Larch Maxey

I live with my daughter, Rowan and son, Sage in a wooden chalet on Gower, near Swansea. We are all Welsh learners aspiring to fluency. Rowan loves climbing and art, Sage loves rugby and swords! We live independently of mains electricity and sewage and burn wood for cooking, space heating and hot water.

We grow herbs and some fruit and vegetables in our garden, as well as working with a local organic farm, where we have built the ‘cwtsh’, a straw bale structure which currently houses one of the farm’s workers.

In addition to the cwtsh, I have built and lived in two other low impact dwellings over the years. The immense sense of satisfaction and belonging this gave me leads me to search for a further opportunity to build and live in my own home. As we are currently renting we are unable to make our current home as well insulated or comfortable as we would like. I also seek to live in a way which is ‘future safe’, ie. not adding to climate change and able to withstand all the challenges it will present us with in the coming years.

I lecture in sustanability at Swansea University and have played a key role in the Lammas project since its inception in 2005