Low Impact Living communities
The majority of communities in Britain have an aspiration to reduce their environmental impact.
But these places really go all the way. Many of them are off-grid and tipis, yurts and benders abound.
Grow Heathrow (UB7 0JH)
WE ARE AN OPEN COMMUNITY. PLEASE DO NOT EMAIL (NOBODY CHECKS IT), INSTEAD MESSAGE OUR FACEBOOK PAGE https://www.facebook.com/transitionheathrow/ TO ARRANGE A VISIT, OR JUST TURN UP The best days to visit are any day ! come and join us chopping wood , helping in the garden, skipping, cooking or just hanging out drinking tea 🙂 There are a few acres of land by the M4 and M25 motorways in west London where three dilapidated greenhouses stand. Since 2010 a group of activists, local residents and people living off-grid have worked to develop the site into a self-sustaining low carbon community,…
Heartwood Community (SA17 5ES)
Heartwood is an old dairy farm with 35 acres of land: woods, pasture, wetland, streams, orchards and gardens. We have a pony that pulls a cart and helps with woodland management. There are two goats providing milk, four hens, twelve ducks and four cats. In the main house we share facilities and enjoy five vegetarian communal meals a week. Some of our members raise and eat their own animals (pigs and ducks) Our practice of permaculture and sustainability includes maintaining sustainable relationships with each other as well as with the land we live on, we use Non Violent Communication and…
Hockerton Housing Project (NG25 0QU)
Hockerton Housing Project (HHP) is a community of five sustainable homes, with a co-operative business on-site running a range of educational and advisory services in sustainable buildings and lifestyles. Hockerton's earth-sheltered homes were built in the late 1990s with high thermal mass and high levels of insulation to eliminate the need for heating systems. Their innovative design has proven itself, as the homes use 20% of the average UK home’s energy use, but still keep cool in summer and warm in winter. Onsite wind turbines and solar PV panels generate their own clean energy to meet much of the homes'…
Keveral Farm Community (PL13 1PA)
Keveral Farm has been a community since 1973. We live in a farmhouse, a barn conversion, an extended static caravan, and 3 other static caravans. These, together with our farm buildings, are owned and managed by our housing co-op, One Community. Members should attend monthly community meetings, and do 2 hours voluntary work per week maintaining and improving the house, buildings and land. The 25 acres of farmland consists of veg plots, polytunnels, soft fruit, orchard, woodland, pasture and camping, and has been certified organic by the Soil Association for more than 30 years. Our worker's co-op, Keveral Farmers, oversees…
Lammas (SA34 0YD)
Lammas is an organisation dedicated to promoting low impact development. We are actively campaigning within the planning system for low impact development acoss the UK. Our first project is for a hamlet of 9 eco smallholdings in Pembrokeshire - planning permission was granted in 2009. Each household will have access to approx. 8 acres on which residents will develop land-based livelihoods. The land is owned by a co-operative society. Residents will lease their plots (999 year agricultural leasehold). More details can be found at our website.
The Land of Roots (DH7 8EN)
The Land of Roots Ltd is a co-operative company that owns and manages Cooke’s West Wood, 15.5 acres of land just outside of Durham City. We manage the land using permaculture methods, ethics and principles. The land includes permanent pasture and woodland. The four of us produce a variety of products from the land including vegetables, salad, herbs, lamb, charcoal, willow baskets, chickens, eggs and fruit. Our community is small, consisting of two families with occasional visitors and plenty of volunteers. The Land of Roots co-op owns our land and we trade as another co-op called Abundant Earth.
Landmatters Permaculture Community (TQ9 7DL)
Landmatters is a rural permaculture co-operative in South Devon, living on 42 acres of pasture and semi-natural ancient woodland, with some naturally regenerating scrub and ancient hedgerows. The land is stewarded by 10 adults and 7 children living in low-impact structures, mostly benders and yurts, and is totally off-grid. We grow some food (hope to grow more!), keep horses, hens and ducks, manage the woodlands, work communally, run educational events, car share, and use consensus decision-making and Way of Council, with the aim of creating a thriving, ecological community. We are a Permaculture Association LAND demonstration site and a member…
Lifespan Community Collective (S36 4JG)
Lifespan Community Collective (aka Townhead Collective) is made up of around 15 adults and 7 kids We have 19 old railway cottages on 3 acres of land in rural Yorkshire. Lifespan was formed in the early seventies as a rural community and has been through different stages of communal living. At present, it is a housing co-op whose main aim is to provide housing for its members. We have our own personal space, as well as communal areas comprising of rooms for visitors, living room, kitchen, bathroom and games room. We try to live with as little impact on the…
Monimail Tower Project (KY15 7RJ)
We are a small community living in a beautiful walled garden and orchard set around a medieval tower in sunny Fife. We grow all our own fresh produce, manage our woods for fuel and wildlife and look after the walls and the tower. We are an environmental charity and offer opportunities for people to learn about organic gardening and low-impact, sustainable, communal living. We have a programme of events and courses and we host Wwoofers who volunteer We share food and eat together. We like to garden, play music, make stuff and generally have fun. For more information or an…
Steward Community Woodland (TQ13 8SD)
STOP PRESS - see: www.stewardwood.org/pdf/MsgSupporters-March%2018.pdf We are a co-operative of people living and working together in a mixed woodland by Dartmoor. We are running a permaculture project to explore and demonstrate low impact living, integrating conservation woodland management (such as coppicing and broadleaf planting) with organic growing, new technologies and traditional skills. We are living in wood heated bender-style and timber frame dwellings, with a communal Longhouse, Kitchen and Bathhouse. We have a micro hydro scheme and solar panels to generate electricity, from which we run lighting, computers and kitchen appliances. We have a policy of minimising our use of…
Tinker’s Bubble (TA14 6TE)
Tinkers Bubble is a small woodland community which uses environmentally sound methods of working the land without fossil fuels. We have planning permission for self-built houses on the condition that we make a living from the land. We make our monetary incomes mainly through forestry, apple work and gardening. As a result we’re money poor but otherwise rich! We manage about 28 acres of douglas fir, larch, and mixed broadleaf woodland using horses, two person saws, and a wood-fired steam-powered sawmill. Our pastures, orchards, and gardens are organically certified, and no-dig methods are commonly used. We press apple juice for…
Tipi Valley (SA32 7UQ)
We're really sorry but we aren't having any visitors at the moment as we don't have the space for social distancing in our Big Lodge. ------------------------------- Tipi Valley is situated high in the hills of South-West Wales. Our community have been buying it field by field since 1975. In this time our oldest fields have regenerated from sheep farming land to mixed deciduous woodland rich in wildlife. It’s a wild valley dotted with our homes that are low impact dwellings - tipis, yurts and turf roofed round huts. Living this close to nature and the elements creates a deep connection…
