Visit to local wind farm

Group met here *, at a local Wind Turbine farm today. Typically I'd forgotten to bring the camera so no photos this time. However, a lovely gentleman, Nicholas Watts, the owner of the estate (who proudly told us that he was born in the estate house that he lives in, as was his father, grandfather and his own children), took us on a tractor/trailer ride through the vast fields to stand as close as safely possible to one of the eight giant wind turbines that are situated on his land. He is a firm believer that wind is the way to go (doesn't history repeat itself!) and I'm sure we'll be seeing more and more of these fabulous machines going up, where possible, around the country, and offshore, in the not too distant future. At full speed, we were told, the tips of the blades travel at 140 mph and that their particular turbines are 60 metres tall with each blade 42 metres in length.

Before our visit, Katie, Ben and I spent some time researching wind turbines, how they work, pros and cons, using some good websites and Katie actually made a list of questions to ask on the visit. The chappie in charge was so thorough with his speech she was only able to ask one question in the end!

http://www.energysavingsecrets.co.uk/WindFarms.html

http://www.cat.org.uk/interactive/windfarm01.tmpl

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/actionnetwork/A2369892

On our trailer ride back, we stopped off to walk through one of the fields of dwarf beans (I didn't realise you could grow beans from such a small plant) that are organically grown for some of the big name supermarkets. The children enjoyed having the opportunity of picking some to try. They were so fresh and crunchy, but apparently they were too small to please the big chains (due to the continuous wet weather we had over the summer hols)!

* bit misleading I know, but the venue also sells bird seed in vast quantities as well as organic fruit, veg, preserves and other goodies.