North Devon is an area in which cob houses built 500 to 100 years ago are still used and lived in , still standing ,testament to the sturdiness of the sand clay and straw combination, and still in (relative) abundance .
Cob houses are warm in winter ,and cool in sumer ,they are cheap to produce ( although require lots of labour to construct). I was attracted to the sculptable qualities of building possibilities and the mud play potential. They are constructed by mixing clay samd and straw and then the mud lumped into a wall shape creating 1m layers at a time allowing to dry and then adding to them. Dry weather is essential for construction
This cob wall is a great example . Cob needs good boots and a hat. In this case the stone footing serves as the boots and a corrugated roof prevents cob erosion. The original wall may have looked like this but more likely was rendered with a lime plaster.
Row of cob houses in Crediton
View of cob house from the playground. The kids took great pleasure in yelling "look mum its Cob!!!!" Whenever I got into peering at walls and scratching at paintwork.
Interior Matts mums house showing the original fire place. The origanal house was composed of this room downstairs and a similar sized room upstairs as the bedroom. It was a thatched cottage. The fire place had an earth oven off to the left which could be filled with hot coals from the fire and sealed with a cowpat to bake the bread!
Soil sample from Matt and Lou's place showing 50% sand 40% silt and 10% clay
Arrival into Rose's courtyard off the main Street in Crediton.
TARA in front of Rose's cob :-)house
Rose TARA and Floyd
Luke TARA and Floyd and baby...,....
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