Postlip Community
Postlip Hall is a beautiful, large, Grade 1 listed, Jacobean manor house with 15 acres of land, nestling in a quiet valley, surrounded by woods, just below the highest point in the Cotswolds. It’s divided into eight family living units and members’ ages range from 1 to 70 plus. Most adult inmates work outside Postlip and, although we all eat together fairly frequently, we live independent family lives. Postlip works as a Housing Association, meeting formally every month to discuss, plan, inform and make decisions.
Each family holds a long lease from the Association and can sell it back at an agreed valuation if they want to leave (this doesn’t happen very often). The Association then recruits a new family to buy in by advertising in “Members Needed” on this site and elsewhere.
Our legal structure means that you can only live here if you’re a member and a leaseholder. We’re sad that this stops us offering living space to other people, but haven’t been able to find a way around it. And we’re also sad that our family-orientation means that it’s hard to find room for long-term visitors or volunteers. We’re set up to look after visitors on our monthly WWOOF weekends, though, and very much enjoy having them then - we’ve been a WWOOF farm from the start.
We all pay a monthly ground rent, supplemented by income from the many events we organise both in our magnificent 14th century tithe barn, from the Cotswold Beer Festival, to barn dances, folk music weekends and wedding celebrations to more intimate musical and dramatic performances in the main hall.
We work communally in our organic vegetable garden, look after our sheep, pigs and chickens and maintain and improve the woods, grounds and walls of the estate.
Children are an important part of being here and thrive in the space and the opportunities that life at Postlip offers them. We all try to live lightly on the earth and aim to leave Postlip a better place for those who follow. If you’d like to get to know Postlip better then the best way is to work alongside us on our monthly WWOOF weekends. Email sandyatpostlip@gmail.com to find out more.
