Buying into a Community

We had always dreamed of moving to the country; I'd grown up there and wanted to give the kids the kind of freedom I'd had, but somehow after living in London and Brighton, not to mention hopping around New York, Sydney, Paris and Tokyo in our youths, village life seemed way too scary. Jed and his spats would look just so out of place.


Two years later, we realise that there are ways in - the school, the village shop, even the Youth Parish Council. But back then, it was the lure of Community, "Co-housing," to give it its proper name, that had us fold away our deck chairs and move from the seaside to rural Sussex. Sharing 25 acres with people from London or Brighton (not to mention hopping around New York, Sydney, Paris and Tokyo in their youths) and living with filmakers and artists, actors and psychotherapists, it all seemed safer somehow. There was even a Glyndebourne prop in the meadow - for no apparent reason.

Community, we decided would mean that there would always be someone sitting on a deck with a bottle of wine to share, a tribe of kids for ours to run with and maybe even some new best friends. Not everyone had to be our cup of tea, but what a challenge it would be to get on with all the neighbours.

The community we know about now is a little more than wine-sharing; it's about car sharing, child-caring, heat-reducing, carbon lowering and inspiring each other to think about something more sustainable. It's about enviously watching others tend their veg plots and poly tunnels while squealing with delight at our first runner bean and carting ten teenagers to the swimming pool in the community minibus when once a Volvo seemed too big to park.

So what does living in a community really mean? Do we have to go to meetings to decide what happens to the communal land? Do we have to share our dinner on Friday night "pot luck"? Do our kids have to go to the same school? Well, no. But where else could you see mediation skills such as those honed from ten years of building this place from a mental hospital to a vibrant community of 20 families? Where else can you cook for four and eat with forty? And with all the communal dance, salsa, art, summer camps, horses, chickens, cooking masterclasses and youth clubs, the kids can go to any one of the excellent local choice of schools during the working day without missing a community moment.

And why then would we leave this Utopian country life? Well, we're not. After two years of being softly seduced by the detachedness of New Build Row, we're planning on going hard core and moving bang into the centre of that old mental hospital and the heart of the community. So we'll still be stopping by for a glass or two and sharing our meal for four with forty. And our kids will grow up dancing and painting, scuplting and debating, and we'll all grow old redefining the idea of community life...

For more information, give us a call on 01323 815704 or email me gilly@gillysmith.com