Long term project / sustainable living / looking for like-minded people

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UKHippy is a long running online community and of likeminded people exploring all interpretations on what it means to be living an alternative lifestyle -- we welcome discussions on everything related to sustainability, the environment, alternative spirituality, music, festivals, politics and more -- membership of this website is free but supported by the community.

    Quote from NomadicRT

    Thanks for the advice,sorry your experience was not a wholesome one but having Italian family background I have some knowledge of how corrupt most of the sytem is there and few if any places you can escape it and not surprised at what you say,so despite my language advantage Id kind of settled on the idea of Northern Spain or Portugal as preferred destinations.However the Spanish right wing govt slapping taxes on solar installations smacked of the Italian way of doing things-interfering for their own agenda-so I hope with their losses in recent elections they will eventually get kicked out and things will go back to being more sensible....who knows. :/


    Hi, the only tax on solar installations
    are those that have disconnected their mains electricity supply or have built a new house very close to mains electricity. I'm afraid the policy has been so unsuccessful that I don't know one person who has paid it. I'm friends with a Spanish notary she has actually challenged a few bills for people in the town and no one has bothered to pursue it.
    This is one of those things that gets reported on in the 'English' news but is not really accurate.

    Years may wrinkle the skin, but to give up on your dreams and ideals, wrinkles the soul.

    Was so awesome to come across this thread and to follow your journey Adam Unlike others, I don't so much see an all talk no action issue at all. There's a lot of interest and ideas. Things happen at exactly the right time. Good for you. Have to admit I did utter an 'oh :( ' when you announced you'd found your significant other! I was totally going to audition hahaha. All the very best though! I'd live to follow progress if you end up with a blog or such.

    Quote from Thylacinegirl

    Was so awesome to come across this thread and to follow your journey Adam Unlike others, I don't so much see an all talk no action issue at all. There's a lot of interest and ideas. Things happen at exactly the right time. Good for you. Have to admit I did utter an 'oh :( ' when you announced you'd found your significant other! I was totally going to audition hahaha. All the very best though! I'd live to follow progress if you end up with a blog or such.


    Thanks for the kind words Thylacinegirl :-) Positive words are good to hear - everyone is different and things will happen when they happen. Of course I understand the cynical attitudes, we all can be cynical - its hard not to be in the societies we often live in. That says more about other people than about me though. I do appreciate hearing the positive words more though!


    It made me smile that you followed my journey through the thread and a chuckle (and sympathy) at your reaction to me finding my partner. On a serious note it can be so hard to find someone to share such a journey with and I have reacted similarly to emails, threads, posts etc, during my search so I totally empathise with you. As you say, things happen at exactly the right time :-)


    Are you pursuing something similar in life? My partner and I really do want to try and set up some kind of eco-village/community so would welcome any interest so please feel free to PM me if interested, or have any questions/suggestions etc. If not, good luck with your journey and we plan to set up a vlog and document our progress once we get started so you can always follow that :-)


    Adam

    On a wider Note, we have been considering Slovenia, France and Portugal recently. We have been torn between countries (mainly Portugal and Sweden), but have come back to Sweden as it seems to tick more boxes than the other countries for us. The only real downside seems to be the inability to homeschool. Whereas there seems to be more sacrifices/problems with other countries or potential difficulties with legalities maybe. There is still much we don't know of course. We are planning on visiting Sweden early this year to see what it might be like and hopefully visit an eco-village that has already been set up.


    theraven has been kind enough to share his research into Sweden and has given permission for the link to be shared here. For anyone wanting to find out more:


    Here's a dropbox link:
    https://www.dropbox.com/sh/d90j0yvp6...jOPFn629a?dl=0


    There are two files:
    -a map of Scandinavia divided into arbitrary regions, with coloured dots for the main towns in each region (major cities are labelled). The yellow circles indicate an approximate 1 hour drive to the town at the centre of the circle.
    -an Excel file with all the Sweden-related info, organised around those towns


    The Excel file has more maps and photos in it, for reference (all photos from Google Images - not mine). You might want to start by comparing climate data - that's in the first worksheet, on the far-right. Most of mid/southern Sweden gets about 6 hours of sunshine at Christmas-time, versus 8 hours in Birmingham.


    If you want to look at land/houses, I used hemnet.se. You want things "till salu" (for sale) rather than "till leie" (to let). Rural properties are generally villa (detached), fritidshus ("free-time house" ie cottage), tomt (bare land) or gård (farm).
    You can use oanda.com/currency/converter to figure out how many kronor in a pound, but you should be able to find lots of old farmhouses for less than £100 000, if you're ok with being 2 hours from a major city.


    Swedishpod101.com is a decent language site - you can find some videos for free on youtube to get started. But Google Translate is enough to get you through Hemnet.se


    - theraven

    A friend of mine loves Sweden says that the people there are really chilled and eco minded, properties are cheap and isn't that difficult to drive to. In my youth i spent some time in Finland and i have to say i find that duality of summer/winter is a bit too extreme, plus the mosquitos can remove any enjoyment of good weather. I think that sometimes we forget how amazing the Bristish Isles are. From a Scandinavian perspective we live in almost tropical conditions ;-) plus we have avebury, stonehendge and a multitude of other places to connect with.

    How has/will leaving the EU affect moving/buying in other countrys like Sweden?I know it is probably a dim question but I am not very uptogether with politics.Whilst we have the benefit of the Gulf Stream our climate is good but should that stop,which is very possible with so much freshwater dilution we will freeze up the same as others on our latitude.As for history werent there all those glorious vikings charging about over there?:)

    Quote from dustydave

    A friend of mine loves Sweden says that the people there are really chilled and eco minded, properties are cheap and isn't that difficult to drive to. In my youth i spent some time in Finland and i have to say i find that duality of summer/winter is a bit too extreme, plus the mosquitos can remove any enjoyment of good weather. I think that sometimes we forget how amazing the Bristish Isles are. From a Scandinavian perspective we live in almost tropical conditions ;-) plus we have avebury, stonehendge and a multitude of other places to connect with.

    I've no idea how brexit will effect things he's going for it and trying to achieve getting citizenship within Sweden before that happens. I hear you on the gulf stream...who knows, i suspect that we will still have some warming effect from being near to the sea, probably colder but not so cold as Moscow which is on the same lattitude. Cold dry winters hot wet summers.

    [quote='Thylacinegirl','http://ukhippy.com/freakpower/forum/index.php?thread/&postID=1535982#post1535982'] Have to admit I did utter an 'oh :( ' when you announced you'd found your significant other! I was totally going to audition hahaha. ]


    Hey Adam, i too reacted how Thylacinegirl did, after deciding this morning that I should actually try to find an earth-friendly community to live in, because of, and this may sound silly, a conversation last night with my recently acquired boyfriend about childrens names. See i've had my heart set on Skye and Wolf for a while now, whereas he likes Sarah. Now this is a small thing you may think, but to me it is a huge difference, for though i live in modern society, work in a supermarket, rent a house, i do not feel a bond with it. My bond is with nature, and i have always wanted to live in harmony with it, and as we clashed over kids names, and i thought about raising a child, sending them to school etc, i realised that i could not bear to do it, not in modern society. I am alternative. I could never have a child called Sarah. I cant keep up the charade anymore of living within society while not being part of it. I neeed to be surrounded by like-minded people, in a nature-nuturing environment.


    Trouble is, i have zero capital, I have a dog with issues, and due to long term depression i struggle with motivation and determination, and have zero skills/experience in self-sustainability. So today, on my first day of really persuing an actual life goal, i have gotten excited by the things i've found (Lammas, Redfield, and lots of people with similar mind-sets to me), and also disheartened to learn that so many are going it alone, that the corporate world makes it difficult and going abroad may be necessary, and that capitol is a necessity. So basically, im interested to hear how your plans are going, and would love to hear suggestions from anyone about where to do taster-events such as the Redfield living-in weekend, and about any set up communities or even just enviro-friendly villages/areas. or even where to find groups to attend to meet like-minded people? I live in Somerset but am from Merseyside originally, and don't know many people down here.


    Anyways, sorry to ramble, hope your plans are still making progress, and best of luck to everyone with green dreams and endeavours.
    -Jeye x

    Maybe some cause for concern but also lots of highly slanted/racist propaganda really. The stuff about Sweden being rape capital of Europe or whatever is highly misleading, for instance.


    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-39056786



    Quote from Friday

    Hey guys, if you are looking at Sweden with rose tinted glasses, you ought to read some of the stuff in this thread:
    http://www.greenenergyinvestor…index.php?showtopic=20122
    The "New" Sweden : A country fast losing its identity

    Is this still available I'm 35 male and my Dog I can cook build clean grow put my hands to most things and if not I'm always willing to try my name is George and my dog is dolly

    Hi All,


    Just a quick message to say will reply to all previous posters in the coming week. We travelled to Sweden over Easter to check out how we felt about the country, the people, nature and the general feel to see if it really was the best choice for us. We basically travelled west to east covering cities and nature and stopped off at an eco-village along the way to get a feel for one, see how things are done etc.


    Sweden is a beautiful country and I believe we would have no problems living there, however just in terms of the costs, both land, and living costs (as we will start off being less self sufficient), it is just not feasible with our budget. We have now moved our focus on Czech or Slovakia, which we hope is a good blend between Eastern and Western Europe, seems to be in a good location geographically. We hope to visit this summer to really see if we could live there. We know there are always sacrifices, we wont find the perfect country but we have ruled out quite a few now and have a very small shortlist.


    Our plan, assuming all is well, is to buy land next year and start the adventure next summer regardless of anything else.


    Adam

    dustydave,


    You are right, the British Isles are very good, its a shame what we want is just not feasible here, at least not without a massive fight and of course not forgetting the much higher costs. Also, interesting to speculate on the gulf stream, who knows what will happen when/if that weakens/moves.


    cricket,


    Thanks, I had posted originally on diggers and dreamers - not a bad site and I spoke to a few people from there. However the posting kept getting filtered last, even after reposting updates and was getting less response and during a time I was questioning what I really wanted I took it down. Will probably post something there again in the future.


    As for leaving the EU. Good question, who really knows at this stage. Hopefully we will be there before we actually leave the EU. Otherwise it could mean having a commercial business/plan or something. Just hope the negotiations take the full two years!


    We are still to do research on the areas of Czech or Slovakia, but we would like to choose an area that is robust enough with climate that should global warming alter things it wont become really difficult there. Obviously this is all a guessing game but I'm thinking about water mainly, but this also links back to comments about the gulf stream and who knows what might happen with global weather patterns.


    Friday/Grumble


    Thanks for the contribution, have to agree with grumble after having a look at the link, though didn't read the whole thing or listen to it all.


    RainbowJeye, Dolly,


    Will send you a pm shortly, thanks.


    Adam

    Just in case anyone who reads this thread is thinking of moving to Sweden, have a look at this:
    http://www.thecommonsenseshow.…ce-chief-help-us-help-us/


    Sweden is being torn to pieces by Muslim immigrants and refugees. Law enforcement is crying out for help, and it is only a question of time before the country will need military intervention from abroad in order to avoid a humanitarian catastrophe.

    Sweden’s National Police Commissioner, Dan Eliasson, spoke on national television and pleaded for assistance: “Help us, help us!,” he said, while warning that Swedish police forces no longer can uphold the law and therefore must ask all good powers in the country to support them......

    Quote from AnjiP

    oh wow...time flies!! been a crazy year in so many ways trying to cope as a single woman dealing with a house building project! interesting, but i have learnt lots and have loved it including doing two workshops with Straw Works around building with straw bales, and then helping out for many weekends on an actual build!! so where are we at? well, onto site number 4!! oh yes, its a journey!! But, the last site is amazing, 3 acres with a 21 roomed 'hall' on it, with planning permission for 4 builds in the grounds (where there are static caravans at the moment.) I've just about raised the funds to purchase it, but still have structural survey to do...etc. hope im not tempting fate here by talking about it, but if this one based in south Lincolnshire falls through, i could relocate to anywhere with the funds i believe!! so, if you know of another potential site, or if anyone is interested in knowing more do message me, but there will be a vetting system to ensure that the people with the right values join the new project - INsight Community (and Hut. Concept Network, the workers coop that is optional and linked) we will, all being well, be offering educational facilities for all ages around small holdings, sustainability, traditional arts and crafts and a therapeutic retreat centre. Therefore anyone with appropriate skills will have an advantage. aporter@lincolnshirecda.coop Anji xx


    Hi Anji,
    Do you have an update at all on your project in Lincolnshire, did it get off the ground?



    Obviously I would be interested to hear any update from you Adam as I have found this an interesting post.


    Thanks.

    Hi Sprouted,


    Sorry for the late reply, spent most of the summer busy and away from internet with fiancé and her family. Well, in a last minute turn around we found Latvia as a potential country - over 40% forest land, in the EU and low land prices seem to make it ideal amongst other things. What we were concerned about was language and culture but compared to Czech Republic and Slovakia, Latvia seemed better in many ways, a bit like Sweden without the costs!


    So we visited for nearly two weeks this summer and spent a few nights in different parts of the country to get a feel for whether it was for us. Now, I wont go into the whole story here, but the whole experience was... interesting to say the least. Full of incident! Will probably blog about it at some point! Anyway in the end, it was clear that Latvia was not the place for us - we just didn't feel at home there - though some great places to eat in Riga for vegans/vegetarians/raw food lovers!


    We have now made a final decision - after visiting a couple of countries and doing loads of research, we are now actively looking for land/ruins in France. Was never first choice but was always a possibility, we felt it has the least compromise here, and in the end the most viable for us. The preference will be Brittany, but we will not rule anywhere out if its just right for us. We are going to spend the next 10 months saving while looking, and we are not far off our goal, so we could be buying something anytime into the new year - it all depends on what is available of course and whether it feels right for us. We will obviously go visit the area and research before committing to anything.


    We still hope to find people to join us in the area to work together, help each other, and trade for example. We will be creating a facebook page, video blogs which we detail everything such as who we are, what we are looking for, how we have got to this point and moving forward, how we set up every aspect of our future life. The idea being people can either connect with us, join us in the area and complement what we are doing, or we can give ideas and help to people to do something similar elsewhere.


    We will be working on this over the next few months - I will post when things are ready and update accordingly. Until next time,


    Adam

    In Brittany, the land is usually not the best quality and property is more expensive there.
    Summers are cool but winters are mild. I would suggest looking at other regions.


    But there are still plenty of bargain properties with land to be found all around France.
    Remember, it is a buyers market in the French rural areas so you can negotiate a good price.

    Oh gosh I have really slacked off here!


    I'm sorry to hear about the site, I am one who has not contributed much but do often check posts. So I have contributed to its downfall I guess! Its a shame that such a vast amount of knowledge on a whole range of things will be harder to find now, and of course its clear this site has been a place for people in need to seek and find companionship, help, or just good company.


    As far as my own situation, I have neglected this thread for a long time and progress has been slow, but I am getting closer. If people are still following or interested, we are still on the path, its a been a slow walk but we are closer. I have been so busy lately I haven't had the energy to put into this thread or any videos yet.


    I have left my job in the UK, moved to the Netherlands temporarily while my fiancé gives birth and hopefully next spring, summer or autumn we will be moving to France. We are actively looking for places now and trying to figure out finances. And depending on the outcomes and what is available will move asap.


    We have finally decided to look at the southern parts of France - primarily south western such as Aquitaine or Midi-Pyrenees. Over the next couple of months we WILL (I mean it this time! haha) be recording video blogs on our story to date and the reasons we chose what we have and what our plan is, and to include potentially finding other people or working with other people who share our goals. As well as other videos just highlighting how we do things and what works for us/mistakes etc.


    Although it pains me to say this, I am having to set up facebook to allow us to hopefully get more people aware and more conscious about health/environmental issues and hopefully contribute to the good work that many other people are already doing by living sustainably.


    If anyone wants to follow our long term story feel free to add me on facebook, Adam Van Harrowby. We will get there in the end! For those that have read and contributed to this thread, and got in touch, thanks for all the input and suggestions. Wish you all the best in your own futures.


    Adam.

    Adam


    I look forward to more updates and esp videos. I see the YouTube duo 'Indie Projects" have bought some land in Portugal near the Algarve I think. They seem to generate a lot of money from their online activities too. Rather too much begging for attention. I hope they don't become too money oriented. In fact, now I think of it, I much prefer the "Westfalia Digital Nomads" on YouTube.