wetherspoons Dundee

One of the most rewarding aspects of restoring a castle, is that one's powers of observations grow as one is always on the look out for successful period looks - especially on the cheap! While visiting Wetherspoons (The Counting House) in Dundee after a yoga class, I noticed how the lighting astonishingly outclasses even the rather fine venue. In fact, mere probity prevented me from immediately detaching the lights from the ceiling, and installing them at the castle.

Forsooth,  these are gilded French Empire style chandeliers with ne plus ultra alabaster shades. Alabaster shades are carved from solid rock (alabaster is like a translucent marble), and produce a wonderfully warm diffused glow often enriched by a deep-textured geological veining. You can get "alabaster glass" shades which emulate the look but those at Wetherspoons are the real deal - you just don't want to know how much such chandeliers can cost.

French Empire Chandelier with Alabaster Shades

Classy Lighting at Wetherspoons in Dundee

Swallows' Opportunism

Last night, I tried to get into my loft - but when I switched the light on, the RCD tripped in the fuse box.

Today, I went to investigate and I think I found out why this happened:

Swallow's nest, Light and Swallow!

I seem to be intent on electrocuting the smaller of God's creatures. First a mouse, and now I don't hold out much hope for this swallow. Anyhow, the irony is that the loft space of the castle was entirely free of swallows. However, some months ago I replaced a ceiling. In the week this took, the swallows were opportunistic and bagsied this marvellous loft gaff. When in the end, I sealed up the final bit of ceiling, the swallows circled round where their entrance had been, and twittered excitedly. However, they are very smart birds. I left a door open deliberately so they could get to the loft hatch - and they solved the puzzle of how to get back into the loft space via the loft hatch to their nest in around 10 seconds.

Now when I go through the loft hatch, there are often swallows darting through at the same time. Once the swallows have left for winter, I will seal everything up again.

Anyhow, under the nest today I saw this:

Fledgeling 

It must have fallen out the nest. Am I correct in thinking this is doomed? My understanding is that there is no way back into the nest, or perhaps at a long stretch the parent will feed it on the ground? Anyhow, if anyone knows if and how I could try to save it, please let me know. It's already had one reprieve, I thought it was a bit of dirt on the floor, and just stopped myself kicking it at the last minute.

Bit of good last minute news. A friend on Facebook says the parents will feed it! :-)

Please Object to Latest Wind Farm Threat

Three years ago there was a planning application to build a wind farm of 6 turbines on Mile Hill adjacent to Balintore Castle. With other local residents, I fought the proposal - putting work on the castle on hold for three months. It is no exaggeration to say that during this period, and the following 18 months, while Angus Council pondered their decision, we were is a state of high and continuous stress due to the devastating effect this wind farm would have on the area. Eventually the developer withdrew on the grounds of "unsuitable wind conditions".


We thought we were safe for the future, but just 6 months ago a new wind farm proposal was mooted by some of the same developers. This time there are 9 turbines on top of Carroch Hill, and ironically these are even closer to the castle. It was our worst nightmare, a zombie wind farm terrorising the area, having come back from the dead. :-( Again, we are trying to fight, but with the previous trauma it is extremely painful and even more difficult to get motivated. However, I have just sent my objection letter to the council, and I wonder if you could help by doing the same? 


You can email Angus Council on:


Planning@angus.gov.uk


or fill up an online form here (where full details of the wind farm are available):


Online planning feedback form


or write to the council directly:


The Planning Officer
Planning & Transport Division
Angus House
Orchardbank Business Park
Forfar DD8 1AX


I am setting-up a facebook group. I have not done this before so bear with me. The link is:


Stop Carrach Wind Farm Facebook Group


Of course renewables are a good idea and wind farms in the appropriate setting are a good idea but one has to look at both the instantiation of any idea and the motivations of those who are pushing for the wind farm. The consortium of landowning developers want to make money. It is as simple as that. I seem to recall from last time that they get around £25k per turbine per year, so it's pretty lucrative - enough to make a comfortable living without working. So while a couple of developers may make money from the wind farm, this has to be offset against the financial loss incurred by a greater number of local inhabitants. I know at least 4 of my neighbours whose livelihood comes from tourism and those businesses will be devastated. One in particular hosts shooting parties, their building is less than 1 km from the wind farm and will be permanently blighted by the noise.


I presume that my view goes without saying: building a wind farm immediately adjacent to an A-listed building like Balintore Castle is a blasphemy. Even the developer's report concludes that the effect of the wind turbines on the castle would be "negative" and high (P205). The report does appreciate the significance of the synergy between Balintore Castle and its setting (P162): "This baronial hunting lodge has been designed to take into account the wider landscape and there are open view towards the project". However, it completely fails to address the restoration in progress. "Currently the Castle is at present derelict and uninhabited" (P205). I think not!


There remains the mystery of why the wind conditions are now suitable. Apparently, the old data which showed the wind conditions were unsuitable has been "extrapolated" for the new location and shown to be suitable. However, some of the new turbines are less than 500 metres from the old. It takes neither my degree in physics, nor the fact that both my parents were meteorologists, to conclude that this extrapolation is scientifically dubious in the extreme.  


Wind farms are best where there is a continuous and regular wind (i.e. offshore), and I wish, in the energy debate, that practicality would rule instead of the current landscape of short-term (often subsidised) financial gain and political beauty contests. We all lose.

Balintore Castle is red dot (LB2) at top left. Turbines are black dots at centre.

Projected Despoiled View from Balintore Castle - QED