Rewilding Britian - increasing biodiversity

[dewi]

We removed one of the cast iron poles we had in the garden, the other one is going this year... they were brilliant for a clothes line, but took up too much space and restricted the garden for other uses.

Gone for a rotary line... same capacity, less than an 8th of the space needed.

 

[Toddy]

It's not the same though. I know the lines can limit the garden, but I just coil mine up and put them away when I bring the washing in.

The whirlie doesn't dry near as well, especially towels and sheets.
I do have both, and on doubtful if it's going to stay dry days I'll just pop the whirlie into it's socket and use that. Mostly it lives in the big shed.

You can dry a 'chute and a tent on the lines it's blooming hard on a whirlie

M

 

[British Red]

When I was a kid this was a common thing:

Still an every day sight here - its the most efficient way to dry clothes. On a nice windy day its a damned site faster than a drier too. Our (retractable) clothes line run between (variously) a large ash tree, two iron posts, two upright posts that are aligned to the fruit cage etc.

The retractable lines are on a spring so you just run them out,hook the "free" end onto a screwed in hook and you have a 30' line. Unhook them and they coil themselves away. Very useful.

We move the lines around various patches of grass as we set up electric chook fences in other spots. That way we can "rest" various bits of grass from the chooks in turn and hang washing over them.

 

[Toddy]

I couldn't find decently secure retractable lines. They were skinny wee plastic ropes and they wouldn't grip when I put any weight on them.
If you found secure ones I'd like a recommendation

M

 

[British Red]

We use a "double"line model (two lines from one spool) we got from B&Q IIRC. We have very heavy superking sized high thread count duvet covers and they stay on just fine with three pegs if thats any guide?

 

[dewi]

You can dry a 'chute and a tent on the lines it's blooming hard on a whirlie

M

True, but by their very nature, chutes can be hung up to dry by a single line and pegged out, as can a tent or a tarp... every time I get back from an adventure, I string out my kit in the back garden (weather permitting)

Things do take longer on the rotary, but when you have 2 lads wanting to kick a ball about and a little girl trying to build a water rocket... a washing line just gets in the way. Not to mention when we have our outdoor summer meals... by the time everything is setup, there is little room for anything in the garden... barbeques, parasols, tables, chairs, paddling pools, swing ball, trampoline... all takes space.

 

[Toddy]

Hmmm, I'll have a look for a double line one

Gardens do get busy Best thing though when it's full of children playing

My chute needs more space than I have to put it up….well, more space than I have with a tree at the right place, iimmc.

M

 

[British Red]

This Winter I have strung a line inside the barn Surprisingly effective!

 

[Toddy]

I don't have a barn

Himself says I'd just fill it up

M

 

[santaman2000]

Back in the day ours were usually steel wire (about an eighth inch diameter) The ends were wrapped round large trees (been there long enough the tree had started to grow round them) The long stretcher board was usually necessary to get items like bedsheets up out of the reach of dogs and playing children.

 

[santaman2000]

A bit in keeping with the laundry, I remember my mother setting washed clothes and hanging them in such a manner. In winter they would freeze solid within a short time but through sublimation it would dry as can be expected by night.
Washboard was the way, I still have one and use it to keep memories alive.

Moma and her brothers used to tell how their Mom would take the clothes down to the creek and boil them then rinse them in said creek.

 

[British Red]

The long stretcher board was usually necessary to get items like bedsheets up out of the reach of dogs and playing children.

You do need them - but they don't have to be 4" planks Bit of old 2 x 1/2 with a v notch cut in is more than man enough!

 

[Toddy]

This is going to sound weird, but, if you're doing a walkover survey of a site where you know there used to be a village that was cleared, and you're not finding anything, look for the nettles and a big stone standing clear but near a burn. The nettles are often indicative of the end of a byre or the cottage where the beasts were housed (all the nitrogen from the run off) and the big stone ? well it used to be scoured clean and the washing was laid out on it in the sunshine to dry On high ground without trees the stones were the cleanest places bleaching linens.

M

 

[Toddy]

You do need them - but they don't have to be 4" planks Bit of old 2 x 1/2 with a v notch cut in is more than man enough!

Yep, about 8 or 9 foot long . They weather grey.

M

 

[santaman2000]

You do need them - but they don't have to be 4" planks Bit of old 2 x 1/2 with a v notch cut in is more than man enough!

I expect a lot were chosen simply because there was always scrap 2x4s laying around. It was, and is still, the most used board in common construction here.

 

[Toddy]

Makes sense I suppose. Split down it's length though and it'd make two
I suspect that cut timber is, and always has been, an awful lot cheaper on your side of the ocean though.

M

 

[Goatboy]

A bit in keeping with the laundry, I remember my mother setting washed clothes and hanging them in such a manner. In winter they would freeze solid within a short time but through sublimation it would dry as can be expected by night.
Washboard was the way, I still have one and use it to keep memories alive.

I love frosted sheets & clothes. Reminds me of being a kid when we had loads of sheets & blankets on the bed before quilts became the norm. In the winter the sheets that had been frosted were so much fresher smelling. Also the UV bleaching and wind movement made the sheets cleaner and healthier. I do wonder if there's a correlation between the rise of tumble drier usage and the rise of asthma diagnosis as sheets and clothing aren't aired and freshness like they once were. Just a personal idea.
Also with more synthetic clothing which cannot be washed at a high enough to kill off bacteria (hence why that nylon base layer stinks 5 minutes after putting it on) whereas the UV helps kill that off.
Anyhow I much prefer to hang out my washing and it doesn't eat up fossil fuels in doing so.

Sent via smoke-signal from a woodland in Scotland.

 

[santaman2000]

I love frosted sheets & clothes. Reminds me of being a kid when we had loads of sheets & blankets on the bed before quilts became the norm. In the winter the sheets that had been frosted were so much fresher smelling. Also the UV bleaching and wind movement made the sheets cleaner and healthier. I do wonder if there's a correlation between the rise of tumble drier usage and the rise of asthma diagnosis as sheets and clothing aren't aired and freshness like they once were. Just a personal idea.
Also with more synthetic clothing which cannot be washed at a high enough to kill off bacteria (hence why that nylon base layer stinks 5 minutes after putting it on) whereas the UV helps kill that off.
Anyhow I much prefer to hang out my washing and it doesn't eat up fossil fuels in doing so.

Sent via smoke-signal from a woodland in Scotland.

You just reminded me of another "practical" reason why the clothes dryers have won out": asthma/allergies. When left on the line to dry they get filled with the pollen of the season. I also wonder if the shift away from clotheslines has been contributing to society losing it's immunity to such things? A generation has grown up with little exposure to the outdoor world.

 

[boatman]

If you are ever in Wiltshire Mary try and visit Snap. South of Swindon and just off the Ridgeway. Snap is a very recent deserted village and is both interesting and sad. Compare the remains to the various accounts of life in old south country villages such as by Richard Jefferies and even William Cobbett.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snap,_Wiltshire

 

[Richard Francis Burton]

AGENDA 21... This all falls under the Umbrella of. Human containment, de-population, and clearance from the land into Cities.