HiMy initial plans were to have rainwater harvesting, build hub taught me no.. so with that scrapped I needed an alternative, soakaways are difficult due to bed rock levels. In addition to this we have lots of run off on the croft, and the track to the house floods.

We have already installed a pond for the ducks and this has a large berm to the back and sides so that the runoff is held back and slowly soaks away, but this winter has proved it overflows regularly, that's around 3000L extra. So the plan was to install an overflow pipe from this pond to a new larger pond. The larger pond also acting as rainwater run off capture.

The larger pond will have 2 levels, a pond and then an extra layer to act as a overflow that can evaporate and or be pumped to the rubble drain in drier times.

I got a big carried away with the backhoe and ended up with around 10M x 8M and over a meter deep. The overflow capacity will be around 30k - 35k L.

We had to peck out some of the rock to get depth, and at the front used "as dug" rock from the quarry to form a rough and rugged stone wall, quite in keeping in Caithness. Time will heal the scars and soften the edges with planting.

Due to the two levels we came up with the idea of hiding the liner under some camo net, that we intend to plant up in time. Not sure how this will stand the test of time.

From the house the rainwater enters a rock filter, an idea loosely based on a post from @ToughButterCup- thanks.

From the rock filter we have created a little stream that the rainwater will flow down and into the pond. In addition to this we have a pump that will take the water via a home made skimmer from the pond and filter the water from the pond through the rock filter and stream constantly. This also has a diverter to pump the water past the house and into the field to reduce the overflow capacity in drier times.

This is the rock filter, and some of the pipework yet to be buried. Getting to this stage ticked a box for building control as we now handle our run off. 

We got our completion certificate on the house this week, yeah. There are some things to finish, the second bedroom needs decorating and trim work. And a few small jobs here and there, but in general the house is decorated, and fully functioning.

We started the build in earnest around May 23 I think, so quite pleased with the effort and timescale we achieved. It's was built by me and Mandy with the odd person helping with concrete pours. 3 months in summer were busy with the cabin rentals that saw Mandy spend 3-4 hrs a day turning them around for the endless NC500 travellers.😁

We're embarking on the VAT reclaim soon.

To summarise the build:

89sqm True bungalow

Floor 0.094U (300mm EPs 120mm concrete)

Walls 0.139U  ICF with 50mm EWI and 25mm PIR IWI

Cold roof 0.1U 25MM PIR 400MM mineral wool.

UPVC triple glazed windows and composite doors

MVHR, 4kW PV in roof, 5kW ASHP, UFH.

EPC A103, Airtightness 0.83 ACH.