We spent an afternoon at this intentional eco-community of five households near Southwell, Nottinghamshire, whose aim it is to live sustainably. In many ways, Hockerton is what you might expect of an eco-community. The rooves have photovoltaic panels and there are two wind turbines on-site. The land is farmed for animals and fruit and veg. Rainwater is collected via the roof guttering and cleaned for drinking by three filters (UV, carbon and string), while water for washing is filtered through sand. Amazingly, the homes are naturally heated using a clever combination of the sun, triple-glazing, well-sealed doors and the fact that most of the house is covered by a hill (think Teletubbyland and you won't be far off).
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| The view from the roof at Hockerton Housing Project |
What's more, everything has a use – pigs turn the land over ready to be farmed, and non-decomposable car tyres are used all over the place for all sorts of novel purposes. There were also two different types of composting toilet – we may have only been there for a few hours, but naturally I tried them both.
All of this was pretty interesting, being very different to the city life I am used to, but I wasn't convinced this way of living would be a practical possibility for the whole country to imitate. It was a huge financial investment to set up in the first place, with many legal and practical challenges. On top of that, I felt a sense of judgment towards those of us who live in less well-insulated houses with power showers and rooves made of slate rather than solar panels and old tyres. Having said that, it did get me thinking about ways in which we can minimally apply some of their principles even in the city, by considering our waste and shopping locally to reduce our food miles.
However, the thing I was most keen to ask the community members about was how it functioned from a relational aspect. Each family unit owns their own home, and the adults have outside jobs, but each household commits upon joining to give a minimum number of hours to the community and the business (be that farming, cleaning, or consultancy). Each brings their own skills to the community and the tasks are shared.
There is a communal "vetting" system when one of the five houses becomes vacant, whereby members of the existing community assess a list of interested buyers. This seems fair enough, if you have to live together in such close proximity and work towards the same goals. Our tour guide did indicate that extroverts were preferable candidates for this kind of setup, but I think I know a good number of self-labelled introverts for whom community living among a small group of trusted like-minded fellows would be just the thing.
The Hockerton community has private family celebrations and shared community ones – for festivals like Christmas, Easter, Hanukkah, Bonfire Night and Halloween. I see this side of things already existing in our more geographically dispersed communities. We have our own gatherings for members of the family or household, and wider events of varying sizes for any excuse we can think of, be it birthdays, Christmas, or Broccoli Appreciation Day (23rd March).
So, I'm still thinking about community. I wouldn't want to live in a place like this – I still prefer life in the city over the isolation of the country, and I'm not much good at gardening (and if I'm honest, the composting toilets did scare me a little). But it's given me some things to think about. To live in a more economically and environmentally sustainable way is more easily done in a team. And to truly share in life together, we have to be prepared to open our doors.
