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Exciting things are starting to happen with Eco-Hamlets UK. We are working on turning it into a social enterprise, so we will finally have the resources to make things happen. The draft proposal can here read here. We welcome as many comments and suggestions as possible, and are looking for people to help make it happen. It will take a while to get there, but will be worth it.

This web site is now a little out of date, but still well worth reading. It will be updated as part of the next stage of our development.

Featured Event
Sat 25th May 2013
Cardigan Green Fair
Cardigan, Pwllhai area (next to Ecoshop)
Eco-Hamlets UK have a stand at Cardigan Green Fair, where you can find out more about us, and what we aim to achieve. It's an exciting time at the moment as we are very close to form.....
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Latest Newsletters
Eco-Hamlets Newsletter 28th April 2013

Latest Blog
Message To All Eco-Hamlets UK Supporters
I've just sent out the following message to everyone on our mailing list. Positive responses were coming in before it had finished sending to everyone! If you haven't received it and would like to be part of making the aims of this group happen, please let me know. You can sign up to the mailing list  .....
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What is an Eco-Hamlet?

A small sustainable neighbourhood, inspired by Permaculture, Transition and Co-housing.

• Permaculture - A design system for creating sustainable places for people
• Transition - A community working togther to create resilience in the face of climate change and peak oil
• Co-housing - Individual homes with shared facilities

Why create an Eco-Hamlet?

• Coping with an unknown future
• Co-operation
• To live a great live surrounded by like-minded people, and
• have privacy and independence when wanted
• Have like-minded neighbours and be integrated into the local community for greater resilence

Why be part of an Organisation?

• Support network
• Avoid duplicated work
• Access to finance and professional support
• Portfolio of projects to help with planning applications etc.

More Detail

What is an eco-hamlet? A hamlet is a settlement that is too small to be defined as a village. An eco-hamlet may well have many of the characteristics of an eco-village, but be too small to fit the definition of one. It may also be too small to be defined as a co-housing scheme, but share many features of one. Eco-Hamlets UK started with the aim of creating one such settlement, but attracted so much interest that our aim is to help people create many of them all over Britain.

Why create an eco-hamlet? For people who wish to live in a sustainable way, with like minded neighbours to share resources with, while having their own private space, it is difficult, if not impossible, to find suitable sites in the mainstream housing market. Land with residential planning permission is very expensive and mostly held by large house building companies, so a settlement on this scale is possibly the largest that can currently be created by ordinary people.

What would it look like? The Vision and Ideas pages suggest some possibilities, but they are only limited by our imagination (and the planning system!). It would probably consist of a small group of houses, and possibly houses divided into flats. In rural areas, it could have surrounding land occupied by smallholders, making at least a partial living from the land, and where food, fuel and other resources for the settlement are grown. In built up areas it could have gardens large enough to provide some of the residents food. The homes could be occupied by people working on the land, running sustainable businesses based on the site, working locally within walking or cycling distance, and retired people who would be available as extra pairs of hands to help out wherever needed. Using the ethics and principles of Permaculture, it would be a fair and sustainable community, where resources are used productively, nature and people are cared for, and people are able to live happy and fulfilling lives.

Who would live there? To buy and develop a suitable site would need a number of people with money available from savings and the sale of their houses. There would also be people with little or no money to invest, but with energy and skills to contribute. There would be a diverse mix of ages, skills and activities, as would be found in any community, but there would be a shared vision.

Where would it be located? Potentially Eco-Hamlets could be located anywhere in Britain.

I may be interested, what do I do now? Read the rest of this web site (by following the links below), and get in touch if you would like to get involved. This organisation is at a very early stage, and ideas will develop as more people get involved.