We truly believe that we can create a sustainable, integrated community at Trelay over the next ten years. We are committed to living lightly on the Earth, to exploring more deeply the meanings of sustainability, self-sufficiency and resilience, to discovering how a diverse group of people can move towards these aspirations.
Through effective communication, we shall develop supportive, caring, harmonious relationships, so that our children grow up in a respectful and loving environment. We are aiming for deep, loving friendships and emotional support through difficulties. We shall have effective ways of managing anger and criticism, and resolving conflicts. Trust, responsibility and conscientiousness will form the bed-rocks of a close, strong community, blessed with happy, healthy, helpful children.
We shall have good friends in St Gennys and be respected in the wider community, being an inspiration to and being inspired by our friends, our families and our visitors.
Sharing chores and projects will be fun, and so will the celebrations of our combined achievements. Community teams will work together regularly, experiencing the joy of working in a non-hierarchical, equal, fair, co-operative environment. But we shall also respect personal peace and privacy, and develop contemplative meditation spaces with sacred atmospheres, so that Trelay will become a prayerful, spiritual place; a place to ‘be’ as well as to ‘do’. We shall have barbecues and gins and tonics on our terrace with a sea view; splash down water-slides into our pool; enjoy music, yoga, crafts, coffee mornings and book clubs and games with the children; and go out for seaside picnics, fishing and surfing.
We expect perhaps 20 –30 adults to live at Trelay, a variety of young and old people, with probably more than 10 children. The community composition will be dynamic, ever-changing, with skills and learning being enhanced by new residents and visitors, so that we become ever more self-sufficient in skills. Our plan is to for the community to earn money to reduce our mortgage so that we head for financial sustainability. We shall have a robust internal economy too. The financial structures we set up will support individuals as well as the greater good of the community.
Self-sufficiency in energy and water will be achieved through a variety of projects. Our buildings will all be refurbished to low energy standards; we shall install PV, solar hot water and wind turbines; we shall plant more woodland for fuel developing our existing woodland and hedges in well-managed systems to produce food and shelter wildlife too. Compost toilets and reedbeds are part of our vision.
There are many other exciting projects that we plan to work on over the next ten years, improving our infrastructure with developments like workshops, an education centre and an eco-hostel. We know the process of working on these is as important to our happiness as the results. Perhaps most importantly, we shall learn to work on producing food together: growing, harvesting, cooking and preserving with laughter. There is much to learn about permaculture and organic production.
We would like to think that we shall become a role model for intentional communities, sharing the way we have overcome challenges and difficulties as well as our successes. Perhaps we shall become a rural skills hub, a technology centre for green technologies, or a centre of excellence for sustainability and local resilience.
We have a vision of excellence in all we do: we aim to be well-organised and to develop a place of beauty with cared-for high quality land, buildings and relationships. We wish to live in tidy, well-run, long-lasting, productive, welcoming, beautiful spaces. We shall be surrounded by trees, flowers, animals and children playing together, smiles and laughter.