The current brewing and pubs situation needs no introduction, but with beer-writing work at a virtual standstill, Guild member Alastair Gilmour steered his creativity in a completely different direction. He built a fence – and no ordinary fence, either.
“Our neighbours put up a short screen between the houses,” he says, “and rather than face three metres of B&Q ugliness, I collected salvaged timber, planks, pallets and oak whisky barrel staves then drew up a plan.
“I stained some of the wood, but left the majority natural – even incorporating a bird box – and gave it all a couple of licks of linseed oil.”
Alastair then used a wood-burning tool – £7.99 from Lidl – and etched a quote from that renowned French philosopher Charles Aznavour: ‘A man will never grow old if he knows what he’s doing tomorrow’.
He says: “It took some time to get it how I wanted it, but it also gave me space to think out ideas for future projects.
“Mind you, I still don’t know what I’m doing tomorrow.”