Do you love the outdoors? Were you forever climbing trees as a child? Then, maybe you should consider a career as a tree surgeon. The work of a tree surgeon involves horticultural maintenance and will engage in activities like felling trees, pruning, planting, hedge-cutting and many other aspects of horticultural care. Make no mistake though, it’s a pretty dangerous profession! Mix heights with power tools and you get the picture. Continue reading So, you want to be a…..Tree Surgeon? →

If you’ve never heard of these before, they are mushroom shaped stones that date back to the Medieval era. They were used to support agricultural storage buildings and grain stores. The unusual name ‘staddle’ comes from the Old English word ‘stathol’ which meant a foundation. For Staddle stones for sale, visit http://bellstone1990.co.uk/product-category/staddle-stones-troughs/

The bottom part of the stone tapered with a separate mushroom shaped top part. The reason why agricultural buildings benefited from being raised off the ground was to increase air flow. This helped to keep the grain away from damp earth, allowing air to circulate underneath the store and keep the grain dry. This doesn’t explain their shape or material though and there was another equally important reason for keeping supplies raised off the floor. Rodents!

Grain stores, for obvious reasons, attracted a lot of rats and mice. Farm cats couldn’t alone cope with the huge number of greedy and hungry rodents, so another solution was needed. Rodents can’t walk upside down and this is where the clever capping idea came into play. The mushroom shape of the overhanging stone made it impossible for rats or mice to climb over them, thus preventing them from entering the stores.

Image credit

The Staddle stones were usually laid out in sets of up to 16 and the frame of the building’s floor would then be set on top of them. Many are seen today as attractive garden ornaments and are particularly useful for lining the sides of driveway entrances. The stone used varied regionally, with whatever stone was freely available being the obvious choice. Staddle stones found in Herefordshire were primarily made from grey/green or red sandstone. As you would expect from the Cotswolds, most staddle stones here were made from the yellowy Cotswold limestone. Granite is also seen in the Cotswolds and the West Country.

Not all Staddle stones looked the same and different design varieties include the traditional mushroom top, a square top, flat tops and four-sided. It is possible to purchase beautiful reclaimed, vintage stones that are several hundreds of years in age.

It was a big step up for the folk who needed to tend to the grain stores, but steps would have meant easy access for rodents. The clever solution was a set of removable timber steps which would be used during the day by workers and removed at night. Another method was building permanent brick steps but removing the top level, making it simply too high for a rodent to jump. Dog kennels were sometimes installed underneath the steps as a further deterrent to those hungry rats!

When it’s time for your vehicle to have its annual MOT, you can be left feeling a little anxious. We all rely so heavily on our vehicles to get us about that the thought of being without it or expensive repairs can leave us with knots in our stomachs. What is also very unhelpful is being told information about the process that you later find to be untrue. There are many misconceptions still flying around about MOTs. So that you can feel more confident about what happens during a test and have a better understanding of whether your vehicle will pass, here are some of those misconceptions: 

Your vehicle doesn’t need insurance to get to the garage for the MOT 

Every vehicle on the road needs insurance and driving anywhere without valid insurance is illegal. Taking your vehicle to and from an MOT is no exception to this rule, unless it is being taken to the test on the back of a vehicle transporter. For an MOT Gloucester, visit https://www.123carandcommercial.com/

Repairs must be completed immediately 

Most drivers assume that any work that needs doing must be carried out straight away and at the garage that provided the test. If your old MOT is still valid, then you can take your vehicle away and on to any other garage of your choice for the repairs. Unless the result of the MOT was that your car is completely unroadworthy of course. Also, if the vehicle is deemed unsafe, then you do need to have the repairs done on-site at the same garage. Alternatively, you’ll need to hire a transporter to move it to another garage of your choice.

Image credit

An adequate spare tyre is essential 

Many drivers are concerned that their spare tyre will be classed as illegal, resulting in a failed MOT. The truth is that you don’t need a spare tyre at all to pass the test. It is recommended to have one, but certainly not compulsory.

Front fog lights must be working 

You might be surprised to learn that front fog lights are not legally required. That is why you won’t find them fitted to every vehicle. If you do have front fog lights and one bulb is non-working, it won’t affect the test result. Rear ones, however, must be in working condition.

A non-working reverse light is an MOT fail 

In actual fact, the reverse lights don’t form part of the legal requirements of an MOT test. However, for the safety of other road users and to make your reversing easier, especially when reversing up to a wall or another object, you might want to replace the bulb.