The Old Vicarage was built in 1869 when being off the grid was how people lived. The house still bears most of its original hallmarks, which means turning it into a house that can withstand a Black Sky Event of three days as the Government prescribes or longer still fits in with the The Old Vicarage’s design.
At The Old Vicarage you have the equivalent of the self-sufficiency of the Good Life’s Tom and Barbara, while having the lifestyle of Jerry and Margo.
Drinking water – Probably one of the most important items. You won’t need to queue at a stand-pipe or bowser waiting with buckets. The original garden well was restored and is a few feet away from the kitchen door and is it was built in 1869 and pre-dates the water comapny, is not under a hose pipe restriction, if you want to water the vegetable garden.
Even in the cold weather, you don’t have to go far to fill the kettle. You could even install a pump, an electric one if you have solar. The even better news is that the well has not run dry, even in the summer.
Heating – There are two working multi-fuel (coal or wood) stoves downstairs in the two large reception rooms, plus all of the original fireplaces in the other rooms including the bedrooms were made ready but are not in use.
The central heating system is oil fired, but and the tank will usually last about three to four months. if there was no oil the immersion heater also runs on electric and just switches over and of course the coal fires could also be started. They could be adapted to have back boilers. We did toy with the idea, but decided not to at the time.
Similarly in most of the rooms the ensuite have independent electric towel radiators that are not dependent on the oal fired central heating. This means that each bedroom has up to three forms of heating, electric radiators, radiators linked to the central heating system and coal/log fires.
Wood for the fires – You can buy it in, but as we have the tree surgeon in every few years to tidy the trees, the result is normally enough firewood, to last until his next visit.
Cooking – The breakfast room (old kitchen) chimney had been sealed before we arrived. Why not open it up, and place an Aga log or solid fuel stove back where there was one in 1869.
There are reasonable priced ones out there and it doesn’t have to be an Aga.
Flushing the toilet and getting rid of washing up water if there is no mains water. – Something the Government doesn’t mention, when they talk about no running water. How do you flush the toilet! We run on old fashioned septic tanks. We normally have them emptied every year. At one point we didn’t have it emptied for three years, when we forgot. So that , should last the three days the Government are forecasting.
As the well is six feet away from the house and the Little Ouse River is just beyond the front-garden, there is lots of water available to manually fill the WC cisterns when required. You don’t have to ration how many times you can flush your toilet as those living in town will. We could pump from the well into the feeder tank in the loft if we wanted, then there would not even be the need to carry buckets. Just a thought…
The house was built to follow the sun – The house was built before electricity was commonplace and expected the inhabitants to be using candles and oil lamps. The first sun of the day is in the kitchen and the last sun of the day in the lounge and dining room.
The Vegetable and Fruit Garden, enough to feed a family and more – There are one and a half acres that could be converted. I am still eating last year’s vegetables. I planted fifty tomato plants, cherry, salad and beefsteak. Overall, they have been producing fruit for about four months. The plum trees produce enough, to be able to give carrier bags of them away, And this year I have planted an additional ten fruit trees.
Solar power – Most of our neighbours have started to add solar panels and batteries to their houses. We are currently looking at this option. With this option in place, the house if we wished could truly be off-grid.
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