Laurieston Hall Housing Co-operative Ltd.

This co-operative of around 18 people adults is now embarking on its fifth decade. We live in and around a huge Edwardian main house, with its walled garden, stables and cottages, surrounded by 135 acres of beautiful woods, pastures and marshland which stretch to a loch in the north. Trees we planted are now being coppiced. Living spaces use wood for heating and cooking. A hydro supplies much of our electricity.

In 2016 from Easter to October we run a programme of events (music, self-help, creative, gay, etc.), called The People Centre, which brings up to 70 extra people a week. We grow as much fruit and vegetables as we can, keep cows, pigs, hens and bees, and do most of our own maintenance. All of us pay a large portion of our rent in unwaged labour for the co-op. This means ideally spending about two and a half days a week doing what we call “workshare”.

Issues that affect everybody come to a weekly co-op meeting in which decisions are made by consensus. Co-operation is our common ideology; under that umbrella we lean this way and that, are generally better at dealing with tomorrow than next year, are supportive of each other as individuals as well as co-op members... and we try to have a good time!

There are several ways of visiting us. You can book on a People Centre event; you can come on a Maintenance Week, (there are only three per year, so book early to avoid disappointment!).

Information and booking on either is via the newsletter - see below if you would like an e-copy.

You can also come as a working visitor. For a maximum of two weeks the first time, but longer once we know you. If you’re interested, email us at visitlh@gmail.com.

For any other enquiries, or for an e-copy of our newsletter (which comes out in early January), please email enquirylh@gmail.com

We are not actively seeking new members, but are not closed to them either. Joining this community can be a long process.