Earlier this year we heard Helena’s reflections on 20 years at Hockerton Housing Project. Now we hear from our newest neighbours, Deb and Pete, 2 years after moving from the local market town of Southwell…

“My husband and I moved in to Hockerton Housing Project just over two years ago. We are in our early to mid fifties and have a son of 27 years of age, who at the time was living in Japan but since then has come home to HHP which he loves!

We had lived in an ordinary house in Southwell for over 25 years and it was a big move for us albeit only a distance of 2 miles.

Why did we make the move? We knew we loved growing things, in fact we had an allotment in Southwell for a long time; we knew we wanted to have farm animals but didn’t want to be tied down by them or for that matter the growing; and we knew we wanted to live as sustainable a life as possible!

But we were worried about the unknowns of cohousing – the amount of work we would have to do in the community, privacy, and how we would fit in.

Two years on we wonder what on earth we were worried about.

It is great to have sheep, that I look after (by choice) on a day to day basis, but someone else is always around to look after them when I want to go away for the weekend or on holiday. It is the same with the people who look after the chickens, they just tell us when they are going away and someone volunteers to look after them until they are back.

As for the growing – it is a 1/5th of the work of looking after your own allotment and so much more satisfying than seeing food wasted when there is a glut of something. I have a well-used jam and chutney pan and a fully-stocked freezer to see us through the winter for fruit and veg. Our bees produce our own honey which tastes simply wonderful…in fact it’s a strong favourite with the extended family and hence I managed to get through 12 jars last year!

I have learnt from others to deal with the ewes lambing, there is always someone else about to help out when intervention is needed, and sharing the lambing experience is just awesome. We had 16 lambs this year, 8 boys and 8 girls so have a flock of 32 altogether. Amy, my next door neighbour who is ten is going to be a fab little shepherdess…next year I could almost leave the lambing to her!

No longer do I get in my car and go miles to purchase flowers for my little flower business instead I walk out into my garden or up to the cutting garden at the allotment to select seasonal sustainable flowers which smell gorgeous. That was something I never dreamed of doing until I moved here. I nip into our cooperative’s office a couple of times a week to check the inbox and promote and manage tours – it’s a twenty five yard walk from my back gate. I guide tours when we have them for schools and universities with other residents and also do catering for conferences when they are held in our purpose built sustainable venue.

In terms of privacy, my life is more private here than it ever was in the middle of Southwell. As residents there is a great respect for each others’ privacy but this all happens without being made explicit.

This is actually how I hoped life would be, it is idyllic. You do have to pinch yourself every day when you turn round that corner at the end of the road you come into another world. So many local people come and say I never knew that this was here and are blown away by its beauty and how warm our homes with no heating really are!”

If you want to find out more, do come and see for yourself on our next public tour on 19 September – booking essential!