Katy Taggart and Leander Wolstenholme and family

Plot 2

We are Katy and Leander and our three children Maisie, Matilda and Sonny.  We currently live in a regular terrace house in Liverpool and, on many levels, lead a fairly conventional lifestyle.  So, the move to the eco-village in Pembrokeshire represents a significant departure from what we're used to.

Having said this, we first met in mid-Wales whilst at college in Aberystwyth where we lived in a rural location in the hills overlooking the town. We've always wanted to move back to a country location and we feel a strong affinity to Wales.  As our interest in ecological issues has grown over recent years and our lifestyle has changed to reflect this we felt we had to seize the Lammas opportunity, when it arose, with both hands

We're looking forward to living a life where we provide much of what we need to live from the land.  A significant proportion of the world's rural population live in a low-impact way out of necessity.  They live independently and sparingly, tending the land and their animals with the support of their immediate community.  We are aiming to live in this way by choice because we feel strongly that the  planet's resources are precious and limited.  We're hoping to live within our fair share of these resources and, in so doing, demonstrate that such a lifestyle can be viable, rewarding and happy.

Plot 2 Illustrative layout

In the eco-village we plan to live in the terrace.  Our house has been designed to take advantage of the sun to heat the house passively.  It will be super insulated to contain the heat and will use open windows, vents and shades to cool the house.  When extra heat is required this will be provided along with domestic hot water  by the communal terrace underfloor heating system which is driven by a Miscanthus/willow fuelled central boiler.

Our land-based business will be composed of two elements.  Katy will take charge of growing & selling willow and willow products woven by Katy herself.  Leander will be growing native wild plants for sale to restaurants and farmer's markets. Wild plants such as chickweed, bittercress, fat hen and burdock  were important food sources in the past and there has been a recent resurgence of interest in them.

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Katy cutting timber for her roundhouse, October 2009