We are beings of nature rising up to assert our right to live simply and sustainably on the land.
We are currently a small team with a big mission, actively seeking others to join us in our work.
Founded in February 2024, LBL Collective is still in its very early days. But we’re proud to be a small part of the rapidly growing global movement towards localised, regenerative living, and within this movement we hope to gather momentum fast.
By combining a keen awareness of the scale and urgency of the global poly-crisis with a clear vision for radical, practical and creative action here on the ground in the UK, we aim to offer a positive outlet for the swelling desire for genuine and holistic alternatives to the prevailing destructive norm.
If you’re looking to be involved in something other than minor modifications of the consumer nightmare, consider joining us.
Like most good things, our collective is formed of circles:
At the heart is the living earth – the land beneath our feet and the fire in our bellies.
Next is our circle of elders – the wisdom-keepers advising us and guiding our vision.
Next is our circle of braves – the active members working on the ground and online to further our mission.
Then there’s our circle of partners – individuals and projects we’re honoured to work alongside.
And then there’s the wider circle of our tribe – the beautiful earth-lovers who attend our events or follow us online, and who might one day choose to live in the communities we aim to create.
Our collective, and the land-based communities we aim to create, reflect the fundamental circularity of the earth and the rhythms of nature.
In the beginning were the woods…
A word from our founder, James Bullen
All my adult life I saw the destructive nature of the industrial growth society. And I sought with all my heart for an alternative way of being. Eventually I moved to an ultra-low-impact community on around 60 acres of beautiful land in West Wales, where I lived for around 5 years. During that time I was living without modern technology, in a simple but comfortable little round hut that I built by hand deep in the woods, surrounded by a small tribe of radical earth-dwellers, in an environment rich in wild nature, and in constant contact with the elements and the wider circle of life.
This way of life was so far outside of the matrix of 'normality', and so embedded in nature, that I was able to drop into an unexpectedly profound relationship with the living earth – one that changed me forever.
Far from a life of hardship and muddy struggle, land-based living was a great joy to me. Immersed in deep relationship with the living earth I often found myself hugging the ground in wonder and gratitude at being part of the constantly unfolding miracle of life unfolding in wild complex beauty all around me.
The deep wellbeing I felt from living in close connection to the land and surrounded by a supportive community was extraordinary, and made me realise in a fully embodied way just how much has been lost through modernity's pursuit of 'progress' – which at every step insidiously erodes our connections to other people and to the natural world.
So, on emerging from the woods (I have a son out here in the world who needs me in his life), I carried with me the wish that more people in our world could experience something like what I experienced – not necessarily in such an extreme way, but enough to restore the sense of being in relationship with the land, and of belonging within a place-based community.
I made it my mission to help create spaces – earth sanctuaries, land-based living communities, eco-villages, seeds of an earth-loving culture, life-boats for the future – call them what you will – in which our primary relationships can be nurtured and restored in a conducive and convivial environment. Spaces in which basic human needs can be met in a way that enhances connection and natural flourishing, rather than eroding it. Spaces that foster a consciousness of gratitude and reverence for the earth, its many creatures and peoples.
Uncommonly in our world, I am fortunate enough to know through lived experience that such spaces are possible, and what it feels like to live in them – and I want as many people as possible to be able to call such spaces home…
It's this desire that has given birth to the Land-Based Living Collective.
You can open a window into onto James’ woodland years here →
Meet our circle of elders…
Tony Wrench
Tone is a pioneer in the UK land-based living movement. His self-built roundhouse made headlines in the national and international press 20 years ago during a battle for planning permission, bringing low-impact building into the public eye. In fighting that battle, which he and his partner Faith eventually won after 10 long years, he helped to pave the way for the Welsh Low-Impact Development Policy, which later became the groundbreaking One-Planet Development Policy. He was also instrumental in founding the Lammas Ecovillage.
Helena Norburg-Hodge
Helena is founder and director of the international non-profit group Local Futures. In that role, she has initiated localization movements on every continent. Her unique contributions to international environmental and social movements have been recognised by numerous awards, including the Right Livelihood Award (aka the ‘Alternative Nobel Prize’), the Arthur Morgan Award and the Goi Peace Prize. Her books and films include the international bestseller Ancient Futures, The Economics of Happiness, and Local Is Our Future. Helena also co-founded the Global Ecovillage Network (GEN).