Links 2

By David Forster, owner

After eighteen months the tower has metamorphasized and from to bottom projects have progressed well. All 30 Victorian leaded windows have now been replaced with every middle one made to open with a hand made steel frame which I made up myself. I had a quote to have these made up by a specialist firm who quoted £685 each! So buying the angled steel and using my old arc welder I made each one in four hours. The steel cost £78 total for all windows. The spiral staircase is now completed and is lit up at all seventy stairs with light emitting diodes. The tank room is really wonderful and boasts two church pews from St Marks Church in Oulton Broad, Suffolk made of Australian honey oak, which was banned from export by the Australian Government in 1921 due to its rarity. The outside of the tank room is again lit up with LEDs and when switched on at night, if one looks up from down below, one obtains the impression of a spaceship about to land. Directly under the tank room is a miniature bedroom containing two small Victorian beds. This room is only four feet high and incorporates the massive tank room girders, this little room is based on the “ Alice in Wonderland” theme and is specifically engineered for children. Green energy in lighting makes it look as if natural light is entering from outside. The next room is bedroom 1 and this has a little bathroom enq suite with bath - when lying in the bath one can look out through the original Victorian window to the trees 80ft up; wash basin and loo all fit in very well here. The bed is a handmade double bed Victorian style and the little windows open up onto window baskets, all of which light up at night. The next bedroom, number 2, is slightly larger but has a smaller bathroom with shower, loo and washbasin and the ceiling incorporates the original Victorian rafters and hatchway with two trapdoors allowing furniture to be moved and emergency escape up or down. Two single beds which fit together to form a double are housed in this room. The next room down is bedroom 3 and identical to No2 above except that this room has an original window slot in the bathroom. All the rooms have the original 90ft Victorian ladder passing up through each, left as a feature. There is a storage cupboard in all rooms for clothes as well as a telephone to communicate from one room to another as the logistics of shouting 100ft are not really ideal. Next room down is the kitchen which is my favourite room.This is all hand made from reclaimed timber in the most meticulous detail, hand crafted by Glyn Croston who is a most remarkable carpenter, Glyn is a complete Norfolk eccentric and lives on site in a little caravan that I bought him; he only works in old wood and has designed the kitchen completely himself, even using the old leaded original Victorian windows out of the tank room and incorporating them into the top kitchen cupboards. The left hand side of the kitchen is made from the old original turkey shed from Bernard Matthews Turkey Farms, the middle section is made from an old signal box from the Midland and Great Northern railway company (MGN or affectionately known as the `Muddle and Go Nowhere`), while the right hand section is made from the original pitch pine floor boards of the Norfolk and Norwich Victorian hospital which is being converted into flats. The cooker is the main feature - a six burner Range Master with electric convection ovens made in Victorian style complete with cast hood. The work surface is a light granite and had to be specially cut at 36 degrees to match the building's ten sides. For a small kitchen there is a huge amount of work surface with actually opens out to the leaded windows and onto the flower baskets giving a wonderful view out into the driveway and woods. A walk in fridge room for all perishables is a one off, then in the middle of the kitchen floor a hatchway incorporating a solid glass slab is installed. When one looks down through to the hall below one can then look down further into the glass capped 100ft freshwater well. A state of the art dishwasher and waste disposal unit are all cleverly incorporated by Glyn and myself. All hot water is provided by green energy from the (controversial!)solar panels on the roof and an air to water heat pump. A log wood burner will be put into the tank room to provide heat during the cold winter months. From the kitchen door there will be access across the landing of the spiral staircase to the new build (not constructed yet) which is a exact copy of the main tower but half the height, here will be the dining room, which will a smaller version of the tank room with 324 degrees looking across the wood with two terraces so one can sit amongst the trees and sun with a glass of wine completely amongst nature. Down below this, will be another bedroom with bath and loo, mainly for the older generation who are not up to stair climbing. Leading off this will be a leaded door access to a Victorian conservatory. Below this downstairs bedroom will the underground workshop complete with the old Victorian horizontal Ruston diesel engine used for pumping up the well water to the tank. This will be used to generate electric power if required and runs on cooking oil for green energy. Also in the workshop will be an industrial vacuum pump connected to the old water pipe in the main building; this water pipe runs up through every room and so by tapping into this pipe in every room, the necessity of carrying a heavy vacuum cleaner to every level is eliminated as the flexible hose only needs to be carried with radio control to switch on from any level. From the underground workshop emerges my most exciting idea; a tunnel 18inches wide 4ft tall (cut and cover) leading out well away from the tower foundations to a hydraulic underground garage whose roof is part of the driveway. Pushing a remote control will allow the garage complete with vehicle to rise up out of the ground. The reason for this rather elaborate way of housing the car is because the local authorities refused permission for a garage. However, planning permission is not required for a hole in the ground. My final plan if I can pull it off, requires the use of a 60ft by 30ft strip of land. This would allow a remarkable construction which would be the `cherry on the top` and would be totally green and cause much fascination……….watch this space.

A Word About Glynn Croston

Glyn comes from a most interesting family. His great uncle, Frank Whittle, invented the jet engine which of course changed our lives on this planet. Glen has Frank's diaries and his drawings of the jet engines. In the diaries Frank records his experiences including how the Germans tried to kidnap him during WW2 to get him back to Germany to work on jet engines for themselves. He managed to escape the kidnap attempts and was thereafter hidden away in London to continue his valuable work for the remainder of the war.

Most weekends I am up the Tower working with Glyn and in the evenings Glyn usually lights a camp fire in the wood . He uses an old cast iron pot to make up a wonderful stew comprising vegetables and various local ingredients from the forest. One particular evening he concocted a really delicious meal of which I had two helpings - afterwards I commented that I had never tasted anything quite as delicious and asked “what did you put in that one?” “That's my special stew made from “roadkill” Squirrel, go its good isn't it?” said Glyn.

Glyn has a real musical talent and plays the harmonica, guitar, piano and piano accordion and he is also brilliant at drawing and sketching. He loves history, is an avid reader and his knowledge on most topics is quite amazing. So Glynn is helping me to finish the tower which should be completed by December 07. When its finished we will live in it for a while and then rent out as a holiday let.

Wildlife around Tower.

The following are seen everyday/night at the tower.

Tree Creepers, Green Woodpeckers, Blue Tits, Red Tits, Robin, Wood Pidgeon, Ring Dove, Kestrel, Tawny Owl, Barn Owl, Pipperstrelle Bats 12 in tower roof, Fox, Deer, squirrel, and many others not identified. When the owls come out at night and start calling to each other, there is this wonderful echo. It surely has to be one of the most special environments on the planet!