Nick de Smith

We live in land-locked and beautiful Goudhurst in Kent. Wikipedia also has a bit about the village.

The pages on this site represent a very brief snapshot of what I'm up to. Recently, that has mainly been work, but I hope to put some of the more esoteric projects that we have been involved with up reasonably soon.

I have a interest in bats, mainly because we live in a old Oast house that seems to have hundreds of the little things hiding in or around it. My background is in electronics, maths & computing, so I've actually put my degree to some use, and did a substantial "midnight project" in that area. Click on Bats! for more information.

A while ago we completely gutted the original oast, which was in a state of some disrepair, and rebuilt it in as close to a carbon-neutral form as we could. The tiles on the roof are hand made from local clay, the oak is all sourced locally (including the 32 doors and windows), the heating and hot water is provided via a ground-source heat pump etc. This was a major project, taking several years to plan and to get approval for, and a solid year of building, during which we had to move out and live elsewhere on site. The results, however, are stunning...

...however the kids have now gone, the house and garden are too big and so it's time for a new self-build...

If you have any comments about the content here, please use the guest book. You can view the comments of others, or leave your own note. I always try to respond within a day or so.

This site is being occasionally updated - as I get time, more of the bizarre projects will get mentioned.

Thanks, Nick