Diggers and Dreamers

Cohousing, low impact communities, housing co-ops and big house communes. Diggers and Dreamers is the go-to place for intentional community in Britain. In this podcast we hear the voices, wisdom and stories of people who have spent years digging, dreaming and reflecting on community living across the UK.

Bridport Cohousing: a developing community that never gave up 05/04/2025

Bridport Cohousing: a developing community that never gave up Monica King and Lin Scrannage describe the long journey that has finally led to the successful creation of Bridport Cohousing Community in Dorset. Despite all the legal and financial obstacles that they faced they never gave up. Their living units are now all occupied and their community house is very close to completion. It's an inspiring tale. Bridport Cohousing at Diggers & Dreamers Bridport Cohousing School of Natural Building Hooke Park /episode/index/show/6f53418a-972d-4c10-8641-33614cc930fb/id/36427955

Pilsdon Community: A life centred on prayer, hospitality and work 03/31/2025

Pilsdon Community: A life centred on prayer, hospitality and work Kirsten chats with Mary Davies and James Newman who are both long term members of Pilsdon Community. They're joined by Helen Lynch who has just become the new Warden. They talk about the original inspiration for the community and its founding members back in 1958. Nearly seven decades later the place is still going strong as a radically inclusive community which offers struggling people an opportunity to find a way through their problems. Pilsdon Community at Diggers & Dreamers: https://diggersanddreamers.org.uk/community/pilsdon-community Pilsdon Community: https://www.pilsdon.org.uk/ Nicholas Ferrar https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_Ferrar Little Gidding Community https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Gidding_community Pilsdon Morning Gaynor Smith 1982, ISBN 13: 9780863030598 Spaceheads: https://spaceheads.co.uk/recordings/a-new-world-in-our-hearts/ /episode/index/show/6f53418a-972d-4c10-8641-33614cc930fb/id/35947435

Matt Holland: Lower Shaw Farm - Oasis in Suburbia 02/27/2025

Matt Holland: Lower Shaw Farm - Oasis in Suburbia Matt describes how he was born into a Bruderhof Community in England which then moved to... South America! Back in the UK as a young adult in the 1970s he chanced upon Lower Shaw - an old farmhouse with a bit of land that was fast being surrounded by the expansion of Swindon. His story then takes us through the various stages that Lower Shaw Farm has gone through in the intervening decades. Lower Shaw Farm Bruderhof Communities Spaceheads: /episode/index/show/6f53418a-972d-4c10-8641-33614cc930fb/id/35472855

Barbara Sanders And Chris Coates: Lives In Common, Part 2 01/28/2025

Barbara Sanders And Chris Coates: Lives In Common, Part 2 Barbara Sanders and Chris Coates continue the story of Burnley-based People in Common. This episode covers the move from terraced houses to Altham Cornmill and the many creative ways in which this move was facilitated. A big thank you goes out to the dozens of volunteers who contributed their labour... and especially an informal organisation of the time that was called "Rapid Transformations". All RT needed was a bottle of whisky and a site for their sauna! People in Common A Life in Common Spaceheads: /episode/index/show/6f53418a-972d-4c10-8641-33614cc930fb/id/35049305

Barbara Sanders and Chris Coates: Lives in Common, Part 1 12/15/2024

Barbara Sanders and Chris Coates: Lives in Common, Part 1 As another 1970s commune heads for its fiftieth anniversary we interview Barbara Sanders - one of the founders - and Chris Coates who joined later but lived at People in Common for a couple of decades. In a surprising turn of events some cheap and cheerful terraced houses in Burnley became the test location for pioneering co-operative model rules that remain important to this day. People in Common A Life in Common Spaceheads: /episode/index/show/6f53418a-972d-4c10-8641-33614cc930fb/id/34459215

Mary Inglis – Findhorn Community: a long and illustrious history 11/13/2024

Mary Inglis – Findhorn Community: a long and illustrious history Mary joined the Findhorn Community back in 1973 so she has a really good overview of all that's happened there in the intervening decades. It seems that recent events may be making the place far more "intentional" than it once was. Findhorn New Findhorn Association Findhorn Foundation Trust (SCIO) /episode/index/show/6f53418a-972d-4c10-8641-33614cc930fb/id/33919927

Nancy Thompson – Growing up Hippie 10/04/2024

Nancy Thompson – Growing up Hippie Nancy spent her early years at Shrubb Family in Norfolk. In this podcast she tells us just how inspiring it was to grow up in the alternative East Anglian culture of the 1970s and 80s. Nancy's Substack Shrubb Family Albion Fairs Global Village Trucking Company (BBC documentary) Spaceheads: /episode/index/show/6f53418a-972d-4c10-8641-33614cc930fb/id/33327022

Freer Spreckley – Lifespan: A Commune on the Moors 09/14/2024

Freer Spreckley – Lifespan: A Commune on the Moors As Lifespan Community celebrates its half centenary we bring you an interview with Freer Spreckley who was one of the founders back in 1974. He and Hylda Sims were both alumni of the famous Summerhill School and originally saw Lifespan as being a kind of lifelong version of Summerhill. Freer describes the early years of that isolated intentional community based in terraced houses, located high in the Yorkshire Moors. Summerhill School Lifespan Community Collective Commune on the Moors: The Story of Lifespan Spaceheads: /episode/index/show/6f53418a-972d-4c10-8641-33614cc930fb/id/33053787

Cath Muller – Communes in the North 08/03/2024

Cath Muller – Communes in the North Cath Muller has had a long history in co-operativism having had a key role in the Radical Routes Network as well as being a member of Cornerstone Housing Co-op in Leeds. A few years ago she travelled (over-sea) to North America and was particularly inspired by a visit to Twin Oaks Community in Virginia. Now she's working with others to create "A Commune in the North" with the idea of bring about something on the same scale as Twin Oaks in the UK. And she doesn't want there to be just one commune... she wants there to be many of them! Radical Routes Cornerstone Housing Co-operative A Commune in the North Twin Oaks Community Spaceheads: /episode/index/show/6f53418a-972d-4c10-8641-33614cc930fb/id/32423852

Jonathan How – bringing co-operation to a wider audience 07/04/2024

Jonathan How – bringing co-operation to a wider audience In this episode we're going in-house and speaking to Jonathan How – one of the original members of the Diggers & Dreamers team. As well as communal living he's had past involvements in radical bookshops, wholefoods, publishing, co-op development and more recently local government. Following his path from the British urban squatting movement of the 1970s to the present day we hear how his conclusion is that the hippies were right all along – they just needed to be a bit more organised! If we're ever going to achieve anything then we all need to rebalance our mindsets so that they're made up of equal parts digging and dreaming. Diggers & Dreamers Timeline: Spaceheads: /episode/index/show/6f53418a-972d-4c10-8641-33614cc930fb/id/32011352

Bill Metcalf – a Lifelong Communitarian 06/02/2024

Bill Metcalf – a Lifelong Communitarian This month we welcome Dr Bill Metcalf both a lifelong communitarian and an academic based in Australia. Bill starts us off by exploring the definition of intentional community and the utopian goal of living a ‘better’ life. This prompts the question of what we mean by better, who gets to decide this, how is this shaped by the politics and history of communities? Dr William Metcalf: Shared Visions Shared Lives Bill Metcalf 1996, ISBN 13: 9781899171019 Spaceheads: /episode/index/show/6f53418a-972d-4c10-8641-33614cc930fb/id/31569312

Whiteway Colony - Anarchy in the Cotswolds 04/30/2024

Whiteway Colony - Anarchy in the Cotswolds In this episode host Kirsten Stevens-Wood interviews David Harris, who is a resident and archivist from an extraordinary community called Whiteway Colony. Whiteway was founded in 1898 by Tolstoyan anarchists, and has been going strong for over 125 years. David shares some of Whiteway’s most interesting stories, including intrusions from spies, accusations of “beastly morals”, and sharing taken to the next level! He also explains how Whiteway residents live together today, and how he is archiving Whiteway’s rich history. Whiteway Colony: Utopia Britannica: Whiteway Colony: Social History of a Tolstoyan Community Joy Thacker 1993, ISBN 13: 9780952176008 Spaceheads: /episode/index/show/6f53418a-972d-4c10-8641-33614cc930fb/id/31010968

Diggers and Dreamers

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