Apex Dumfries U Turn Group Volunteers have recently completed an outside children’s classroom in the grounds of Allanton House World Peace Sanctuary to protect the young forest craft students from the elements.
The Apex volunteers were taught an ancient building method, wattle and daub, to complete this project. Wattle and daub is a composite building material used for making walls, in which a woven lattice of wooden strips called wattle is daubed with a sticky material usually made of some combination of wet soil, clay, sand, straw and cow dung. Wattle and daub has been used for at least 6,000 years and is still an important construction material in many parts of the world. Many historic buildings include wattle and daub construction and the technique is becoming popular again in more developed areas as a low-impact sustainable building technique.
Thanks go to the team at Allanton for providing Apex volunteers with this opportunity and also to the volunteer team who gave up their time and energies to take part. Their dedication to completing the project and their willingness to get their hands dirty (with cow dung!) combined with their attention to detail exceeded the expectations of Apex’s volunteer leaders Chris and Matthew and the team at Allanton.
The team would also like to offer their best wishes to the Bride and Groom who plan to have their wedding pictures in the outdoor classroom sometime in May (The Love Heart in white stone at the entrance was just for them!).
To find out about what else is happening at Apex Dumfries, click Dumfries Newsletter April 2012 to access the latest Dumfries Newsletter.