To be wildly dreaming of yurts etc?

[BrittaPerry]

Dh is out of work atm. I have three very part time jobs and study with the OU and the dds are 3 and 5 and home educated. Two of my jobs can pretty much be anywhere. We rent our house.

Aibu to be daydreaming about selling almost all our stuff and buying some kind of yurt/boat/shed and going mega frugal?

Sigh. Iabu I know, but humour me. I need cheering up.

What adventure would you do if, you know, you were brave and stuff?

I really wish I could.
Sadly DD has a condition which means that while I am responsible for her she really needs a warm, dry, clean and heated home
Though there may yet be a time to come where I turn into the mad old woman who lives in the woods!!!

a boat could be the answer - as long as you don't mind emptying loos

I had a friend who lived on a boat. It seemed really good, although she did end up living with us when it kept breaking and was too cold.

I would be too worried about the kids falling out I think.

Visualise - did you have a 'normal' job, or one somehow connected to your mode of living?

No problem with loo emptying - I used to work in a care home, I am unshockable.

My mate went off to teach English in Mongolia and lived in a ger for a couple of years, fetching her water from the well and burning cow poo for heat. She loved it - and we did too when we went to visit.

We also spent our honeymoon in a horsedrawn caravan which was brilliant but being veggie, in rural Ireland, without a fridge, I struggled a bit with food. It was utterly awesome though.

And I'd love to have lived on a narrow boat although not with a 3yo and a 1yo who spends all day trying to find new ways to damage himself...

YANBU! I have dreams like this quite often. I have friends who do live in similar ways. But I have to admit I do love my creature comforts...

Well if you are BU then I am too! It is my ultimate dream to do this and DH and I are dreaming of the day that we can buy a boat and cruise the waterways of the UK. We are already quite self sufficientish but it is hard work and far from simple so living at a snails pace in a narrow boat with minimal possessions would be bliss

There are moorings available here www.livingonwater.co.uk/index.php/homepage/show/home/home

We once stayed in a straw bale cabin that had been built onto a caravan chassis. It was very cosy and would possibly get round planning restrictions, but you might not be able to live in it all year round... and it would really only have been comfortable for two people for any length of time.

One word.....

MUD.

I couldn't let MUD be in the end of that fanatastic discussion.

I have lived in a treehouse, a tepee (that we built)a couple of benders and several (half derelict) caravans. Whilst young and baby free! I have friends with children who have lived in co-ops in their own yurts and strawbale houses with their children.

It is possible and really can provide the big extended family feeling.

Three warnings

1. don't rush in, look for like minded people as disputes over the cleaning can rip communities apart,
2. Beware other peoples children, it is almost unbearable to watch them grow and grow and then for them and their parents to move away
3. It can be really hard sometimes to be sharing all your facilities with other people think long and hard about yours and your familys needs...

For instance I can share a bathroom with all but the utter minger (as long as they can be trained to clean the bath after them!) I can barely share a kitchen with my dp never mind ten other people, gardens fine, greenhouses i just want a wee plot.

If it is just a dream enjoy it! If it is not then consider

diggers and dreamers
For already existing communities who are looking for people some require you to buy in others you can just rent a room (or rooms) from

or

radical routes

If you think you really are up for it and would like help financing it RR will help with mortgages but do have rules regarding non-heirarchial organisation and vegetarianism (not that all RR's co-ops are veggie, the co-op i live in had only 1 veggie out of 13 people but the communal kitchen was always vegetarian. You could cook meat in your own room on you woodburner if you wanted however in another co-op i used to vist someone was actually thrown out for eating a rottiserrie *sp chicken in their room ( I shit you not! Perfectly legit as his rental agreement did state that he was not to eat meat in his room but even so!)

Just some food for thought, thanks for cheering me up!

Pignut - they were the organisations I have been enquiring with in the past :)

DH is currently talking about getting a tent that will fit (along with kids, equipment, etc) in our bike trailers so we can go on loads of local camping trips in the summer, which would be ace.

What is the legal position on camper vans? I see gypsy families parked p at the sides of roads, but I'm presuming that isn't actually legal?

Again, not like we could afford one... Or drive one...

Sort of it's a grey area and depends if you are scotland / england / wales. It is not legal anywhere to just park up in a big group and stay there indefinitely!

However (in scotland) it is generally understood that you can park up for a night or two in appropriate places. Although it is technically illegal as soon as you light a fire "encampment" thats the law they brought in to clear all the crofters so most scots are fairly hum ha about that. Also if the landowner asks you to move you have to (but generally they don't see you till the next morning!) I don't know about england / wales but

On a lot of the coastal area their are places you can park up, I stayed for a week in a place in elgin that had an adhoc collection of caravans or other live in vehicles, the landowner actively encouraged people because it meant people kept a vauge eye on his sheep (which he utterly negelcted and just had as some kind of bizarre fashion statement, land in scotland with matching sheep, he was an utter plonker!)

TAT Are specialists when it come to all matters nomadic

My dream situation would be maybe 5 yurts in a big field, with a community yurt in the middle.

Or, me and my friend were daydreaming in her house once, which is a lancashire terrace. We were thinking that a block of them would be great - each family cold have their own front door leading straight to the stairs and their own flat, then the downstairs could be communal, and knocked through to make a big kitchen/dining room, a big lounge and enough storage to buy in bulk and even run a community food co op. Ideally even space for a community cafe/meeting space for the wider community. Then the back yards could again be knocked through to make a secure bike shed/repair station, patio garden, bbq area, and then put down spongy stuff and make a little play area for the kids. It would be a bit more practical than the countryside option as it would be near shops and public transport, and the houses would possibly work out cheaper.

I think the key thing is that I want some private space, but I don't need as much as I have now. I do, however, like having the USE of bigger space, whether that it outdoor space or communal space. I would love to have smaller space just for us i return for bigger communal space.

Why not trya yurt holiday first?

I think these look lovely! Especially with the log-fired hot tub on top of the hill - Peak District heaven!

I reckon I could live in a yurt if it was like this!

*try a

Britta

Check out Lincolnyurts and go with your DH to stay in them for a few days

We can't afford £250 just for a weekend :-(. I know we can't afford a yurt to buy either, but we can dream...

YANBU at ALL.

I love the sustainable dream (no cash though ha ha!)

What about other countries? I get the vibe in the UK we struggle with the planning restrictions etc and the weather, what about somewhere like Spain or something?

I wouldn't want to leave northern England if possible. Lol, I don't want much do I?

The yurt I stayed in was at Low Wray NT site, next to Lake Windermere, in an oak wood. The company was called 'Wild in Style'. We paid £240 for 4 nights.