Visiting & Joining
An invitation video for our Founding Gatherings:
Visiting
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)
Facilities and Accommodation
Shared facilities available:
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Straw house communal kitchen
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Communal 6m diameter yurt
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Basic solar shower
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Compost toilets
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Solar electricity, phone and laptop charging
Various places to pitch a tent, including good shade by the river for the hot months
There are a few flat spaces for campervans with good access, some with shade.
Caravan
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Double bed with bedding
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Table and comfy seating, that can convert into a second double bed
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Small kitchen with cooking equipment
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Storage
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Rechargeable lights. Phone charging in the main common house
4m yurt
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Double bed with bedding
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Table and two chairs
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Wood burner
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Storage
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Electricity connection
Community meals and activities
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, with a well stocked kitchen of organic grains, pulses, beans, fruit and vegetables.
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.
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. See the list of ideas in the project vision pages
A common practice is weekly heart sharing circles and monthly singing circles in the communal 6m diameter yurt.
There are many events going on in the area which we often 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.
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.
Pricing
Below is the price list, with examples of prices calculated for different family sizes:
Work exchange
Work hours and exchange
We offer a space to camp or park a campervan, and sometimes a yurt or caravan to sleep in, depending on availability and time of year, in exchange for:
15 hours per week of work - some hours on your own in your own pace, some hours working with us.
We ask a contribution to pay for food. Up to 35eur per week if you eat all meals from the communal food. Less if you buy your own food to eat in your own space.
If after the first week, we feel someone is confident enough to work more hours unsupervised, we can offer a full work exchange of 25 hours per week, food included.
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.
What we are working on
We are working on:
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Finishing the common house - clay plastering and improving the kitchen
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Making vegetable gardens and improving the watering system
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Building a cob spiral shower room
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Clearing the mimosa and broom bush around the houses
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:
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Cooking for shared meals
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Childcare
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Maintaining the cleared areas
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Social media, taking photos and videos of the place and our activities
Joining the project long-term
Core Residents
The project started with Hari, the project initiator, who proposing the model of the ecovillage. After several gatherings, a group has begun to form, with four resident members as of March 2025. The aim is to continue hosting gatherings and visitors, aiming to attract more people to join as residents. We welcome interested people to stay with us for some time to see how we feel together, get to know each other and share visions about ecovillage living.
Joining process
After staying as a visitor for a few weeks, it is possible to start a trial period and get more involved in the ecovillage. A trial period is expected to last between three to six months, but might need longer depending on the situation. To get started, we ask that you have some discussions with us about your ideas for joining, and then we will have a session to discuss and make notes on your answers to the following questions:
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Why do you want to join the project?
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What relevant skills and experience do you have?
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What commitments do you have already?
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What needs do you have?
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How do you imagine making a living here? Eg: accommodation, work, income, acquiring what you need.
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Are there any challenges you foresee in joining this project? How is your state of being?
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If there are more than one person in the family/group applying to join, how are the relationships between them?
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What are your uses/habits with alcohol, smoking, drugs, meat, dairy, sugar etc? and how do you feel about the boundaries for these substances at the ecovillage?
Checkpoints
During the trial period we will have regular ‘checkpoint‘ talks to share how your stay at the project is feeling for you and the others, and to decide if you will stay into the next level of the joining process. If so, we will set some intentions and aims together for your next stage of the trial period, to review as we go.
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Self assessment: How have you been feeling here - which things are working well, which things are not working well.
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Review your work at the project so far. Do you feel you are meeting the aims and intentions?
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Review your personal intentions from last meeting, set any new ones.
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How do you feel about becoming a resident? Do you feel it is what you want, and how much do you feel ready?
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Do you have any doubts or needs that are not being met yet?
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How are the relationships with the people here so far?
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Discuss with a core member, make a note of any feedback and thoughts from them.
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Decision from the core members if they are ready for you to move to resident membership, or continue or end the trial period.
Level 1 - Visitor / Work Exchange
You give:
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Intention to stay for 1 - 4 weeks
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Either:
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Paying to stay as a visitor + food. Long term visitor prices below
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or if available:
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Work exchange of 15 hours work per week, paying €35 per week for food
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Work exchange of 25 hours work per week, food included
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You receive:
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Chance to get to know the project and start the joining process
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Living in nature
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Learning skills
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Opportunity to organise short events eg day events
Level 2 - Trial Resident
You give:
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Intention to stay for 3-6 months (can be away some of the time, but not too much)
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Either:
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Pay 1/4 of the visitor price, per month in advance + do 10 hours work per week. (Prices below)
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Or work exchange as above, if available.
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The work hours then include:
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some responsible roles
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getting more involved in projects
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some meetings and workshops about the next steps for joining and developing the project
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Start to develop your own livelihood within the ecovillage, or be working towards finding what it would be if you become a full resident.
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After some months, if considering joining level 3, make a pledge for what you would buy into the project
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Maybe making a small investment or loan already
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You receive:
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Become a collaborating member in the coop - a share of the decision making.
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Involvement in the general assembly, planning and management.
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Short-term lease to give some security to live at the project in the visitor area or possibly on a home plot, if available.
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Possibility of paid roles in existing projects eg events organised by residents, food growing scheme.
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Some autonomy to create own projects and livelihood from the common areas and resources eg organising week long events, growing food to sell.
Level 3 - Long-term Resident Guardian
You give:
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Pay Coop joining fee. Around €100-200 euros
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Pay the joining investment to the Co-op, between €10,000 and €20,000 per adult to lease a plot (depending on which plot you lease)
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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.
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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.
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Full coop member and co-owner of the land.
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Right to be elected to management roles.
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Long term leasehold of a home plot, with rights to develop it (plots approx. 750 - 2,000 square meters each)
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Opportunity to build a house, by proposal to the coop
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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.