In the late 1980s we started putting together the first edition of our book Diggers & Dreamers - the guide to communal living in Britain. It combined articles with a directory of intentional communities and it's been coming out in some form every two years ever since.

Now, as we approach our 20th anniversary we're returning to that original format and taking the opportunity to look back over the last two decades.

Has anything changed? While the mass media still consider communal living to be some oddity from the past, global warming and lower-impact lifestyles have become topics of everyday conversation. Perhaps the experience of communards - who have been quietly getting on with their lives in communal and co-housing groups, eco-villages and low-impact communities - will now become relevant in the wider world.

Get Diggers & Dreamers 08/09 and decide for yourself.

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From an Amazon review: "Dave's book is the best I have read for giving you a real feeling for what it must be like to actually live in a cohousing community. The stories are entertaining, moving and diverse, and they come from people who live in dozens of cohousing communities all across this country. Dave has woven them together into a cohesive whole that is much stronger than the sum of its individual parts. It is, by far, the best introduction to cohousing that I have found.

From an amazon review: "Chris Hanson has laid out for the reader a step by step guide to starting your own cohousing community. A must have for any cohouser, but definitely not the first book you want to read to learn about the cohousing way of life. Durant and McCammant's excellent book fills that roll, just as this book fills its intended role. If you are contemplating starting or joining an existing group, buy this book. It will guide you through the process step by step. We're not trying to reinvent the wheel, so we may as well learn from those who have paved that road for us!"

Providing Specialist Development Work, Training & Consultancy for Co-operatives, Social Enterprises and Credit Unions since 1989

"Publishes green building information in many mediums to help you design and build sustainable, healthy and ecological homes offices and factories."

A resource to assist in developing community land trust solutions for affordable housing, amenity and workspace in Britain. Used very successfully in Scotland.

A guide to communal living in Britain, a directory of co-ops and much more...

In May 1999, 11 people in Bordesley, West Birmingham, set out to build their own homes. Few of them had any professional experience in construction. For the previous two years, the Accord Housing Association had been training them...

CAT is concerned with the search for globally sustainable, whole and ecologically sound technologies and ways of life.

The Hockerton Housing Project is the UK's first earth sheltered, self-sufficient ecological housing development. They run workshops and can help support new projects.