TURNING FULL CIRCLE
Nestled high on a hill, above Truro Town Centre, is Camp Kernow – an environmental adventure just waiting to happen. Sitting on five acres of the 200 acre Park Farm, Camp Kernow is an ‘off grid, off the beaten track and almost off satnav’, award-winning and innovative environmentally focussed
centre, dedicated to reconnecting and engaging children with the natural environment and inspiring them to live more sustainably.
CARBON-FREE FUN As with many good ideas, Camp Kernow was born out of a relaxed conversation on a beach between Charlie Nicholson, a sculptor by trade, and his partner, Claire Coombe, a project manager in the third sector. What started as a pipe dream quickly gained momentum as Charlie and Claire set about realising their vision, garnering support from the educational and environmental communities of Cornwall and beyond.
Now in its fifth year, Charlie explained: “The full circle life cycle of water is symbolic of the entire camp, and it all starts with the borehole.”
The camp sits 44m above sea level, and the borehole goes from the solar tower, down 64m. The water is pumped up (using solar energy), through various filters which take out manganese and iron, and is then heated by the wood burner. The temperature is regulated, and it flows into the camp water system, where it used for showers, washing up, drinking, etc.
BACK TO THE GROUND Once used, the waste water is captured and flows back into the drainage system, where it is piped to the top of a reed bed. It runs along a 1-100 slope, allowing the stones and reeds to naturally eliminate the impurities, and then along a soak away to re-enter the ground underneath Camp Kernow’s orchard, watering the growing produce.
Camp Kernow has had great support from commercial partners and input from some of the latest thinking on renewable energy. The borehole and closed loop water
44 | LEISURE & HOSPITALITY
system was provided through support from Geologic Boreholes and WCI Sewage Treatment Ltd.
The wood burners were designed by Exeter University student Sonja Ashworth, as part of her dissertation at the end of a Renewable Energy degree course. Solar panels to power the water pumping and filtration were donated by Clean Earth Energy, while Outback Power provided the charge controller and inverter required to run the solar voltaic system.
REPLACE AND REUSE The burners use fallen wood from the estate and thinnings harvested from the newly established woodland planted on Park Farm over the past 15 years. Colin Parker, who owns the estate, is very supportive of the camp’s needs, and is proud to be involved in this child-friendly environment. He is happy for the ‘campers’ to collect fallen wood to use in the burners.
The burner also uses another innovative fuel: Katrin Hand Towels, from another commercial support partner, Metsa Tissue. Charlie commented: “We obviously need to maintain a good standard of hygiene for the children (and to address legislative requirements for such a camp), so we went out looking for a supplier of good hand towels – which once used for hand drying, could be re-used for fuel. Our objective was to collect the used hand towels and soak them in water, before using a briquette maker to create solid blocks of burnable paper.”
Charlie tried a number of hand towels, but found that the breakdown process just didn’t work. After trial and error, the KATRIN PLUS EasyFlush towels proved ideal for the purpose.
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