Living together
Communal living is not just for millennials, as these women reveal
If you’ve ever wondered about living with your best friends or a group of like-minded people, you’re not alone – co-housing is becoming increasingly popular. Over the past two decades, 11 new co-housing projects have been developed in the UK, while 15 existing properties have been redeveloped for the purpose and another 25 schemes are being planned.
As well as sharing costs, the support, friendship and sense of community can be an uplifting way to enjoy life to the full. Here, three women share the planning, pitfalls and pleasures of communal living.
‘WE DECIDED TO GO FOR IT!’
It was during a holiday in Dorset that the idea of co-housing first came up. I belonged to a women’s walking group, and each year we’d take a few days away from London. We were all in our 40s and 50s at the time, and our clifftop chat turned to the problems of caring for ageing parents, and how we would adjust when our own children left home.
I found myself wondering what my older years would look like. Did my husband Andrew and I still want to be rattling around our big family home once our two had gone? Other women in the group shared the same concerns. As we talked, we wondered if there was a better way. What about sharing a living space with friends? Each resident could have their own home, but share a community house for meeting, cooking and socialising. We’d look out for each other and feel part of a close-knit group, while maintaining our independence.
Several of us were immediately enthusiastic about the idea. I have my own architecture firm, so I was in a prime position to research building our own co-housing. But this was never an easy project, not least because every time we found a nice flat site within 90 minutes of London, a developer would snap it up. It took 10 years to find Cannock Mill, by which time I was thinking, ‘It’s this site or nothing.’ The truth is that no developer in their right mind would have bought it. It’s on a steep slope, there’s a large mill pond and the old mill is a Grade II listed building. But it’s a beautiful spot, and we were determined to make it work.
By this time, eight households made up of friends and others who’d heard about us through the co-housing network were chipping in to buy the £1.2m land and get the building work started. It took a huge leap of faith, as we were either cashing in pension pots, or selling or remortgaging our homes. We decided, ‘Let’s just hold hands and go for it.’
