Creating a 'Glamp' site

[Cal54]

I’m amazed at the amount of work you have undertaken already and in awe of your commitment to such a project. I’ll be following this thread with great interest and hope to visit your site when you are up and running. Love the Lake District

 

[Puddleduck]

Nothing there that can't either be fixed or stripped out and replaced.

We've taken on a couple of almost derelict properties and brought them back to life. Then we did a green field self build and ate still living in it 20 years on, the longest we have lived anywhere.

 

[Mikey RV]

Looking good and thanks for taking the time to post photos. You’re going to be busy but at the end you will have a fantastic place in a great area.

 

[chaser]

Did a bit today, so here's some photos for all those asking

Pumps pumps and pumps. All are knackered, leaky. New stuff on order. Amazon is fantastic.
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I've removed the flue and another temp roof repair so the pool plant room can dry up and I can assess it

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The pool room itself is a bit mouldy and wet, as are the changing rooms, Anorher temp roof repair to help it start to dry up. Everything leaks...

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I welcome the 'health and safety' comments on my ladder position....

There's a bit of mould in the spa and there's a lot of refurb needed
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Burnt out pool light. Awful old things, 300W halogen in sealed beam. Someone must have turned it on with no water in the pool. It wouldn't last long not submerged in water. A funky remote control colour changing thing is on order...
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Of the 7 bathrooms in the house and complex, not one is functional. A bit of a 'scorched earth' thing. WCs mostly work though, so it ain't all bad
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Oil boiler and tank all in bits, moved, missing and this weird old non condensing NG boiler cobbled to a LPG tank which someone has half inched.
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Looks like the same scumbags have been on the roof too...
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Bit of a mess at the back of the hangar...

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I got my new roof drain underway today

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Removing the old spa signage
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At leas the previous owners floor is giving us something to burn to put some heat in the house to help it dry while we've no heating....
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The hangar (so called to distinguish it from the 'nice' garage is a bit battered and also is leaky/wet...
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But there's nothing too much of an issue. The good news is today I got the 'nice' garages cleaned up and looking nice, ready to take a couple of cars... Priorities...

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Tomorrow will be 'the test'

Can I ask , what happened that it was let to fall in to the state it is?

 

[dawsey]

On the land, there's much more to do, needs some heavy machinery. This oak is dead/dying due to sitting in water, all the culverts and ditches appear to have failed with blocked and overgrown drainage everywhere, much of which I suspect is there but can't find.

We have the field to the left and right of the dying oak.

The waterfowl habiting the 'boating lake' are awesome. As well as the noisy, squabbling canada geese there's widgeon, teals, moorhens, coots, oyster catchers and a resident barn owl that roosts under the 'conservatory', hence the mess and all the owl pellets. Better than a cat at keeping the mice down though. All we can hear is birdsong, which will only get better as spring progresses.

These pines will go, they take all the sun from the roof of the hangar where biggish solar wil go. I'm going to clear enough to leave direct sunlight for the sun as it arcs over all of that SSE tipping roof from the spring equinox. I will leave half the pines and all the Deciduous to create a nice glamp zone.

This mess needs cleared before I can get to those pines to take about half of em down. It's all very boggy and wet, and there's a collapsed building under all that green. V dangerous to walk on, all rotten wood lumps of concrete with barb wire in and loads of old corrugated roof. Easy to fall through and slice yourself open on a rusty bit of corrugated roof

The view from where some of the glamp units will go. I will tidy and reclad the back of the spa complex and put in steps down to the entry at the back. then a spiral from the gym and sauna down to the spa and pool. Keeps the glamp guests safely on the other side of the spa, all would be nice and private, for a camp/glamp site.

The tree line behind the house. The field to the right would be great for an aire, right on the road and big views over to Murton Fells.

The fells behind the tree line are the Murton fells aka the Warcop ranges in the North Pennines AONB. It's where the army are trained on the big guns and tank manoeuvres. It's been pretty quiet this week but last week they were on the heavy artillery. It's about 3-4 miles away though. Sometimes they send up a dozen flares.

Another job is power and a nice security gate on the other side of the cattle grid.

Hmm, this is going to require some thought and a lot of graft. I'm on the lookout for a digger and dumper.

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[dawsey]

Can I ask , what happened that it was let to fall in to the state it is?

What always happens Chaser. Folk run out of cash.

 

[dawsey]

Distribution network operator has obligations that can't wiggle out of it. But, in some cases they will charge for upgrades, and there is no way round it. If you can get two phases is better than one. But 3 phase is better, and you should enquire if you could have that instead as it will mitigate phase balancing and being a commercial site 3 phase is ideal.
I know farms with two phases and voltage stays above 245v most of the time. That, in terms of solar connection may push it even further up. Having 3 phase it will spread the power even on all 3.
Try and speak to DNO about this.

Been talking to them since the week after we won the auction, over a month. That single phase 15kVa transformer was the first problem I identified. I applied for upgrade within days, and that's why they tried to tell me it would be millions to upgrade the entire network to 3 phase....

But we only need 2 phase, and there is 2 HV 12kV phases on the pole, typical of end of line rural HV networks. So it's just a matter of swapping the 1ph 15kVa for a 2 or split phase 30-50kVa transformer and hence the £25k bill. The ongoing negotiation is focussed on the very obligations you mention...

 

[DandJ]

Hmm, this is going to require some thought and a lot of graft. I'm on the lookout for a digger and dumper.

Do you think it would be beneficial to have a mate or other such critical eye to have a good wander round the site with you and perhaps look at some sort of schedule of works....as an example...if the roof of a disused plant room has had a leak for 5 yrs...another few months won't make much difference...especially if the whole roof/building will be reconfigured. Looking purely from the photos and write up so far, it looks like a scattergun approach at present (understandably until you fully get to grips with it).
What a fabulous long term project tho !

 

[dawsey]

Do you think it would be beneficial to have a mate or other such critical eye to have a good wander round the site with you and perhaps look at some sort of schedule of works....as an example...if the roof of a disused plant room has had a leak for 5 yrs...another few months won't make much difference...especially if the whole roof/building will be reconfigured. Looking purely from the photos and write up so far, it looks like a scattergun approach at present (understandably until you fully get to grips with it).
What a fabulous long term project tho !

Scattergun...

Photos get demanded, photos are uploaded and there's immediate criticism, you are a funny lot....

Still, at least I now understand that photos do allay all the endless accusations of making it all up...

I have a mate who used to run a commercial swimming pool maintenance company coming up here in 2 weeks to review the old plant, dig out the skimmer and get to the massive underground skimmer/bottom drain union leak that I have already identified and write the list of the new stuff needed. Thankfully we found a stash of spare slates for reinstatement. That plant room is the worst, obviously it will be rebuilt but first I just want to dry it and get some lights on so he does not have to kneel down in 2 inches of water.

He's coming in his camper and will be our first visitor in a motorhome

 

[Outdoors Dad]

Looks a fabulous place. I second buying an old dumper, digger, cement mixer, strimmers etc, you will always need them. Maybe a local farmer can help with some of the irrigation. (Befriend) There's also a lad on here who's very handy and practical that can help. It looks like it has some great potential for the future. It will be nice to see it on a summer's day.

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[dawsey]

Looks a fabulous place. I second buying an old dumper, digger, cement mixer, strimmers etc, you will always need them. Maybe a local farmer can help with some of the irrigation. (Befriend) There's also a lad on here who's very handy and practical that can help. It looks like it has some great potential for the future. It will be nice to see it on a summer's day.

Yes I'm on the lookout. I've already bought a garden tractor with little PTO for around the pond and a job lot of quick-assemble scaffold.

 

[Outdoors Dad]

I like the little Yam as well

 

[starquake]

Been talking to them since the week after we won the auction, over a month. That single phase 15kVa transformer was the first problem I identified. I applied for upgrade within days, and that's why they tried to tell me it would be millions to upgrade the entire network to 3 phase....

But we only need 2 phase, and there is 2 HV 12kV phases on the pole, typical of end of line rural HV networks. So it's just a matter of swapping the 1ph 15kVa for a 2 or split phase 30-50kVa transformer and hence the £25k bill. The ongoing negotiation is focussed on the very obligations you mention...

It may be cost effective to just go battery/solar + genset if you end up with a 25k bill; 25k is a lot of battery.
Certainally worth looking at alternatives -> my Dad used to do HV for SSE's contracting arm prior to returement, and most of the farm small-medium in suffolk with significant power needs ended up with gas turbines on site, as it was cheaper than the grid works on both a per unit basis and on the capital costs apparently (a lot of farms only need high amount of power to run machines a few months a year, not entire year).

Remember a side effect of a gas turbine is you also get lots of byproduct heat for pool heat etc/building, which is also why many of the Centre parks locations use electric heat for the lodges, generated by a gas turbine, which as a side effect heats their pool;

I can't comment on it, but if his contracting arms near entire business was doing what was called "private" HV networks in the trade, you may want to seek some professional advice from some other farmers who do this (and similar lodge sites).

(and yes you can add solar at battery to gas trubines (and wind)). Most farmers done this.

(and yes, this does mean you need some way to get gas onsite, be it tanks (LPG) or pipeline - > or methane etc), but thats another problem.

The farms in question had small 11kv or less incomers in Dad's world, but would run plant needing way more than that, and only really used the (existing) cabing and grid for export for most part.

 

[chaser]

Scattergun...

Photos get demanded, photos are uploaded and there's immediate criticism, you are a funny lot....

Still, at least I now understand that photos do allay all the endless accusations of making it all up...

I have a mate who used to run a commercial swimming pool maintenance company coming up here in 2 weeks to review the old plant, dig out the skimmer and get to the massive underground skimmer/bottom drain union leak that I have already identified and write the list of the new stuff needed. Thankfully we found a stash of spare slates for reinstatement. That plant room is the worst, obviously it will be rebuilt but first I just want to dry it and get some lights on so he does not have to kneel down in 2 inches of water.

He's coming in his camper and will be our first visitor in a motorhome

I don't see where anyone has criticised anything, I for one think it's a great thing to have a go at, my asking how it got like it is was simply being inquisitive as it appears to have been a select place once but now all gone to pieces all at once.