Mikaela had lots of experience of co-ops in California before moving to the UK and getting involved in Stirchley Co-operative Development – a group of local people who are building an affordable and eco-friendly residential and community premises in the heart of Stirchley, Birmingham They are developing land on Pershore Road to house three local community premises along with a block of 39 apartments which will ultimately be known as Jessie Eden House.

Jessie Eden House at Diggers & Dreamers
https://diggersanddreamers.org.uk/community/jessie-eden-house

Gung Ho Housing Co-op at Diggers & Dreamers
https://diggersanddreamers.org.uk/community/gung-ho-housing-co-op

Stirchley Co-operative Development
https://stirchley.coop

Green Square Accord
https://greensquareaccord.co.uk

Nat describes her own path to communal living (she wishes that she'd done it years ago) as well as filling us in on the early days of Crabapple in Shropshire. The community at Berrington Hall celebrated its fiftieth birthday in 2025 so there's plenty to hear about the evolution of the place over the last five decades. It may no longer adhere to the ideas of B F Skinner as described in his novel Walden Two but it's still very much thriving.

Crabapple at Diggers and Dreamers
https://diggersanddreamers.org.uk/community/crabapple-community

Crabapple on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/crabapplecommunity/

Walden Two
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walden_Two

Hockerton Housing Project in Nottinghamshire, UK is a community of five sustainable homes, with a co-operative business on-site running a range of educational and advisory services in sustainable buildings and lifestyles. Simon Tilley was one of the founder members and he tells us how the community works as well as supplying a lot of technical information!

Hockerton Housing Project at Diggers and Dreamers
https://diggersanddreamers.org.uk/community/hockerton-housing-project

Hockerton Housing Project
https://www.hockertonhousingproject.org.uk

GreenPWR
https://www.greenpwr.com

Sustainable Hockerton
https://sustainablehockerton.org

Energy Local Clubs
https://energylocal.org.uk