Scattered showers at National Trust property 1

Finance | Gareth Jones | 18 Nov 2009

Public urination may be a considerable faux pas in many situations but at one National Trust property, it is being actively encouraged.

A three-metre-long 'pee bale' (pictured) has been installed within the walled gardens of the National Trust’s Wimpole Hall in Cambridgeshire, and head gardener Philip Whaites is encouraging his male colleagues to relieve themselves onto the straw bale when the urge takes them.

“For eight weeks now, male members of our garden and estate teams have been using the outdoor straw bale when nature calls, which all goes towards our eco-friendly composting system here at Wimpole,” Whaites explains.

“The pee bale is excellent matter to add to our compost heap to stimulate the composting process; and with over 400 acres of gardens and parkland to utilise compost, we need all the help we can get.

“Of course we’re very careful to make sure the pee bale is only in use out of visitor hours, as we don’t want to scare the public. And it doesn’t smell.”

Whaites also outlines why only male members of the team are taking part.

“There are obvious logistical benefits to limiting it to male members of the team, but also male pee is preferable to women’s, as the male stuff is apparently less acidic.”

By the end of the year, the Trust calculates that the ten men from the 70-strong garden and estates team will make over 1,000 individual trips to the pee bale, contributing towards the compost for the estate.

Furthermore, the estate will have saved up to 30 per cent of its daily water use by not having to flush the loo so many times.

Image: © NT_Perry Hastings

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Directory: National Trust

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Robin Bogg
CEO
BUBB
18 Nov 2009

And yet when I pissed over a Queen Anne sideboard at Saltram House I got banned for life from National Trust properties.

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