Vicarious Travels: Meet UK's Will Stanwix aka ‘That Hempcrete Guy’

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By Lillian “Lilibet” Clarke

Vicarious Travels with Lilibet: Repurposing a Hemel Hempstead Saw Pit

As Mark Twain said during his Grand Tour in 1867, “I travel to learn.” My name is Lilibet, and I welcome you on my European journey to finding the gems and pioneers of natural building techniques across the globe. We look at how local materials, minerals, and the revolutionary plant, Hemp, are used in these natural homes built for healthy lives. Off we go!

We’ve arrived! My European tour started as I traversed the great pond to England. Sprinkled with visits to my English relatives and an Italian wedding, the purpose for coming was to enrichen my research of natural building techniques and converse with knowledgeable and seasoned hemp architects and visionaries.

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I got up in the wee hours of the morning to catch a train to meet up with the young creative pioneer, Will Stanwix, who has captured the attention of the hemp world with his healthy designs and builds. He is now known as That Hempcrete Guy. I knew I’d arrived at the right stop when I saw the station’s name…Hemel Hempstead! My hemp adventures begin!

We dove through iconic English villages with picturesque fields dappled with grazing sheep. It was such a special treat to be invited to Will’s family hemp homestead. We began with a tour of his 300-year-old barn renovation. It was visually stunning. The local natural wood siding was infused with uniqueness and was a thoughtful interplay of nature and design.

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Taking me inside, Will explained how the barn was originally a saw pit, and he’s currently converting it into an Airbnb. Haven't you always wondered where the expression “underdog” and top dog” came from? The phrase originated from people in the saw pits sawing trees. The bottom person got the sawdust on them, “the underdog,” and the top person got to watch the whole thing, “the top dog.”

In renovating, his techniques were incredibly unique. He used natural wood siding cut from a local estate, hemp blocks, wood fiber, and cork for the structure, and he has allowed mother nature to highlight her beautiful colors in his natural clay plasters.

Wow, the amount of carbon sequestered in this barn is astounding!

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Have you heard of using recycled foam glass as an innovative damp-proof membrane that acts as insulation? Neither had I, until I met Will.

My time with Will was magical, and I’ve only just begun to scratch the surface of the hemp world. I can’t wait for you to see Will’s attention to detail and techniques with hemp building while renovating and preserving this soon-to-be barn Airbnb. I hope to return and be a guest someday, and this is your invitation to do the same!

Moving forward, let’s remember: We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children!

— Lilibet

https://earthwise.us/