This information is now out of date, but here’s Crabapple’s website. Contact them if you’re interested. Thanks
Crabapple community is looking for new members
This information is now out of date, but here’s Crabapple’s website. Contact them if you’re interested. Thanks
42 Comments
Amazing …keep up the good work .
Why do you have to work 2 days minimum and provide £4 daily and pay rent…. for those seeking to remove themselves from the debt based system it doesnt seem at all well planned or fair… 2 days work is 16 hours and at minimum wage rate thats £112+ per week why would somebody give that up if they have to pay rent on top as well, your asking a lot and those food costs.. surely the energy invested should be returned unless I read it wrong but i dont think i did otherwise I would love to join a community like this and give my time and energy in return for board and lodge and being welcomed as part of the community as an equal the goal to make the debt based cash system obsolete in our lives….
What a beautiful community I really must come and say hello 🙂
Hi Will,
First, the £4 per day is for visitors.
But you might have got the wrong end of the stick. Who’s going to pay bills / look after house and land if not the members?
I used to live at Redfield Community in Bucks, which had a similar system to Crabapple (a group of us went to visit once to play volleyball).
I had a part-time job (3 days per week), as did everyone else. I had no debt.
My rent, for example, was £250 per month, and it went towards the mortgage, bills, maintenance etc. All essential, and no-one else is going to pay for it. On top of that, I paid £50 per month for food, soap, toilet rolls etc. Very reasonable. The reason I could live there so cheaply (£300 per month for everything) was that I worked 2 days per week in the community. We provided our own maintenance, firewood, and about 50% of our food.
I loved the work – it was one of the reasons I joined. It involved cooking, splitting logs, work on the land, maintenance on the house, looking after chickens, compost, gardening, pressing apple juice – and for 3 years I was a shepherd!
And don’t forget – the work was for me! As a member, I was part-owner of the place.
It was a very cheap place to live, with lots of interesting things to do, healthy food, nice people, interesting visitors, good social life, 20-acre garden.
I think most people will see what an absolute bargain it is – as long as you’re prepared to do some of the work that needs to be done!
We are looking for venues for occasional events for musicians associated with Tribal Voices we are a music collective which evolved from musicians involved with the road protest movements of the 90s, I am going to forward this link to the coordinator of the group and suggest that she comes over and has a chat with you. (she lives close by) Brilliant vision and project community you have there. hope we come and visit you sometime.
Gareth Teasdale
Sounds fab. Love where I am at the mo. Just wanting to wish you all success and happiness there
wow! what a beautiful place. i would love to join you but my teenager is still in school and won’t want to move. very inspiring to know there are places like this xxx
I’m with Kizzy – It sounds exactly what my daughter and I would love – but we only moved to a new area last year and she still has five years more at school – but would love to. isit and keep it in mind for the future!
What is the rent and housekeeping cost per week?
It sounds very reasonable and well-organised. I am single mother to 4 kids. I have to do house chores, house work etc. It can be quite lonely. I am an activist for the deaf organisation. I try to maintain my social life by being involved with the community and volunteer. I do lots of volunteer work. I like the Co-op community idea. It might be good for single parent family. Single parents need other adults. This looks really rewarding for them.
Guys what’s with all this school milarki. Home educate. Do your kids a real big favour and move ditch the Indoctrination they call education
2 days a week work is nothing to live in a place like this , obviously bills and rent have to be paid so why would you not contribute?
Please please can I come and visit next Wednesday and Thursday. July 19/20 2017 as an initial visit. I have emailed you on [email protected] and would love to find out more.
Thank you Sally Collings Bridport.
I would love to come and visit with my 11yr old son. I am a single parent and this sounds so good and well organised. Will email. 🙂 xx
With all due respect to your wonderful set up. Don’t understand how you can be more sustainable and yet permit meat/fish to be consumed. Surely that’s an oxymoron. Where is the meat/fish sourced? This would trouble me greatly. Sorry.
I don’t think it’s an oxymoron. We cover it here – http://www.lowimpact.org/is-it-ethical-to-eat-meat/. They would be much more careful about sourcing their meat than almost anywhere else imaginable, but there are also vegan communities out there. I think sustainability involves eating less meat, rather than none at all.
Last September Crabapple was part of the Super home network, I met a couple of the members for a show & tell on their fantastic log powered heating system, a really nice bunch in idyllic surroundings.
Wow, that’s a bit spooky. I just posted this blog article – http://www.lowimpact.org/superhomes-free-open-house-events-to-have-a-look-at-homes-with-renewable-and-energy-saving-technologies/
We have emailed as a family of 7…we would absolutely love to work with you guys towards sustainability.. Lower our massive carbon footprint and above all just live with like minded folk who care more about people and our environment than what’s in the bank!! – you live once..if you don’t live for a purpose then what do you live for?!
So happy to see Crabapple still alive and thriving, made my day! Haven’t been there since the 70s, when I was living at Lifespan. Wonderful!
Hi, i cant seem to find out how much the rent and bills are, it would be good to put it up on here to give people a better idea of how much they would need – i make yurts and as such only get paid quarterly if not every six months – so i would need a part time job to fill the gaps, but how big is such a gap? Thanks
Hi – there’s an email address in the article.
Sounds amazing. I am in love!
Hi Ben, rent is £200 per month per adult including bills (there is a different arrangement for children which I am not familiar with) plus £4/day for food/ household items if you are at home or £1/day if you are away. In addition to this members must contribute at least 2 days per week towards community work.
Thanks Dave, as he said, our rent goes towards maintaining the place that we live, as does the time we contribute. We vote on what we spend our rent on from a long list of maintenance projects! Most people living here are either retired or self employed and work part time. As a fully mutual housing co-operative no-one needs capital to join (unlike buying a house) but as residents we all jointly own and manage the place, however if anyone leaves they can’t take their contribution with them.
Thanks Gareth, I think we had Tribal Voices on the event calender but it seems to be crossed out now?
Hi Laurence, rent is £200 per month per adult including bills (there is a different arrangement for children which I am not familiar with) plus £4/day for food/ household items if you are at home or £1/day if you are away. In addition to this members must contribute at least 2 days per week towards community work.
Hi Sally, I believe you’ve arranged things with Martin, look forward to meeting you
Hi Fiona, communal meals are mostly vegan, occasionally with a vegetarian option/ cheese addition to a side dish. The communal kitchen is vegetarian. Meat and fish are allowed in the ‘back kitchen.’ In terms of why, I have only recently moved here and am vegan. I imagine it is to do with accessibility, allowing particularly the children who have grown up here to make their own life choices.
Thanks Linzi, I hope you got our holder email. We have received a lot of enquiries, which is great but it is taking us some time to sort through them and get back to people, please bear with us.
Thanks Saffron. If you ever fancy WWOOFing please do get in touch!
Yes, hope to be there this evening.
Sally x
Sounds like you’re developing a great community there. Well done Robin, Dave and all.
what a great community! Surely this is the way of the future .
I’m overseas for a couple of years,otherwise I’d get involved right now. Good luck
I would really like to come visit sometime. I live in Ploughshare Housing Coop in Edinburgh and am really keen to make links and change ideas with other housing coops. I am also a consulting arborist, and would be happy to look round your woods and give you some ideas what to do with them.
I stayed here in the early no ties, a friend lived in the community in the 70s, we’re both pleased to see it still going strong! We both work in woodland management and green crafts, what do you need to know re woodland management?
I stayed for a few days recently and had a great time. Thankyou Graham for showing me around, Thankyou Martin for arranging things for me and thank you everyone who was so welcoming. It’s a good place to be, or so it seemed on my short visit. If this place was nearer to my family and friends (in the South West) I would be asking to come again and again, and probably asking to join! Good luck. I know you will find the right people to join you.
Love Sally
What a beautiful place! Building an alternative to capitalism is also my dream. I’m currently divorced and homeeducating my two kids (8 and 6 years old). I always had the desire to live in a communitty so maybe this could be the right place for us!
A very long time ago I spent a couple of years as a member, living at Berrington. It was a really important and formative part of my life. I loved reading your article, am always delighted to see an update of Crabapple life, and am very tempted to come and visit next time I’m in the UK.
i stayed a few times at Crabapple in the mid 80s and i was quite familiar with the community then. i am supportive of what they do and i am glad to see things are still progressing. i finished my MA in Fine Art in september and although i am in my early 60s i want to develop my artistic practise by myself or with others so i am interested in being part of an artistic community or where i can follow that. i have other skills. At moment i cant say what i will be doing in the short term because i am just recovering from having chemo! best wishes tony w
Hi, I stayed at Crabapple community back in 1972 for a couple of months. Possibly not on the same site as it was just a small farmhouse then. In Llansanfraed if I’ve got the name right?
It was ran very similar to how it is now, with the same values. An organic food shop had just been opened in Shrewsbury next door to Laura Ashley, and I remember being involved in painting the shop logo and interior.
It was my 18th birthday the day I went there and I have great memories of staying there. I would have loved to have stayed longer but had to return home to Middlesbrough as I was low on funds at the time and needed to work. I guess the people I remember there would most likely have moved on now.
Anyway, fond memories.
Regards,
Brian P.
I was at school with David Seaton- and wanted to see if he is “still going”;IF there is someone who could throw me a lead–I’d be grateful
tom davies and I last saw him in Leintwardine
Website ;;www.tomdavies.com ( this was NOT accepted by your form-below )