The small, derelict barn that we call "The Other" has been demolished (see pictures). Our American volunteer, Seth from Help Exchange, together with our neighbour's son Kaloyan and my husband Allan, took down the building and saved the roof tiles, the mud bricks and the stone. The stone was graded into three piles - small stones, large stones and stones that only Kaloyan could lift! Anything that exceeded his capacity was transported in the motor Fraser, which we hired from a neighbour. The motor Fraser is a versatile vehicle that we also used last year to transport people who attended our writing course.

During the demolition, it became clear that the mulberry trees near the boundary wall needed to be cut back and four plum trees further into the site would have to be cut down entirely. So one Saturday, Ivan came with his chainsaw and now the area has a denuded, open look about it which I can't quite get used to.

Help Exchange
Seth was one of seven volunteers who offered to come and help us to demolish The Other. We chose him because he'd checked out our website, had some knowledge of gardening and construction work and could come when we needed him. If you are interested in being a Help X host, go to the website: you have to pay 10 pounds sterling and put up your details, ie, what you can provide and what you need done. Then wait for responses. I recommend it. Seth stayed with us three-and-a-half weeks; he was good company and an invaluable help.

Meanwhile, back at the municipality
…it was time to submit the plans for building and planning permission. Nikolai gave us the completed construction drawings. They had been checked by a consultant (150 leva) and were ready to go. We completed the application form and clipped the drawings to it along with copies of our electricity and water bills to demonstrate that we had both facilities on our site. Nikolai took the documents up to the planning office while Allan and I waited downstairs with our fingers crossed for good luck. Unfortunately, it didn't do us any good ( perhaps we should have tucked our thumbs into our fists - Bulgarian style), as Nikolai returned saying that our utility bills were not acceptable; instead we needed official electricity and water certificates.

This turn of events posed a problem. We only had two days left before returning to the UK for five weeks and getting the certificates in such a short time seemed impossible. Still we decided to try. We dashed off in the car to the water board and caught the relevant guy with half an hour to spare before he finished for the day. After a short discussion, he wrote out the certificate and gave it to us free-of-charge. Flushed with success, we headed off to the electricity company where we hit a problem. It was necessary to apply for an electricity certificate and wait for five days before collecting it. Disconsolately, we applied and left clutching the receipt and wondering what to do. Luckily, Nikolai offered to collect the certificate while we were away, submit it to the municipality and keep us informed of the planning permission progress by e-mail.

At last we had time to look at our copies of the drawings. There was a lot of text and labels - in Bulgarian, of course. Realising that it would take us forever to painstakingly work through the vocabulary using our rudimentary knowledge of Bulgarian and our dictionary, we asked our translator to provide translation of the salient points by the next day. She did a heroic job and had everything ready for us to collect the next morning on our way to catch the bus from Veliko Turnovo to the airport.

The foundations
When we got to the UK, Allan and I and my brother, a retired manager of a large construction company, looked at the plans for the straw bale house foundations. During the planning process, I lent our construction engineer a copy of Building with Straw Bales, which outlines four methods of making foundations. The least favourable method is to use concrete, as it is not environmentally friendly and because there is potential for moisture to form between the concrete and the straw, which can cause the straw to rot. Allan and I were dismayed to see that the construction engineer had chosen this option. My brother assured us that all construction engineers would opt for concrete unless they were persuaded otherwise, as concrete is a tried and tested foundation material.

Our preferred option is to use gravel, leca, foam glass and a stone plinth wall (see picture). This method involves stripping off the top soil, digging a 60cm-deep trench with drainage at the bottom, filling it with gravel, topping with leca and foam glass and facing the exterior with a stone plinth wall. We know this method is better for building with straw bales and we know it conforms to UK building regulations in every way, including with regard to earthquakes. What we don't know is if we can substitute our preferred method for the concrete option and still adhere to Bulgarian construction law.

The Straw Bale Building Course will take place from July 30 to August 3 2008. Barbara Jones will be the trainer. The course will be held in Hotnitsa. See our website [www.hotnitsa.com] for further details.

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Additional useful things:
- www.helpx.net
- Building with Straw Bales by Barbara Jones . Green Books, Dartington
- Leca is an insulating material made from clay.
- Foam glass - I still have to find out about this. Bear with me!