Before such situation, some alternatives arise as the described ones in these notebooks of tour, that are neither try to be only nor the solution to all the problems by themselves, although they constitute real experiences that can give ideas of how to confront them. They also show that other lifestyles and other ways to be linked fairer and more beneficial for everybody are feasible.
This site is about places that I have been visiting, objective and subjective information, along with some images of such. They are different ways to put in practice related ideas from different starting points.
In introduction and file model you can read common characteristics to all the communities and a guide with the content of the files.
Good surfing ! ! !
Contact: utopiasparacaminar(at)yahoo(dot)es
]]>It´s almost impossible to be able to visit all the places you are interested in, so the final selection consist of places which answer you, they welcome volunteers, the dates are good and the journey makes sense. Finally, my six destinations were located in the South, all of them had web site and we were in contact by e-mail. Apart from the book Eurotopia, I used www.diggersanddreamers.org.uk (full directory of British communities).
The initial impression was a bigger integration into the society than in other visited territories. For example, it was the first time a bus left me at the entry of the final destination (this happened in Redfield, Canon Frome Court and Old Hall), just like it was possible to arrive by public transport to all of them (except the 20 minutes walking in Steward Woodland). These places, therefore, are accesible and not isolated (almost all had neighbours). The most of their members had a part time job outside their living place. Likewise, in the six places there are events along the year for non-residents (courses, workshops, recreational activities, birthdays, open doors days..., and welcoming volunteers, of course). In short, I hadn´t the sensation of being in or with “fringe” places or people, but in places with characteristics in minority in relation to the society, without being out of it.
Organic food is another common characteristic. Almost all I ate these 12 weeks was organic. It was also common to see fair trade products, specially tea and coffee. The cleaning products were ecologic too.
It wasn´t allowed to smoke inside the common spaces.
The norm about sleeping was a duvet in each bed (see photos), so I only had to use my sleeping bag at the last destination.
There were fire and/or gas detection systems, specially inside big and old houses.
The timetables were about three work hours at morning (9-12 or 10-13h. with rest-tea time), the light meal or lunch, other three work hours at afternoon (14-17h.) and the main meal or dinner/supper at 17-18h.
]]>+44 (0) 8454581926
This permaculture project, situated in the Dartmoor National Park (Devon), aims to demonstrate the value of integrating conservation woodland management techniques with organic growing, traditional skills and crafts and low-impact sustainable living. 10 adults and 6 children live currently there. The most of them work part time outside the community. The website contains 150 pages of resources and information about all aspects of the project, the community, the woodland, planning issues, our neighbours and photos.
All the structures are made with wood, recycled materials and waterproof fabrics of the same colour, what helps to integrate them into the setting. Each family or individual has its own dwelling (you can see photos of one of them and my tent-bender). One of the communal structures is the long house, the current kitchen and dining-room. We were working in its enlargement for volunteers, groups and courses. Other structures are the two compost toilets, the workshop and the future bath house with shower and sauna, so I had to take a shower in a farm-camping of the surroundings, thing that I did from time to time...
They use not much energy. They are self-sufficient about energy with a micro-hydro system and solar panels.
The common diet –and life philosophy- is vegan, although not all the members are 100% vegan. I had never eaten almost exclusively vegan meals for two continuous weeks.
They had to struggle to get a planning permission and it ends in summer 2007, so they have to apply for a new one.
I met other volunteers there (Emma, Josh, Kate and Yuri) and it had a good atmosphere with them. We were counting and planting oaks, extending the long house, cutting wood, carrying stuff… We usually ate with some permanent members. The cooker and heating work exclusively with firewood. There is a system to make use of cooker to heat and store water.
Moretonhampstead is a medium-sized village with an interesting social and cultural life, at least I had that impression those two weeks. I was present at a lecture-slide show, a theatre performance and a yoga celebration with shared songs, music and food. All those activities were linked with two community members.
There is a movement in some towns about the peak-oil, where the people talk about a sustainable local future. One of those places is Totnes and other interesting website is this. Some members of Steward are linked with these initiatives in Moretonhampstead.
There is phone access and, about internet, it´s possible to connect a laptop, to ask for permission in private dwellings or to go to the village library.
As in other English destinations, this time military helicopters caused a stir.
As you can read in the article about general impressions, I enjoyed here reading New Internationalist.
Definitively, it´s a very low-impact community situated in a beautiful setting, surrounded by nature, where you can forget the rhythm and the “luxuries” of the city life.
BUS: Moretonhampstead (from Exeter)
STAY: 13-27 November’06
WWOOF member. Included in Eurotopia
+44 (0) 01491680221
Braziers Park is a community, a residential college and an architectural treasure hidden deep in the south Oxfordshire countryside. It was founded in 1950 as an educational trust, and is a continuing experiment in the advantages and problems of living in a group. Community members share responsibility for running the college and the estate. There is much more information in the web site.
It was the first time I made apple juice with a manual press and I made a “baked” omelette.
I remember my first sensation was a bit “decadent”, because of the building and the inner decoration. This was my fifth destination in England and, when I arrived, I was tired because of the changes of place each two weeks for the last two months. I had to learn again people´s names, the way the project works and where the things were, for example. I had few life energy and Braziers gave me few energy too, so it wasn´t one of the best experiences, although it wasn´t a bad one. There was a farewell celebration for a volunteer and I saw her emotion and other people´s emotion. It was great for me because I wasn´t feeling the same. Other volunteers I met there were Andrea, Iska, Jose and Katharina. I also met Gan and Kazumi, who had a great dossier about their ecologic farm and educational centre in Malaysia.
The diet is omnivorous, mainly vegetarian. There are sheep and chickens. There are public phone and several computers with public internet access, so I made use of it and I finished the English version of this web site. There are buses each hour to/from Reading and Oxford.
As in 3 of my 6 destinations in England, we had military company in the sky, this time couples of helicopters.
BUS: nearby stop (line Reading-Wallingford-Oxford)
TRAIN: Goring & Streatley (8 km)
STAY: 30 October - 13 November’06
+44 (0) 1206298045 / 1206298294
The history of this community began around 1974, when a group of –originally- “middle-class socialists” purchased a property that had been a manor, a convent and a Franciscan friary. About 60 people live together in this property with big buildings and lands in a small village between Suffolk and Essex.
The legal structure is a housing association. The main house has three floors and several wings, where there are communal and private spaces. One peculiarity is the deconsecrated chapel, witness of the history of the building, where is possible to play badminton and table tennis or to enjoy events like concerts or theatre.
There are several systems to heat water. During my stay we were working in a new equipment where combine different renewable energies. There are some compost-toilets and one of them is also a solar shower (see photo).
There is a inhabitual mix of diets and tolerance among them: omnivorous, vegetarian and vegan (in minority).
The black-boards are very useful instruments to coordinate so many people and tasks. So some black-boards are to organize the rotas, other are to know how many people are going to have lunch or dinner. Other uses are the kind of diet, the allergies, the volunteers´ tasks, to share cars, events, notices, etc.
I was the last volunteer of the season and the main tasks were gardening and farming. Because of the volunteers can feel alone, they try to welcome two volunteers at the same time, so I share work and moments with two English women volunteers (Mariah and Jane, and her daughter).
Some people speak Spanish. There is public phone, and internet access only in the private units.
I had the impression in this community there is more mix of people than in other places where, for example, you could identify very well the members of the families. Due to that and to the lots of shared tasks, meals and resources, this place was perhaps –as Redfield- one of the English communities where I had a strong feeling of “community”. On the other hand, several founders still live in Old Hall, while in other destinations there was one founder or none generally. Other characteristic is the wide range of ages, due to the amount of people too. There are less people on working days, specially at lunch time. Some people who work outside come at week-ends.
I had read there was a special atmosphere in Old Hall and, apart from my problems with the language and communication, I felt a general friendlinesssí. A significant detail for me was some people introduce themselves to me by own initiative, what is inhabitual in my experiences and it helps you to integrate yourself into the community.
It was the first time I led a theatre workshop with games and improvizations (and in English...) and I collected tomatoes and beans.
A book tells the history of the community
They published in 2000 “The patchwork history of a community growing up”, collection of small texts written by members and friends, past and present. It has exciting passages, like the description of the beginnings. One curiosity is the advertisements in the newspapers in 1973-74 looking for more members: “Co-operative/community evolving Suffolk. No alternative society. Old property. Agricultural land. Personas interested must be prepared to commit themselves ideologically and financially”, or another “Ecological living. Setting up community Suffolk. Very large house, 50 acres, beautiful setting. Mainly middle-class Socialists. Few more participants required, with capital”.
BUS: from Manningtree
STAY: 2 weeks in October’06
WWOOF member. Included in Eurotopia
+44 (0) 8707650711
This community-farm in Herefordshire was founded in 1979. About 45 adults and children live in the 18 self-contained homes. The property (buildings and lands) is owned and managed by a co-ownership housing association. You can read more info about the place and them in the web site.
The big and fully walled garden is one of the best and complete I have ever seen. It´s organized in small plots, working it individually for a common benefit. They grow lots of different vegetables and fruit. I knew and ate there rhubarb (a vegetable from Mongolia). They have animals to eat them (cows, goats, sheep, chicken) ant to get milk, cheese, yogur, butter, eggs and honey.
I think this also is an ideal place to grow up children. The process to become a member can take some months at least and, after an agreement between members and applicants, the new member/s would take the old member´s place. The prize of the dwellings increases in line with housing market.
Some of the spaces inside the main building are, besides dwellings, two kitchens, two guest rooms, living-room, meeting-room, dining-room and a big gym, because of its past as school. There is a lake in front of the main house and a small church that belongs to the Church of England.
The only common meal is the Saturday dinner, when some members will meet each other the first time in the week. Therefore, the diet depends on each dwelling, although the most of them are omnivorous. They buy together organic and fair trade food, availables in the small self-service shop.
There is a sheet to organize the work of the volunteer, who will work with several members in different turns. The volunteer also eat with those members in their homes. I remember one day of collective work (collecting potatoes) when I felt the feeling of “community” specially. When I arrived, the WWOOF coordinator gave me an useful photocopy with the map of the place, the names of the members and their homes.
I had never milked a goat or done a singing workshop (in English, of course). I also remember the extremely noisy and low flights of military planes. There aren´t public internet access or phone (only inside the dwellings).
I worked with more of the half of the members, which were always grateful with my collaboration. In my free time I was reading the Coventry Peace House´s book about asylum seekers and listening music (long life to Anari and Lisabö!).
Definitively, it isn´t one of the visited places with a greater degree of communal life and resources, although I think it´s a good example of people running together a big property and a complete farm. For example, they share the washing-machines, but I could see the same appiance to make bread in some dwellings. I met some people who were keen to go deeply into ecologic or sustainability matters, but maybe without the global support of the community.
BUS: from Ledbury
STAY: 25 September – 9 October’06
WWOOF member. Included in Eurotopia
+44 (0) 2476663031 / 2476664616
It´s situated about 1’5 km. far from the center of Coventry (West Midlands). It was founded in 1999 and it´s a fully mutual housing co-operative, which means that the members are people who live there and basically they pay rent and the rent pays the mortgage. There is no private ownership but neither is there an outside body controlling it. While you live there you are like a steward of the property and when you leave, you just leave.
You can read more about their history in the website.
There are about seven rooms for residents, which most of them change with time. The project prefers the people work part time to be able to have time for the communal life and tasks. In the weekly meetings, the members-residents talk about domestic tasks, about how to be more ecologic in the house or about activities for social change like promoting cycling and campaigning.
Coventry Cycling Centre opened in 2004 and it´s a workshop to fix bikes, to resell them and to promote cycling. At the moment of my visit John was in charge of it, and he provided me bikes to go riding to the nearby canal. The Community Space was inaugurated in 2005 and some of their users are a women group, an environmental group and asylum seekers.
A woman –Penny- looks like the soul of the project. She is always very busy and, nevertheless, she is really worried about people, being glad or growing sad about their lifes.
It belongs to Radical Routes, network of radical co-operatives whose members are committed to working for positive social change. The network is made up mainly of housing co-ops of various sizes (but none have more than 15 members), a few workers co-ops and a couple of social centres.
The diet is vegetarian and it has internet acces and phone. There are shops and people from Middle East and Southern Asia through out its street.
Due to I had little information about this place, I only was one week there, although I could have been more time, but I had commitment with the next destinations...
The night shelter
Because of the bad living conditions of asylum seekers, Coventry Peace House tries to meet those needs through voluntary donations of different kind. That means to give them hot dinner and breakfast (those are usually their only meals of the day), and a place to sleep on folding beds. A monthly rota about 50 people look after the shelter, sheltering about 10 people when I was there, sharing moments and talks with people from Africa, Iran and Eastern Europe.
The working days the food is provided by a temple of the sikh community, where it´s made and offered to everybody. The only requisite is to observe the access rules: to take off your shoes, to wash your hands and to cover your hair. This temple has good equipments. It was the first time I came in a place like that.
The book
With the title “I came here for safety”, Coventry Peace House published it in 2006 and it approachs and goes deeply into the actual British asylum system. That system, described as inhuman, means the most of migrant people looking for safety are rejected, sometimes imprisoned and eventually end in destitution. The book is dedicated to a Moroccan man 33 years old who hanged himself in the garden of the night shelter.
It was a very interesting reading for me, and hard some moments. The book combines two visions which are not always linked: extensive documentation and personal experiences. It´s also interesting because of dismantling prejudgements about this people and migrants in general.
You can download the complete book from the website.
TRAIN / BUS: Coventry
STAY: 18-25 September’06
Included in Eurotopia
+44 (0) 1296713661
This community in Buckinghamshire was founded in 1978 and its legal structure is that of a fully mutual housing co-operative. About 20 adults and some children live in this large old mansion. You can read more information about the place and them in the website.
This was my first destination in England, and the first surprise was something new for me in my travels by communities: a bus stop at the entry of its estate. Fortunately, it wouldn´t be the last time...
I think it´s an ideal place to grow up children: healthy, in contact with the nature, big insides and outsides, safety, living and growing up with other children and other adults besides your mother and/or father...
Some of the tasks I did: to carry wood, to dismantle the gutter from a roof, to weed, to restore wood windows, to cook, to do the dishes, to collect some vegetables, etc. One of the weeks was the periodical “maintenance week” and I shared it with applicant members. During part of my free time, I was playing pool and jumping over the trampoline.
They have solar panels to heat water and some wc-compost. There are chickens, sheep, pis, bees, and cats! The diet is mainly vegetarian, with some omnivorous meals and many birthday cakes. I cooked there my first Spanish omelette for 20 people. There are internet access and phone in the office. Besides English, some people speak German too.
BUS: stop from Aylesbury or Buckingham
STAY: 5-18 September’06
WWOOF member. Included in Eurotopia
There are many different kinds of legal and financial set-ups for a community. In the next description, there are examples related to three communities of this website: Canon Frome Court, Old Hall and Redfield.
1. Privacy vs. communality
a. Living group
• Separate: self-contained units, share some facilities
• Communal: single household or several living groups, sharing all facilities, eating together; Redfield, Old Hall
b. Ownership
• Private: occupant buys and sells own unit, mortgageable units; Canon Frome
• Collective (buy-in): buy lease on particular unit, value of stake increases in line with housing market; Old Hall
• Collective: no financial stake, tenancy not tied to particular unit; Redfield
c. Finances
• Separate: maintenance contributions only; Canon Frome
• Mostly separate: maintenance contributions, specific collective projects
• Income pooling: substantial proportion of income pooled and managed as general fund; Redfield
• Income sharing: all income pooled, usually from jointly owned/run enterprise
2. Ownership options
a. Private Ownership
• No more than 4 legal owners (England and Wales). No himit in Scotland
• Problems ¡f ‘owners’ leave — no simple way to change names on deed
• ‘Owners’ may be breaking terms of mortgage by ‘sub-letting’
• Legal owners could seIl if they want to — no protection for other members
• Legal owners have ah the responsibility
b. Partnership
• Two or more people — name of partnership appears on titie deeds
• Can write own rules and objectives
• In England and Wales, property owned by partners as ¡ndividuals, and taxed as individuals
• In Scotland, partnership can own property in its own right, stihl taxed as individuals
• Four person limit in England and Wales
c. Trust
• Trustees own property on behalf of beneficiaries
• Trust deed is private document and doesn’t have to be registered anywhere
• Trustees actions are governed by Trustees Acts
• No himit to the number of owners, but (in England and Wales) only 4 names on title deeds
• lf a trustee leaves, the deeds have to be amended, and the mortgage rearranged
d. Company
• Private limited company — registered at Companies House
• Articles and Memorandum of Association registered with Registrar of Companies
• Don’t get the tax beneflts of other frameworks
• Unhikely to get a mortgage
e. Charity
• In England and Wales — registered with Charity Commission
• In Scotland — no registration, but draft deed approved by Inspector of Taxes
• A company or trust can be a charity, but not a co-op
• Eligible for various grants and gifts, and tax breaks
• Has to promote education, relief of poverty, religion, or benefit the wider community
• Findhorn is a charity
f. Housing Co-ops
• Usually registered with Registrar of Friendly Societies, under the Industrial and Provident Societies Act (along with most trade unions, housing associations, building societies and other clubs and associations)
• Profits not distributed to owners of capital (no dividends on shares, interest on loans restricted by registrar)
• Incorporated body (pseudo-individual — can borrow money etc.)
• Limited Iiability, like private companies
• Minimum of 4 members
• One member one vote — not based on number of shares held, like private companies
• Around £250 to register — standard rules
• Non-profit
• Housing co-op can only make money by providing housing for its members
• Exempt from corporation tax, except for non-housing income (eg interest on deposit accounts)
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Can Pipirimosca is a mixture of youth hostel, school farm, cultural centre and permaculture farm. It belongs to Pere´s family, who proposed in 1998 to manage it so it could be used to start a non profit oriented project. In addition to Pere as the only permanent resident throughout the years, some volunteers live there from some days or weeks to a few months, being able to reside from 3 to 20 people, according to the time of the year and tasks to make.
It´s 2 km far from Valls and 20 km far from Tarragona (Catalonia, NE of the Spanish Estate). It has a great extension, with two houses (common house-hostel common and house-office), module-scene, workshop, hen house, WC-compost, swimming pool (without maintenance), orchards, fruit trees, pinewood, zone for horses, etc.
First stage consisted of equipping with minimum living conditions, also taking place in the farm meetings around music and other artistic activities, as well as in the social scope. Nowadays, and since 2003, it counts on the collaboration of wwoofers, that, beside other volunteers coming by other ways, work in this second present phase. The efforts, apart from the work in the orchard, are centered in being equipping with suitable infrastructures to be able to welcome groups regularly (activity room, communal bedrooms, stage, kitchen, store room, library...). Also in this stage meetings take place periodically (workcamps and seminars of the International Civil Service, organic farms network, story tellers, musicians, popular celebrations, training for activists for non-violent interposition in Palestine...). The following phase of the project will be the consolidation of a greater food self-sufficiency and the habitual welcome of groups for the celebration of activities in diverse scopes.
In addition, in Pipirimosca you can find a complete carpentry workshop, musical instruments, equipment of theater and other scenic arts, construction with tires or "earthship", bank of seeds, recovery of food of supermarkets... The great project for 2006 is the construction and first passages of a bakery.
As I already said before, in certain way the farm is a kind of temporary community of volunteers, organized daily like a workcamp. Each has the possibility of choosing what to do between a lot of tasks, falling the tasks of coordination to Pere and long term volunteers. The international and multilingual character causes that you can coexist with people of diverse origins (mainly from Europe and from U.S.A., Canada and Australia). Also activities are lodged some weekends gathering up to 40-50 people.
Between cultivated products they are calçots (Catalan typical onions) and pumpkins. The diet is basically vegetarian. In my stays, I have been with horses, dogs, cats, hens and geese. Spanish-Castilian, Catalan and English spoken, and what volunteers of the moment contribute. Phone and internet access.
“Rescuing” food in supermarkets (see photo)
Once upon a time there were two people travelling without money and eating the waste of the supermarkets and other shops. That people were in “Pipiri”. When I arrived for my second stay, I saw a surprising system there. So during some months I shared with other volunteers the exciting task of getting what the System threw out. Probably, if you have never heard something similar, perhaps you think it´s a bit disgusting… But continue reading, you will have a big surprise…
The task consisted of, at some moment of the morning, to drive to Valls (about 20.000 inhabitants-consumers) and to do the route of 4-5 big supermarkets. We took a look at the waste thrown to the rubbish and we took the food which we could make use of it. Progressively, we only went to the two supermarkets with more and best waste. We spoke to the responsible person of one of them, and in the other one we had problems with the workers. Back to the farm, we began with the process of selection and washing. We did three divisions: the really good food (suitable for humans), the bad food (to the compost) and the rest (for the geese). Most of the “rescued” food was in perfect conditions to eat it, part of them to eat the next days. Besides all kind of vegetables, we also took yogurts with an early out of date and precooked food. We rescued enough food (together with products of the garden) to feed 10 people.
The i-logic of the system: A bad orange in a bag means all the oranges in the bag to the rubbish. A product with a stain does the same. Bananas from Surinam and other tropical fruits travel a lot of km, with damage to the environment, and finish in the rubbish. Goods in perfect conditions and with an extensive expiry date are rejected because new goods come to the supermarket and need the same space. Since that is what the food is: goods. The food has lost its primary and basic value in the production chain (to feed) to convert into benefit.
Note for “absent-minded” people: Hunger is a politic problem. It´s false that there isn´t enough food in the planet to feed all its poblation. According to the UNO, 10 children die (killed, I add) each minute in the world because of hunger and bad nutrition.
TRAIN / BUS: Valls
STAY: October’05-February’06, August’04
WWOOF member
ANNEXE: “Goals of the association ADELA”
The Associació pel Desenvolupament Local i Alternatiu (ADELA – Association for Local and Alternative Development) is set up at the end of 2005, with headquarters in Can Pipirimosca and with the next goals:
1. To promote local and rural development through activities with values of sustainability, environmental respect, responsible consumption, recycling and organic agriculture.
2. To plan efficient systems of energy, of small scale and low energy use, together with the use of renewable energies and natural resources.
3. To contribute to the maintenance of the natural richness of the area sowing fruit trees of local varieties and creating a bank of local, traditional and old seeds for recovering, looking after, multiplying and promoting their use.
4. To promote recycling and reusing of resources through recovery, transformation and creative use of still usable rubbish.
5. To follow the permaculture philosophy, based on the observation of natural systems, the wisdom of traditional productive systems, and the modern, scientific and technological knowledge, at the same time that designs sustainable human communities, bearing in mind microclimate, plants, water, human needs and possible relationships between all these elements.
6. To create a space of knowledge exchange basically with practical courses and meetings of other associations, promoting ethic values of cooperation, self-sufficiency, environmental sustainability, organic agriculture and responsibility of the community, spreading like this knowledge on different fields (arts, ecology, volunteering, peace culture, music, craftwork...).
7. To promote handmade manufacture of basic products (yoghurt, bread, kefir...) as the basis of a self sufficient lifestyle.
8. To spread a rural and sustainable lifestyle through the hosting of local and international volunteers.
9. To help the integration of people from excluded, impoverished or marginal collectives.
10. To look for channels for the cooperation with impoverished communities anywhere of the world.
11. The association is non-profit.
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