Our life, off grid: Deep in the eco-friendly dream home that
Climate-conscious duo reveal a custom-built bolthole
From the road, no one would know it is there. But, at the end of the tunnel of trees, hidden deep within a fir forest, is an off-grid dream home built by a 60-something couple determined to do their bit to save the planet.
Roger Shipley, 66, and Jane Obank, 64, have just completed a spacious, stone-built house set amid 15 acres of Aberdeenshire woodland.
Pure water is pumped from an underground lake 200ft down to a 30ft tower where it is gravity-fed on demand to taps in the comfortable stone house they built themselves.
Wood from the surrounding trees fuels a Rayburn range for cooking, central heating and hot water. A single solar panel charges batteries for lighting, and a wind turbine has just been constructed to supplement their electricity needs.
The retired farmers and restaurateurs, who this year will be growing their own food, also invested in two, two-seater, climate-friendly electric cars that travel up to 80 miles on one 12-volt battery charge with no running costs.
Their retreat, not far from the Buchan coast, seems a haven away from the rest of the world and its many turmoils. So, what does it cost to live in this eco-friendly oasis of calm? The answer may surprise you: less than £5 per week.
Looking around the homestead, built with what she and partner Roger described as “simple, old-fashioned technology”, Jane said: “The world seems to be in turmoil at the moment, from the coronavirus and international politics to the uncertainty of Brexit and climate change.”
“Roger and I can’t control any of that and we’re not the kind to worry about what we can’t change. But there was one thing we could do”, added Jane, with a sweep of her arm: “We could create this. If the worst were to happen, we would shut the gates and just survive. It would make little difference to our day-to-day lives. We don’t need anything other than what is here.
“We don’t jet off on long-haul holidays, our lives and interests are here – working on this place. And our carbon footprint is practically zero. It’s just as we want it.”
The couple hail from Yorkshire, but have lived in Scotland for more than 15 years. “We bought this land 10 years ago when we lived on the farm next door,” said Roger. “We also owned The Harbour Restaurant in Gardenstown, which had a log burner. Back then we saw the potential to use the wood for
‘ No sound or light, just a blanket of stars. We feel like we are the only people left on earth
the log fires on the farm and at the restaurant – it wasn’t good for anything else. There were also stone bothies on the site and the remains of a house. So we thought we might also develop those and sell them.
“We asked to buy the site. The price was £80,000. But we were also going to be charged £80,000 to get electricity on the land. So we decided to sell the farm, give up the restaurant, retire here and go green.
“We wanted to be self-sufficient, but we wanted to keep everything simple and use good, old-fashioned technology that wouldn’t cost a fortune to install and that we could fix ourselves should it ever go wrong.
“It had to be made by hand so