B&Q to stock chocolate teapots!

[Stonehead]

It would be interesting to see how long one of their turbines (or the building they're on) would last up here.

There are people putting up a 5kw wind turbine 1.5 miles from us in a slightly more sheltered and lower location. In the three weeks they've had an anemometer on site recording, the average wind speed has been 38mph, the peak wind speed has been 87mph and there have been five days where the peak was over 60mph.

They're on the 180m contour, we're on the 210m countour but we have a ridge running across the middle of our land and the wind hits that, then hurtles over the top.

If you check the DTI maps, we have a median wind speed of 6.3m/s at 10m agl. (That's 14.09mph.) That's fairly windy. (I know someone on Orkney, where their wind speed at 10m agl is 6.4m/s and they're exposed to gales off the sea.

[Stonehead]

I should add that you should check your map quite closely when finding out the wind speed, especially if you have a bit of land as we do. Our land is on the intersection of four grid squares, with the house dug into the hillside in a sheltered spot (5.8m/s), the top and end of the ridge (6.3m/s), the dyke and a dip in the ridge where the sheep hang out (5.4m/s) and then the far side of the ridge (5.5m/s).

You can feel the difference on the ground as you walk about. Around the house is relatively sheltered (emphasis on relatively), the walk up and along the ridge is buffeting, the sheep hangout isn't bad, and the far side of the ridge isn't bad either.

It's always worth knowing how your land and climate work together.

[Martin]

I am soooooooo jealous! - all that lovely wind!

[PurpleDragon]

I am soooooooo jealous! - all that lovely wind!

We are nearly on top of a hill, overlooking a lovely valley, but the wind up here is relentless. There have been times I've not been able to get in my front door and had to go round the side and come in there. My (almost) 2 year old often gets swept off her feet, and the chidren often can't get the cars doors open.

This time last year, I went out to let the hens out. I went out the front door, got blown along to the coop, opened it up (the hens just laughed at me and stayed indoors), and then I tried to get back to the house. Every time I got round the side of the house, the wind took me back up the garden and I had to start again. Eventaully I quit and knocked on the back door to be let in.

[Stonehead]

I am soooooooo jealous! - all that lovely wind!

I'm with PurpleDragon. We had the Wee 'Un blown away last week - threw him about four feet. I took him in and then went out to continue working, but the wind continued to pick up and blew me away twice. We're talking right off my feet. That was Thursday, when the power went and the peak gust on the other side of the ridge was 87mph.

And that was by no means the windiest we've had it here. Probably the worst was when the roof of the pig hut came off. I'd weighted it down with a couple of logs (8in diameter, 8ft long) and half a dozen boulders that I could barely lift (so about 35-40kg each).

The wind just threw the lot off - about 20 feet, clearing a 4ft fence and leaving huge divots in the grass. I was attempting to haul myself from fence post to fence post at the time and was near missed. Not a fun experience.

We've seen sheep bowled over and blown into the fences, had the chicken hut (which is big, heavy and bolted onto 4x4s with four-feet deep concrete foundation) lift, and had a 44-gallon drum fly overhead - clearing the roof of the steading. You can't open the Defender's doors when the wind is blowing into the side of the truck - you have to go around the other side.

I put it down to all the jerusalem artichokes we eat!