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    Smallholding with heart: advice about getting and running a smallholding from Janet Jenkins of Cuckoo Farm

    Embarking on a new life in the countryside, away from the trappings of urban existence, is a dream increasingly common to many. This week we interviewed Janet Jenkins about her and her family’s smallholding journey, putting the heart back into the land at Cuckoo Farm. Read more

    How to reduce the environmental impact of your wedding

    Jo Cowan of Belle Bridal | 22-Jan-2017 | 2

    Your wedding day is obviously one of the biggest days of your life — but it can also be huge for your carbon footprint. In the UK, the average cost of a wedding is over £20,000. Not only is this a huge amount of money to spend on a single day Read more

    Help our off-grid, timber, straw-bale and stone ‘eco-pod’ project happen, then come and stay in it!

    Hi, my name is Cassie. My daughter is called Bea, she’s the bigger girls in the picture there. She absolutely loves horses! I also have a son called David, who is going to be an actor; my husband is called Nigel, and our eldest son is called Ted. Read more

    Looking for the xmas gift that could change someone’s life? Here’s why WWOOF membership could be what you’re looking for

    Scarlett Penn of WWOOF UK | 02-Dec-2016 | 5

    It’s late autumn and I’m sitting alone, feeling empty, in a comfortable house in High Wycombe. It’s 5.30 and I’ve just returned from work; I’m a single moderately successful professional doing the 9-5 in a very ordinary existence. Read more

    New report: number of plastic bags on UK beaches falls by almost half – so charging 5p for plastic bags works?

    The number of plastic carrier bags found on UK beaches in surveys carried out by the Marine Conservation Society (MCS) has dropped by almost half between 2015 and 2016. This is the lowest number reported in over a decade, and fantastic news for marine wildlife. Read more

    Rent first to see if a self-build home in a cohousing project at an eco-chateau in France is for you

    Ruth Phillips of Eco Chateau | 11-Nov-2016 | 0

    An cohousing eco-hamlet around a chateau in the Dordogne region of France is being formed. You can rent a plot to see if the project is for you, before deciding whether to become a co-owner. Read more

    Promoting public transport – how to travel by train more cheaply (without breaking the law)

    Dave Darby of Lowimpact.org | 20-Oct-2016 | 2

    A way to reduce our impact on the environment is to increase the number of journeys made on public transport relative to the number made by car. So we’re doing this to encourage you to take the train rather than drive. Read more

    How to quit the rat race to go WWOOFing for 3 years (even with young children) as a gateway to a new life

    Dave Darby of Lowimpact.org | 08-Oct-2016 | 8

    This is an interview with Mariann and Gabor, a Hungarian couple with 2 young children, who left their jobs to go WWOOFing. We wanted to show that WWOOFing is a route out of the ‘rat race’ Read more

    New Lowimpact.org publication: a knitting and textiles tour of Scotland by folding bicycle

    Lowimpact.org has a new publication, about a 57-year-old (sorry Janet) woman’s decision to leave her home in Ayrshire and take a grand tour of Scotland on a Brompton folding bicycle, visiting and giving workshops for textile groups along the way. Read more

    Is it a good idea to recruit (in N America and Europe) for sustainable living apprenticeships in Peru?

    Dave Darby of Lowimpact.org | 01-Mar-2016 | 8

    We’ve just been approached by someone running ‘sustainable living apprenticeships’ in Peru, asking if there’s anywhere to promote them on our site. This sort of thing happens all the time, by the way – yoga retreats in India, conferences in Malaysia, meditation on Greek islands etc. Read more

    Can you adopt a natural builder for 3 nights in exchange for a free VIP ticket to Ecobuild?

    Oliver Swann of Natural Homes | 26-Feb-2016 | 0

    Ecobuild is a three-day natural building exhibition at the Excel Centre in London from the 8th to the 10th of March. Ecobuild is the leading UK exhibition and conference for the construction and energy market Read more

    Fly away: reflections on Westerners abroad

    Fly away, plug in to your chosen third world metropolis with the arrogant urgency that accompanies our civilisation, departure lounge to lounge, no sense of progression or gradual change necessary within this flying tube. Read more

    Can I have a compost loo instead of a chemical toilet in a camper van or a narrowboat?

    First of all, why would you want to do that in the first place? Well, it’s because of the toxic nature of the chemicals used in chemical toilets – but we’ll blog about that later. For now, let’s talk about whether there’s an alternative. Read more

    The price of the average wedding is now over £20k; how to do it for much less and give the finger to ‘Brides’ magazine

    Flanked by an advert for the Ocean Club honeymoon resort in the Bahamas, with young bride and groom toasting a glass of champagne, Brides – “the UK’s number 1 bridal magazine” announces to its readers that “Planning your wedding starts here” Read more

    10 reasons our yurt holiday on a farm in Wales was the best ever

    Dave Darby of Lowimpact.org | 11-Aug-2015 | 3

    We got back from a holiday in a yurt at Old Chapel Farm in Powys last night. We were bowled over, and this article is a little advert for yurt holidays on farms and smallholdings in the UK, although several of the points below are specific to Old Chapel. Read more

    Some countries don’t get vegetarianism: how to cope as a veggie abroad

    If you’re looking to make the change to a vegetarian or vegan lifestyle, there is no shortage of helpful advice out there to guide you as you take those difficult first steps: ‘take things slowly; make it easy on yourself; set realistic goals; provide the right environment for success, etc. etc.’ Read more

    Holidays without flying: how to cycle around Scotland on a folding bike

    Obviously this isn’t a ‘no-fly’ holiday if you live on the other side of the world to Scotland, but I’m sure you have somewhere beautiful closer to home for a holiday that doesn’t involve an environmentally-damaging flight. Read more

    Overland to Australia 4: yurts/gers in Mongolia

    Sam Ryan of Lowimpact.org | 25-Jan-2013 | 0

    Sam Ryan worked for Lowimpact.org in the UK for a year, and is now on his way overland, with his partner Dani, back home to Australia to set up Low-impact Australia over there. He’s sending us a few blog articles en route. Read more

    Overland to Australia 3: Trans-Siberian Railway

    Sam Ryan of Lowimpact.org | 05-Nov-2012 | 0

    Sam Ryan worked for Lowimpact.org in the UK for a year, and is now on his way overland, with his partner Dani, back home to Australia to set up Low-impact Australia over there. He’s going to send us a few blog articles en route. This third one is about the trans-Siberian railway. Read more

    Overland from the UK to Australia, part 2

    Sam Ryan of Lowimpact.org | 05-Sep-2012 | 0

    Sam Ryan worked for Lowimpact.org in the UK for a year, and is now on his way overland, with his partner Dani, back home to Australia to set up Low-impact Australia over there. He’s going to send us a few blog articles en route. This second one is about couchsurfing. Read more

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