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Visiting & Joining 

An invitation video for our Founding Gatherings:

Visiting
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We are open to visitors who have an interest in the ecovillage lifestyle and want to stay with us to be part of the community group and bring life to the project. From short-visits, we hope some people will get interested to join the project more long-term (see joining process below)

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Facilities and Accommodation

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Shared facilities available:

  • Straw house common kitchen

  • Compost toilets

  • Big tipi with fire pit

  • Basic solar shower

  • Solar electricity, phone and laptop charging

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​The shaded camping spaces are under the tall trees by the river.

There are a few flat spaces for campervans beside the entrance area, with some shade.

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We also have a nice caravan to rent, when available. It has a table and comfy seating, big double bed, kitchen and gas heater. The seating area easily converts into a second double bed. There is no electricity in there yet, but there is phone charging from the solar power system in the common space.

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There is also a 4m yurt which is sometimes available for rent. 

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Community meals and activities
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We have shared meals for lunch and dinner in the week days. Breakfast is do it yourself. 

We like to cook together as a way to connect and get to know each other. 
When the group is bigger, we use a sign-up board for cooking and cleaning. 

We encourage you to join the rhythm of share meals and ask for 35 euros per week for sharing the common food - grains, pulses, fruit and vegetables.

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We prefer that visitors are not cooking separate meals every day, as it can get difficult to share the kitchen, but this can work occasionally, if done at different times to the shared meal preparation.

If you have your own kitchen and only want to join for certain meals, or only certain days, you can pay for each meal you share with us for 2-3 euros per meal.

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We like to have regular activities and practices to connect to each other in different ways. This can depend on who is in the group at the time, as there is space for each to offer workshops and practices. See the list of ideas in the project vision pages

A common practice is weekly heart sharing circles and singing circles with a fire in the tipi.

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There are many events going on in the area which we try to join at the weekends. For example, there are two artisan markets each month which are a hub for the wider 'alternative' community in this region.

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Boundaries
 

Please no alcohol or recreational drugs or smoking on site. 
(unless agreed as part of a ceremony, facilitated to serve the group)

You can smoke on the road just outside.

Also not being on site under the noticeable influence. 

Food:
Please no meat or dairy (organic, local smallholding eggs allowed) + no caffeine, processed sugar/snacks in the shared spaces and at shared meal times.
You can eat what you want in private in your own space, but ideally with an intention to increase awareness of our habits and their underlying causes and to work to reduce unhealthy attachments.

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Pricing

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Below is the price list, with examples of prices calculated for different family sizes:

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Work exchange 
 
Work hours and exchange

 

We also often welcome visitors as a work exchange. Sometimes, we suggest to start with a few days to a week as a paying visitor, to first give some time to meet each other and check that we get along and that you like the place, before starting the work together. 

There is some flexibility for how to do the work exchange, but as a base arrangement, we ask people to pay for their own food (35 euros per week) 

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We offer space to camp or park a campervan, in exchange for:
15 hours per week including group work sessions (eg: 3 mornings per week) + cooking and other tasks

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If someone has particular skills, and/or after the first week, we feel someone is confident enough to work some more hours unsupervised, we can offer a full work exchange, food included:
25 hours per week including group work sessions (eg: 4 or 5 mornings per week) + cooking and other tasks

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The caravan and yurt can be rented as extra, if available. 

For parents with young children, we can arrange that they do less hours of work to compensate for their work of being a parent. We can also arrange between the parents in the group that someone looks after the children in the group for some hours, as a playgroup or activity or homeschooling session. These hours could be included as part of the work exchange hours. 

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What we are working on

 

In 2024 we are:

  • Finishing the common house - clay plastering and improving the kitchen

  • Making vegetable gardens and improving the watering system


The common house construction is a roundwood structure with a green roof, stone foundation and walls of wooden pallets stuffed with straw and plastered with clay. (See blog posts)

Other ongoing tasks that also need some help are:
 

  • Cooking for shared meals

  • Childcare

  • Clearing the land

  • Social media, taking photos and videos of the place and our activities

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Joining the project long-term
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Core Residents

The project started with Hari, the project initiator, who proposing the model of the ecovillage. After several gatherings, a group is starting to form, with some joining as residents in 2024. The aim is to continue hosting gatherings and visitors, seeing how we feel together and doing some activities to get to know each other and share visions about the ecovillage. 
 

Joining process

Many projects aim to create a community or tribe group. It is probably the most challenging part of an Ecovillage project. Most projects struggle with the interpersonal dynamics and some don’t recover from conflicts. 

Hari has designed this joining process, based on experience and research, to give a good chance of finding alignment and forming a strong group.

The structure is a work-in-progress and is open to evolve and adapt as we try it out and get feedback and input from those joining the project.

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  1. Why do you want to join the project?

  2. What relevant skills and experience do you have?

  3. What commitments do you have already?

  4. What needs do you have?

  5. How do you imagine making a living here? Eg: accommodation, work, income, acquiring what you need. 

  6. Are there any challenges you foresee in joining this project? How is your state of being?

  7. If there are more than one person in the family/group applying to join, how are the relationships between them? 

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Checkpoints

We can have regular ‘check-in‘ talks to share how your stay at the project is feeling for you and the others, and ‘checkpoint’ meetings to decide if you will stay into the next level of the joining process, and set some intentions and aims for it, to review as we go. 
 

  1. Self assessment: How have you been feeling here - which things are working well, which things are not working well. 

    1. Review your work at the project so far. Do you feel you are meeting the aims and intentions?

    2. Review your personal intentions from last meeting, set any new ones.​

  2. How do you feel about becoming a resident? Do you feel it is what you want and how much do you feel ready? 

  3. Do you have any doubts or needs that are not being met yet?

  4. How are the relationships with the people here so far?

  5. Discuss with a core member, make a note of any feedback and thoughts from them.

  6. Decision from the core members if they are ready for you to move to resident membership, or continue or end the trial period.

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Level 1 - Visitor / Work Exchange

You give:
 

  • Intention to stay for 1 - 4 weeks 
     

  • Either:

    • Paying to stay as a visitor + food. Long term visitor prices below​

  • or if available:

    • Work exchange of 15 hours work per week, paying €35 per week for food

    • Work exchange of 25 hours work per week, food included

You receive:
 

  • Chance to get to know the project and start the joining process
     

  • Living in nature
     

  • Learning skills 
     

  • Opportunity to organise short events eg day events

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Level 2 - Trial Resident 

You give:
 

  • Intention to stay for 3-6 months (can be away some of the time, but not too much)
     

  • Either:

    • Pay 1/4 of the visitor price, per month in advance + do 10 hours work per week. (Prices below)

    • Or work exchange as above, if available.
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  • The work hours then include:

    • some responsible roles

    • getting more involved in projects

    • some meetings and workshops about the next steps for joining and developing the project
       

  • Start to develop your own livelihood within the ecovillage, or be working towards finding what it would be if you become a full resident. 
     

  • After some months, if considering joining level 3, make a pledge for what you would buy into the project

    • Maybe making a small investment or loan already

You receive:
 

  • Become a collaborating member in the coop - a share of the decision making. 
     

  • Involvement in the general assembly, planning and management.
     

  • Short-term lease to give some security to live at the project in the visitor area or possibly on a home plot, if available.
     

  • Possibility of paid roles in existing projects eg events organised by residents, food growing scheme.
     

  • Some autonomy to create own projects and livelihood from the common areas and resources eg organising week long events, growing food to sell. 

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Level 3 - Long-term Resident Guardian

You give:
 

  • Pay Coop joining fee. Around €‎100-200 euros
     

  • Pay minimum joining investment to the Co-op, approx. €‎20,000 per adult to lease a plot (depending on which plot you lease)
     

  • Pay monthly instalments (approx. €‎80-€‎250) to keep investing in the development of the common facilities, up to the threshold of the development budget we design together. Expected to be around €10,000-20,000 per adult member on top of the joining investment.
     

  • Continue with 10 hours per week on ecovillage work, taking some core responsible roles. 

You receive:
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  • Security of you investment in the value of the land and facilities we develop.
     

  • Full coop member and co-owner of the land.
     

  • Right to be elected to management roles.
     

  • Long term leasehold of a home plot, with rights to develop it (plots approx. 1,000 - 2,000 square meters each)
     

  • Opportunity to build a house, by proposal to the coop 
     

  • A share of the use of the common areas and facilities and ability to organise events and retreats using the common facilities, as they are developed over time. 

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