not that kind of cowl

Our mill-house has a cowl: this is not a woolly neck wrapping to keep out the winter wind, but a cone-shaped structure that sits on top of its roof. In times past, the cowl was there for ventilation, encouraging the circulation of air around the grain kiln and drying area, above which it was once positioned. Our roof cowl is now decorative, not functional, and unlike similar structures I’ve seen above the Oast houses of Kent and Sussex, does not rotate in the wind. I’m very glad of this, frankly, since, in some of the westerlies that blow in from the Mull of Kintyre, it is very easy to picture not just a roof cowl but a whole mill spinning off all the way to Oz. The cowl no longer turns, then, but it does experience an awful lot of weather, due to which it needs maintaining and painting occasionally. Today Stephen and Jack came to help us do just that.

Here is a before shot, with Jack’s cherry picker, before the cowl received its spruce-up.

and here’s the painting in progress, as Stephen works his way around.

Taking photos from below was not enough for Tom . . .

. . . so he went up . . .

up . . .

. . . but happily not away to enjoy the cherry-picker’s view from the top. You can also see the Connieglen water and the road to Pennyseorach in this photo, where one of our neighbours in his tractor is shifting bales.

All finished! The mill and its cowl is now ready for whatever those Autumn winds bring!

I thought I’d conclude with a quick heads-up that I’ll be sending out a shop newsletter this weekend, which will include sign-ups for a brand-new online webinar that I’ll be delivering in a few weeks time (everyone involved seemed to enjoy the last one!) I will also include details of the new tariff arrangements, which I hope our US customers will find reassuring. If you’ve not already done so, you can sign up for our shop newsletter here. (I send these shop newsletters just once a month, with details of new products and releases).