Thursday 8 February 2018

Visiting The Trivselhus Factory



Tom and I had the great fortune to represent our members on a recent Trivselhus factory visit to Sweden. It was quite something to see the size of the "hanger" that had our frames under construction, and receive a warm welcome from our hosts. This is house building like you have never seen before!

Sunday 26 November 2017

Creating our “Village”


A recent trip to participate in a learning day at the Older Women’s Cohousing development (OWCH) in Barnet gave me food for thought. After moving in last year, the group are about to celebrate 12 months of cohousing. But with just 25 properties it’s a reasonably close group of women over 55years. We will have a very different dynamic!

Monday 2 October 2017

How did the name Marmalade Lane come about?


How does marmalade fit together with a new housing development and a cohousing community? How did the name come about and who decided on it? This is what this post is meant to explain.

Wednesday 16 August 2017

How do you solve a problem like parking?




From the beginning, the car-free lane has been a central (literally and figuratively) focus of the cohousing community. Physically, it runs across the development, and provides a space that encourages neighbours to interact, and a space for children to play without the noise and danger of motor vehicles. However, it is also a statement: that space for people is more important than space for cars; and part of our ethos to ‘live lightly’ and reduce the environmental impact of our travel.

Sunday 4 October 2015

K1 community-building round the campfire


Camping and glorious autumn weather don’t usually go together in the same sentence. But
muddy wellies were nowhere in sight as the sun shone down on us all in the Cambridgeshire
countryside.

Monday 7 September 2015

What's in a “Lane”...?

A “Road” by any other name ...

The Oxford English Dictionary says it's “a narrow road especially in a rural area”.

In cohousing terms it's definitely a lot more!