So much becomes possible when we dare to let ourselves imagine.
So we’ve imagined what our dream land-based living community looks like…
Imagine a small settlement of beautiful low-impact natural buildings, nestled within abundant food-forests and wider regenerative farming systems, populated by a heart-centred and trauma-informed community of equals committed to living in close and conscious connection with the land and each other, making careful use of appropriate technologies and energy sources, cultivating natural joy and abundance in harmony with the living earth…
Sound good? Of course it does! Read on to dig into the details of our vision, and our approach to making it a reality.
Our approach
Land-based intentional communities aren’t new in the UK. There are already some strong pioneer communities, others less well established, and others that sprouted but didn’t make it. Few are truly thriving, however, and none, as far as we’re aware, fully embody the beauty that’s possible. So we’re working to understand why that is, and then to change it.
Our aim is to learn from the successes and failures of other projects, and also to draw on best practices from around the world. If we can bring the wisdom of experience together with leading-edge expertise in all the relevant domains of regenerative living., we believe we can create a workable model for genuinely sustainable and wildly beautiful land-based community living here in the UK.
This model is still very much in the research and development phase, but it’s already clear that it includes the following core elements:
* Permaculture design
* Slow living
* Regenerative farming
* Low-impact, natural buildings
* Sociocratic and feminine governance principles
* Economics of happiness
* Natural abundance
* Earth stewardship
* Reverence for life
* Circularity
* Equal ownership
* Simplicity + appropriate technology
* Trauma-awareness
* Radical reciprocity
Our physical and psychological wellbeing both depend on nature-connection and a sense of belonging to place-based community.
Some of the core principles of our vision
Bottom-up
We aim to build communities from the ground up rather than repurposing large existing structures. This allows us to base community design entirely on permaculture principles, make full creative use of low-impact living solutions, and embody an organic, living-earth aesthetic. It also significantly reduces start-up and maintenance costs.
Relational focus
Positive outcomes arise from positive relationships, not from ideological stances. We therefore aim to take a relational approach to community living, prioritising healthy connection to the land and to other humans over and above the pursuit of hard-line ideals. In this way we can nourish the roots of a culture of peace.
Radical equality
We are fully committed to non-hierarchical forms of governance, but in a way that also mitigates against the dangers of prolonged conflict, inertia and disorder. Our legal, financial, and decision-making structures will embody a carefully organised equality, as will the physical infrastructure of the community.
Natural beauty
Healthy natural systems tend to be beautiful, and land-based peoples across the world tend to shape their cultural environments in ways that harmonise with those systems. We aim to emulate this by creating community infrastructures that not only follow sound ecological principles, but which sit gently in the landscape and embody nature’s beauty.
Abundant Living
Viable communities need to thrive ecologically, socially, and also economically. While land-based living is rich in natural abundance, including the fruits of the land, human connection and nature connection, financial abundance is also central to our vision. We are developing a robust financial model for achieving this core goal.
A detailed outline of our community vision so far
Households
Each community will have around 15 households of individuals, couples and families.
Land
40 - 80 acres in total:
30 acres of residential and productive land
10 - 50 acres wild or re-wilding land
Each household will have its own private residential plot of 1/2 acre, adding up to 7.5 acres in total.
The rest of the residential and productive land (22.5 acres) will be used as follows:
2.5 acres community infrastructure footprint (community buildings, open spaces, tracks, car-park, etc)
18 acres of communal productive land:
4 acres food forest
4 acres veg beds & polytunnels
5 acres staple crops (wheat, barley, potatoes, beans)
5 acres for animals
2 acres glamping site
Housing
Each household will have a house on its own plot.
Houses will be modest but beautiful: straw-bale, turf-roofed, modelled on the design of Charlie & Megs place.
Houses will be 1, 2 or 3 bedrooms, according to household size.
Additional rooms can be added to smaller houses as needed, for expanding families, up to a maximum of 3 bedrooms.
Detached pods (simple small roundhouses) can be erected on private plots for families with teenage children.
Community Infrastructure
In addition to private houses, there would be a substantial low-impact community infrastructure, including:
Community hub – large circular structure with open-plan kitchen, dining and chill-out space, for the community to come together for shared meals, hanging out, celebrations etc. To include a small schoolroom attached, and also a small quiet meeting room.
Yoga/workshop space – large circular structure adjoining the community space for group yoga, workshops, etc.
Ceremonial space – iron-age style roundhouse for ceremony, introspection, etc.
Bath house
Laundry house
Polytunnels and gardening sheds etc
Office / digital hub
Guest-house for guests – 3 bedrooms
Bunk-house for volunteers – 8 beds
Glamping-site for community income
Car park & paths
Money
Purchase of land and creation of low-impact houses and community infrastructure will cost in the region of £1.5m - £1.7m.
Each household share would therefore cost around £110,000 (£1.65m / 15)
To make this accessible to people without the privilege of capital in the form of savings or equity in an existing property, there will be a redistribution of wealth model of buy-in: those who have more pay more.
The aim will be to have 5 households paying £200k+, 5 paying between £50k and £110k, and 5 paying between nothing and £50k.
Each household will own a equal 1/15th share of the entire community, regardless of the amount of buy-in.
This share will entitle them to:
Their private house and plot of land
Fair use of the entire community infrastructure
Participation in the life of the community
A fair share of all community resources, including:
Food and fuel grown on community land
Energy
Income from the clamping site and other community businesses
A fair share of all additional forms of community abundance
When a household decides to leave the community, they receive their buy-in amount back minus 10% of that amount for every year of residence.
Communal Work
There will be a work commitment of 15 hours per week for every member of the community over 16 years old.
Given an estimated 25 adult members of the community, that’s a total of 375 community work hours per week.
We will also have between 2 and 8 volunteers on site most of the year, also working 15 hours per week, contributing a further 75 hours to the community work hours and bringing the total amount up to 450 hours per week.
This will cover communal food-growing, infrastructure maintenance, child-care / schooling, business activities, shared cooking, etc.
Other Work
Residents will be encouraged to limit external work to 10 hours per week, and will contribute 10% of the income from external work to a communal pot.
Children
Families with children will be welcome and encouraged, and the community will prioritise the provision of space and resources (including human resources) for childcare and home-schooling activities.
Children will be gently encouraged to participate in appropriate work-related activities alongside adult members, to enable then to learn vital life-skills in a natural way.
Energy
The community energy policy will be a combination of vigorous energy temperance and the appropriate use of renewables.
Fossil fuels use will be limited as strictly as possible.
Wood will be used as fuel only in super-efficient rocket-stoves, with the exception of occasional wood fires in a ceremonial context.
Technology
Much like the energy policy, the community technology policy will be a combination of restraint and wise use.
Labour saving technology will be mindfully adopted where it contributes to a significant increase to quality of life, but restraint will be the guiding principle.
Similarly, digital technology will be used, but it will be restricted to personal spaces or the communal office / digital hub which will have wi-fi.
Business Activities
The community needs to be financially self-sufficient - covering its own basic needs and the basic needs of its members. To this end there will be a need for community-run businesses.
One of these businesses will be a glamping site occupying a corner of the community land, separate from the residential area of the community but close enough for it to be easily managed by community members.
The glamping site will have 6 small roundhouses, which together will generate minimum £60k net profit per year. This will cover most of the basic expenses of the community.
Another £40k will need to be generated by additional to cover all the basic expenses of the community and its members. This is not unmanageable.
Community Layout
The exact layout of the community will depend on the shape and lay of the land, as well as other site-dependent factors, but in general, all other things being equal, the layout will take the form of nested circles, as follows:
At the centre will be the main community buildings, spread out over around 5 acres amidst a food forest with open spaces.
Around this community hub will be encircled the 15 residential 1/2 acre plots and dwellings.
Beyond this circle will be a ring of productive land, comprising:
4 acres veg beds & polytunnels
5 acres staple crops (wheat, barley, potatoes, beans)
5 acres for animals
Within this circle will also be the 2 acre glamping site.
And finally, the outer circle will be wild or re-wilding land (between 10 and 40 acres in total).