tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-79888734722510518492024-02-07T17:01:11.098+00:00News from Lancaster CohousingFind out more about us at <a href="http://www.lancastercohousing.org.uk">www.lancastercohousing.org.uk</a>Lancaster Cohousinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13354084178101474586noreply@blogger.comBlogger96125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7988873472251051849.post-73200882538003373832014-06-13T18:23:00.000+01:002014-06-13T18:23:39.953+01:00Observer Ethical Awards 2014... winners! <a href="http://www.lancastercohousing.org.uk/"><br /></a>
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We were delighted to learn a couple of weeks ago that we'd been shortlisted in the community energy project category of the Observer Ethical Awards 2014, and even more delighted to hear on Wednesday night that we'd won! </div>
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There are lots of things about cohousing that are energy-efficient, not just our lovely Passivhauses themselves... our electricity micro-grid means that we share all our renewable energy (currently from solar PV, soon to be joined by <a href="http://www.haltonlunehydro.org/">Halton Lune Hydro</a>), and we also share the biomass boiler which provides heating and hot water to all 41 of our homes plus <a href="http://haltonmill.org.uk/">Halton Mill</a>. </div>
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Read more of the story behind the award in <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/jun/12/observer-ethical-awards-winners-2014-lancaster-cohousing">this interview with Jon</a> on the Observer website. </div>
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Lancaster Cohousinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13354084178101474586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7988873472251051849.post-88073354761347062022013-09-08T07:23:00.001+01:002014-06-13T18:23:56.010+01:00An elephant in the street<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh24lRxhC2SN6GrOxHBSJXzQNtE7lDWs1oGYzMLMcAwiCfHzZfPw8WG2p7Rquu1_Gw6RBTO2L-RyvCepA_aZfbolZ8KcDQwKm0mDuLCd4_fABSyrE-EUgx7kZJzQnbgLl9L8MpW-ElfWPjk/s1600/DSC03436.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh24lRxhC2SN6GrOxHBSJXzQNtE7lDWs1oGYzMLMcAwiCfHzZfPw8WG2p7Rquu1_Gw6RBTO2L-RyvCepA_aZfbolZ8KcDQwKm0mDuLCd4_fABSyrE-EUgx7kZJzQnbgLl9L8MpW-ElfWPjk/s320/DSC03436.jpg" height="212" width="320" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHLkEgvNiACp02xjZSWiLiSQI2K63H6q9zfRJXb3rbl6QqqoByGwJF9e4Hpa-f2KFG0w6b_vDCb_s_aynqcQ7MnCIFuaAJNPVzeh9kLWYEKQzs2l9QDMF8iHt6tsxZnhlX66Fq3kvrws_7/s1600/DSC03516.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHLkEgvNiACp02xjZSWiLiSQI2K63H6q9zfRJXb3rbl6QqqoByGwJF9e4Hpa-f2KFG0w6b_vDCb_s_aynqcQ7MnCIFuaAJNPVzeh9kLWYEKQzs2l9QDMF8iHt6tsxZnhlX66Fq3kvrws_7/s320/DSC03516.jpg" height="320" width="213" /></a>Many strange and wonderful things happen in our pedestrian street: last week saw one of the strangest. An elephant gliding along the street and around our common house, carrying our children on his back.<br />
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Rajah the mechanical elephant was guest of honour for the opening of Halton Mill, the low carbon workspace we have created out of the semi-derelict industrial building we acquired, unintentionally, <br />
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A decade ago, <a href="http://haltonmill.org.uk/" target="_blank">Halton Mill</a> housed Luneside Engineering, a family run engineering works started by Colonel Bernirski, an eccentric Pole, just after the second world war. As one of the group of Luneside Engineering workers who turned up for the opening told me: “It was a brilliant place to work. We could turn our hands to anything.”<br />
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One of the things they turned their hands to was these 7ft high mechanical elephants, made to carry children along the seaside promenades of Britain. Chris, who oversaw the refurbishment of Halton Mill, tracked one down to the Crosby Lions In Liverpool, who kindly agreed to bring “Rajah” back home for our opening.<br />
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We somehow magically got the Mill fit for the opening - we didn’t have a budget to pay for most of the decorating, so it was a cohousing all hands to the pump job (with help from some soon to be Mill tenants as well). <br />
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More than 250 people turned up: villages, former Luneside workers, future tenants, friends and even the son of the man who designed the mechanical elephants. It was wonderful. <br />
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<a href="http://haltonmill.org.uk/" target="_blank">Halton Mill</a> is aiming to translate our cohousing philosophy into the workplace: mixing private with communal space, reducing the environmental impact of our activities, and sharing resources, ideas and facilities. We hope it will be as brilliant a place to work as Luneside Engineering was, full of ingenuity and camaraderie. If the energy, enthusiasm and talent displayed at the opening is anything to go by, we are on our way. <br />
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<a href="http://www.lancastercohousing.org.uk/">www.lancastercohousing.org.uk</a>Lancaster Cohousinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13354084178101474586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7988873472251051849.post-54769812325672784422013-06-28T12:54:00.000+01:002013-06-28T15:49:43.161+01:00Lancaster Cohousing Project In The Final Of Passivhaus Trust National Awards 2013<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Terrace A and the Common House patio - photo by Luke</td></tr>
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Exciting news this week - we heard from Andrew Yeats of <a href="http://www.ecoarc.co.uk/">Eco Arc</a>, our architects, that we've reached the final of this year's Passivhaus Trust National Awards! We're in the last three in our category, which is social housing.<br />
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Our entry says:<br />
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<i>Lancaster Cohousing is currently the largest completed Passivhaus housing development in the UK, and also meets Code for Sustainable Homes Level 6 and Lifetime Homes, with site-wide renewable energy systems, all at affordable costs.<br />This owner-occupied project evolved through a participatory design process with the individual householders and Eco Arc Architects. It follows the cohousing model with 41 private houses in a car-free site, alongside shared community facilities including a common house, laundry, orchard, gardens, children’s room and play areas, and on-site work spaces for rent. The result is a neighbourhood based upon ecological values, where, as interviews with the residents have shown, it is very easy to live a low carbon, sustainable lifestyle in comfort.</i></blockquote>
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For more about the awards and to see the other shortlisted projects, see the <a href="http://www.passivhaustrust.org.uk/uk_passivhaus_awards/2013/#2013 shortlist">Passivhaus Trust website</a>.<br />
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<a href="http://www.lancastercohousing.org.uk/">www.lancastercohousing.org.uk</a>Lancaster Cohousinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13354084178101474586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7988873472251051849.post-8810073112783776402013-06-09T07:30:00.000+01:002013-06-09T07:30:00.318+01:00Stories from Forgebank: Dawn on the bonuses of cohousing life<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Hard to believe yet I’ve been living the cohousing life for 6 months now. I’m loving it. I wouldn’t ever go back to the more conventional way of living as I had in the Peak District. Already this seems the norm. There are rewards every single day.<br />
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Like watching one of our youngest neighbours hurtling down the street in her pyjamas at 7.30am having just mastered bike riding without stabilizers.<br />
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Like the magical way there is a tasty hot meal when I get home from a day’s work at Dacrelands Clinic where I work as a homeopath.<br />
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Like the way a charity shop system just seems to organize itself. This is great because we are all downsizing, decluttering, rearranging and making our homes beautiful. One person’s discarded item becomes another’s prized object.<br />
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I’m trying not to take these bonuses for granted. Every morning I admire the view from my balcony and get a warm glow not just from the well insulated, triple glazedness of my house but from the fact that we are having minimal impact on the environment and wildlife that I am looking out on.<br />
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My cats are loving it too and now they have had more new mates move in just down the block. Great! Bulk buys of cat litter from an ethical, sustainable source. Not that they care.<br />
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<a href="http://www.lancastercohousing.org.uk/">www.lancastercohousing.org.uk</a>Lancaster Cohousinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13354084178101474586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7988873472251051849.post-89947708426381277032013-06-06T07:30:00.000+01:002013-06-06T07:30:00.139+01:00Stories from Forgebank: Gill on cooking for 40<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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“Yikes!” was my first thought about the prospect of cooking for forty, it is a daunting prospect. But I’ve done it six or seven times now and it’s been one of the most rewarding things I’ve done since moving in last September.<br />
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Sharing food and our meals are an important time when both children and adults eat together in the Common House; it’s a great time to talk to and get to know one another. I also love taking the time at the end of a meal to sometimes read or tell stories to some of the children (it lets mums and dads off the hook for just a few minutes too).<br />
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I eased my way in to the whole ‘big cooking’ process by being second cook, effectively veg peeler and chopper and wash-up-as-you-go person for the first few meals. The most memorable being a burrito brunch on Boxing Day for neighbours and their family and friends. We’ve had Emma’s burrito brunch about three times now and it’s a firm favourite.<br />
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I’ve braved being lead cook four times now - something that includes deciding what to cook (not as scary as you’d first think), acquiring the right quantity of ingredients (work in progress), reassuring your assistant and timing. So far everything has gone according to plan with the exception of buying broccoli far too early in the week, by meal day it had gone a bit yellow... However nobody seemed to notice or they were too polite to say anything (so please don’t tell anyone).<br />
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So, ahem, moving on …
My repertoire now includes veg crumble, cauliflower cheese/seed, red dragon pie (mung bean shepherd’s pie for the uninitiated) and pasta with a choice of three different sauces. (And a couple of pans of soup and prize winning vegan chocolate brownies – but that’s a different blog post).<br />
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One thing I’ve discovered: I’m an okay cook (phew!). The greatest compliments have been when folk came back for seconds (or thirds - but I won’t name names), asked for the recipe, and when the assistant cook said is was stress-free (hurrah!). All leftovers have been quickly polished off the next day for lunch (so making too much has never been an issue) and I’ve forgotten who I loaned the veggie crumble recipe book to (it’ll turn up).<br />
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Gill<br />
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<a href="http://www.lancastercohousing.org.uk/">www.lancastercohousing.org.uk</a>Lancaster Cohousinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13354084178101474586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7988873472251051849.post-31843680151135173242013-06-02T21:50:00.000+01:002013-06-02T22:27:02.984+01:00Stories from Forgebank: Miles and his music<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4ZHAbYoZWnpEejFDPCD2OLpkFaCGjAmx-ZK5w5sbR0xOITyQjFVkp6kiduFZ339b560tUSt_sfnBc5GMq5QJzJARQihizX3YXt8Yut9ksYKZfqWPmQL1TiUjttw27i0t0KPgzUi-kuozg/s1600/IMG_0666.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img align="left" border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4ZHAbYoZWnpEejFDPCD2OLpkFaCGjAmx-ZK5w5sbR0xOITyQjFVkp6kiduFZ339b560tUSt_sfnBc5GMq5QJzJARQihizX3YXt8Yut9ksYKZfqWPmQL1TiUjttw27i0t0KPgzUi-kuozg/s320/IMG_0666.JPG" hspace="10" vspace="5" /></a>I moved here from Oxford, and in doing so left behind <a href="http://oxfordimprovisers.com/">Oxford Improvisers</a>, a remarkable collection of friends and musicians who have really helped me develop my skills, both as an improviser and as a performer generally. I'd done a bit of searching on the internet to see what the improvising scene was like around Lancaster, and while there looked to be thriving groups in Liverpool and Glasgow, despite an abundance of other sorts of music making in the area I could find no sign of improvising groups.<br />
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Yet Lancaster Cohousing is a unique project, and joining it was once in a lifetime opportunity that I could not allow to pass by, despite the fact that it meant leaving behind two bands and as rewarding a collection of musicians to play with as I could ever hope to find.<br />
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So at the end of last summer my piano, girlfriend and I* moved in to Forgebank, among the very first settlers. We felt like true pioneers in a Little House on the Prairie kind of way, bracing ourselves for a winter of hardships from which all our home's sophisticated passivhaus technology could not totally protect us: our social network now consisted almost entirely of our fellow cohousers, and most of them were still waiting to move in. Fine people they may be, but there is more to life than cohousing.<br />
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Then one day Chris handed me a flyer saying "This looks like your sort of thing". It was for a series of free workshops being run by <a href="http://stephengrew.wordpress.com/">Stephen Grew</a>. I'd seen Stephen play a couple of times in Lancaster and knew he had a phenomenal talent. This was another unmissable opportunity!<br />
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And what an opportunity it has proven to be. Out of those workshops has emerged a core of players who meet each week, either here at Forgebank or in rehearsal rooms at <a href="http://www.moremusic.org.uk/">More Music</a> in Morecambe. Each week we surprise ourselves with how the music we make is improving. We're turning into a band.<br />
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If you too are an improvising musician thinking of moving to Forgebank I hope this gives you encouragement that you will flourish here. And if you're not an improviser, I bet you have something in your life that you're worrying you won't be able to find here. Just maybe, you're right. But I can guarantee that you will find something just as rewarding.<br />
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Miles<br />
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* <i>Note from Miles's girlfriend: if you're wondering why the piano comes first, not long after we moved in someone asked Miles what was the most precious thing he'd brought with him. He said 'my piano'. I was asked the same question, and I said 'Miles'. When this was revealed to him, he said, 'well, Jo brought herself...'</i><br />
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<br />Lancaster Cohousinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13354084178101474586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7988873472251051849.post-16790256122994021652013-05-15T21:21:00.001+01:002013-05-17T14:48:47.630+01:00View from visiting friends...
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our Common House in celebration preparation mode!</td></tr>
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We asked James and Gina, who know many of us and came to visit last weekend, what they thought now most of us have moved in, here's what they said...<br />
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<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">As soon as we ducked under the "Home Sweet Home" sign at the top of the cohousing 'street' we saw that it had all worked out beautifully. It was so nice to see the houses that were plans on a page brought to life - especially the enormous co-house. Everything was so light and airy and there was a real celebratory feel. No-one seemed to mind our little boy climbing all over the sofas so after 5 minutes of worrying I just relaxed and caught the party mood. After a delicious brunch catching up wth friendly faces it was really nice of Judy and Charles to show us their place - nothing beats having a good old nose around does it!</span><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"> It was also great to glance around and see little touches and the processes put in place to decide on things like raising a flag to get volunteers for chores. Well done everyone and thanks again!</span></blockquote>
Thanks to them as well... and if you're interested in visiting too, to check out cohousing in action and look at the homes still available, our next open day is Sunday May 26th. Do <a href="http://www.lancastercohousing.org.uk/Contact" target="_blank">contact us</a> if you'd like more information!<br />
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<a href="http://www.lancastercohousing.org.uk/">www.lancastercohousing.org.uk</a>Lancaster Cohousinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13354084178101474586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7988873472251051849.post-58685920001689601372013-04-30T09:55:00.001+01:002013-05-15T21:22:55.083+01:00Digging in the Rain, Like we're in a Chaingang<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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The day was cold, windy, wet and miserable. Only the select few turned out for the work party on 26th April.<br />
The task was to dig over the subsoil and mix in the mushroom compost so that we could sow a meadow before the end of April.<br />
The sub soil was solid, impacted clay, and as you can see, in places we had to use a pick ax or a mattock.<br />
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A great deal of banter made the task a lot more fun - recollections of famous chaingang movies - (aimed at the person behind the camera - I don't know why - I promised them a reward of moving stone at the end of the digging - did I miss something there)?<br />
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We learned about Nelson Mandela's method of breaking up stone - going as slowly as possible, but never actually stopping. It was too cold that day to emulate. <br />
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Martin gave us a little talk about when digging was necessary to improve the soil structure and when No Dig was appropriate. Not sure what the conclusions were about this plot, though it was strangely disappointing to find the plot looked exactly the same at the end as when we started. Cliodhna said, 'But we KNOW it's different.'<br />
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Ann and Jaz offered us tea halfway through and the chaingang immediately voted to stop. Voting? Chaingangs? I think I would call it a consensus to have tea and cake.<br />
The team practised Leaning on Spades, a time-honoured builders' tradition, taught by Chris.<br />
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You can easily identify The Ham Actors in this troupe.<br />
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Eric and Jessica joined us in time for raking and trampling - evening and flattening the soil with tiny sideways steps. We did this instead of hiring a roller, which seemed over the top for such a small area, though we did hire one 2 weeks ago for sowing meadow seed on the verge between the houses and the riverside path.<br />
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Eric thought we looked like Space Invaders taking these silly sideways steps, so we did the arm movements too.<br />
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Then Geoff's alarm went off - work shift over - all downed tools - well, they condescended to put them away in the tool shed.<br />
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Diana and Kate sowed the seed, and raked and trampled again the next day.Lancaster Cohousinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13354084178101474586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7988873472251051849.post-38483395442461810042013-04-14T12:12:00.000+01:002013-05-15T21:22:28.541+01:00Rules! We even have a 3 metre metal one<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; display: inline !important; float: none; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 13px/normal arial, sans-serif; letter-spacing: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">I travel a lot for work and tell everyone I live in an 'ecological cohousing project'. </span><br />
<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; display: inline !important; float: none; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 13px/normal arial, sans-serif; letter-spacing: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">They ask 'Do you like it?' </span><br />
<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; display: inline !important; float: none; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font: 13px/normal arial, sans-serif; letter-spacing: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">Or 'What's different about living there?' </span><br />
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Apart from the fact that it's like being on holiday, with your friends, all the time!!, I also love it because:</div>
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The heating bills are very, very low.</div>
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And, unexpected but the BEST thing:</div>
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If you want anything - anything at all! - eg (taken from recent requests): </div>
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some flaked almonds, </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVTTnHmyF-VG1ClUp8fdUJ8ibcA597miOTCOJMfTJiHhr6Oa4JmXHbNe6UFLN91HyOTlDTlrQj6WyCNv2TfUN74GAbkzkD-RXH_aj2eOjMqACemyuUbj0ap6Bx2rR6HzLF0xoL9hGZRs4t/s1600/3metrerule.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVTTnHmyF-VG1ClUp8fdUJ8ibcA597miOTCOJMfTJiHhr6Oa4JmXHbNe6UFLN91HyOTlDTlrQj6WyCNv2TfUN74GAbkzkD-RXH_aj2eOjMqACemyuUbj0ap6Bx2rR6HzLF0xoL9hGZRs4t/s320/3metrerule.jpg" width="320" /></a>help with a job application, </div>
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emergency baby sitting service, </div>
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computer trouble shooting... </div>
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a 3 meter metal rule ... </div>
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a spare dining room chair for a visitor... </div>
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All you have to do is email a quick request, and usually two or three people come straight round with whatever it is you've asked for! </div>
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Fiona Frank</div>
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<a href="http://www.lancastercohousing.org.uk/">www.lancastercohousing.org.uk</a>Lancaster Cohousinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13354084178101474586noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7988873472251051849.post-92000287030975541512013-03-30T23:26:00.000+00:002013-05-15T21:23:57.660+01:00It's nice to have some sunSunny weather and blue skies makes such a difference to photographs; we do have them here of course, but they have been few and far between over the last year and have tended to fall on days when I have been unable to get out. Finally the good weather has fallen on a weekend so I leapt at the opportunity.<br />
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The first outing was an early morning walk with Sparky to see the (almost) finished state of Terrace D; it is looking fantastic, and seeing Becky have a morning drink on the terrace soaking in the sun made me more than a little jealous! Our time will come..<br />
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The second was a somewhat over-ambitious run to the top of Caton Moor; some 12 miles and a long ascent of 340 metres. My muscles can testify to the climb.<br />
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The view from the top is excellent with snow capped mountains all around. I was forced to go further than I planned in order to obtain my desired view of a snow capped Ingleborough.<br />
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To me, the windmills are objects of beauty, which enhance this hillside, but I realise that not everyone shares this view.<br />
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There is a great feeling of peace up there, apart from the gentle whooshing of the blades. I tried to capture it on video, but it sounds like I am standing in a gale. There is a good reason why Frances is the film maker and not me!<br />
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Happy Easter.<br />
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Luke.<br />
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<a href="http://www.lancastercohousing.org.uk/">www.lancastercohousing.org.uk</a>Lancaster Cohousinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13354084178101474586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7988873472251051849.post-83949511368374869402013-03-28T21:32:00.000+00:002013-03-28T21:32:59.710+00:00River Footpath Open At Last<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
Good news for all those who have missed walking along the river footpath - it is open again!</div>
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We had hoped it would be open for Easter, but could not be sure until we saw the last of the fencing being taken down today. </div>
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Let's just hope we see a little more sun over the holidays.</div>
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Luke.<br />
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<a href="http://www.lancastercohousing.org.uk/">www.lancastercohousing.org.uk</a>Lancaster Cohousinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13354084178101474586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7988873472251051849.post-84500106162290643762013-03-19T14:55:00.000+00:002013-03-19T15:35:26.020+00:00Fancy helping us paint our bike shed this Sunday?! <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPMMgdiNknhgw6LXy2c_dQ-vo4QEErbh2uCgaMWYk70XTVpi3WTeTJI_7_UEuLNJeQkX3ODbyOhFn16NOFxR6dqe-s95KpwJNngvLThoN9rO7pv0el8RunDhSRisa39_6GuyL0S0XFL-bW/s1600/bikeshed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPMMgdiNknhgw6LXy2c_dQ-vo4QEErbh2uCgaMWYk70XTVpi3WTeTJI_7_UEuLNJeQkX3ODbyOhFn16NOFxR6dqe-s95KpwJNngvLThoN9rO7pv0el8RunDhSRisa39_6GuyL0S0XFL-bW/s320/bikeshed.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Your handiwork here? </td></tr>
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<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;">When we were trying to balance the project budget, we took a few things out that we thought, hey, we can do that ourselves later. One of them was painting the bike shed... it really ought to look like the lovely bin store just further down the street, but at the moment, well, it doesn't. It's one of the original buildings that we retained, and it's not the best view for the residents of Terrace A.</span><br />
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<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;">So we're going to get started on it this Sunday, March 24th, which is also a site Open Day -- all friends and interested observers are welcome to visit our Forgebank site.</span><br />
<br style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;">We will be serving a simple brunch from 11am followed at 1.30pm by a site tour, including a tour of one of our homes to find out more about the technology that makes a Passivhaus.</span><br />
<br style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;">You are welcome to pick a brush and join the painting team, there will be other tasks underway too, or you can retire to our common house and sample some tea and cake. </span><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;">We have a children's room to entertain any little people who don't want the full details of Passivhaus technology, and we have guest rooms where any of you who might be travelling some distance could book in for the night.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><br />
<br style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;">With many of us now moved in, we are proud of what we have achieved and keen to show it off to all those who have followed us on our journey but for varying reasons haven't joined us in permanent residency on the street. Come and have a nose around, a chat, and of course, there are the last couple of homes still available to tell your friends about.</span><br />
<br style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;">Please let us know on <a href="mailto:info@lancastercohousing.org.uk">info@lancastercohousing.org.uk</a> if you are coming, to give an idea of numbers (we need to make sure we have enough cake!) or give Lucy a call on 01524 812843 if you would like to know more details.</span><br />
<br style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;" />
<span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;">Hope to see you on Sunday! </span><br />
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<a href="http://www.lancastercohousing.org.uk/">www.lancastercohousing.org.uk</a>Lancaster Cohousinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13354084178101474586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7988873472251051849.post-6750834711705799432013-03-14T17:25:00.001+00:002013-03-14T18:04:52.508+00:00Working on the land<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL9W7hmXtmpSQ3OnC5pDFUsOe_bC_324W2yFozkjgHrYvuOX8M4gtO8lNINFdrfo7G1_dAvbVCdDS8b0AU0QbAXhZZKBivoYgFHLRkxDPm87oZvIW7js6uPyOE9dfQ2oredf7tEc9o9uLV/s1600/photo+(4).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL9W7hmXtmpSQ3OnC5pDFUsOe_bC_324W2yFozkjgHrYvuOX8M4gtO8lNINFdrfo7G1_dAvbVCdDS8b0AU0QbAXhZZKBivoYgFHLRkxDPm87oZvIW7js6uPyOE9dfQ2oredf7tEc9o9uLV/s320/photo+(4).JPG" width="320" /></a>Although I moved into Lancaster Cohousing last year I work away at least half the week, which usually means setting off back to Glasgow on a Sunday. A few weeks ago, instead of our usual monthly meeting, we had a day of work-groups, and this novice gardener was very pleased to get a chance to help in a tree-planting session - the 'land group' events usually happen on Sundays so it's been months since I was able to take part in one. Here are three of us helping to prepare the orchard for our new little trees. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7ZlrH-_7H_1OXxQhHDo6g8o99MgiEZSZlKUG1_47u_ky40m_VbFM2n4IJEKCxaFcqgE00hyphenhyphenAk8stQsTGlPFbKVGrPIPVJ3OhCdeP8-spB0P_UzrrZ_DqpltvPTA79Om39Qm5-TGjnZOii/s1600/P1010620.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7ZlrH-_7H_1OXxQhHDo6g8o99MgiEZSZlKUG1_47u_ky40m_VbFM2n4IJEKCxaFcqgE00hyphenhyphenAk8stQsTGlPFbKVGrPIPVJ3OhCdeP8-spB0P_UzrrZ_DqpltvPTA79Om39Qm5-TGjnZOii/s320/P1010620.jpg" width="320" /></a>Catriona is in charge and showed me what I needed to do to make our beautiful big rowan tree happy in a new pot in the pedestrian street. And this is a small sample of what you get when 30 or 40 households pool their garden tools!<br />
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While we were planting trees in the rain, another group looking at the wellbeing of the community and its members was meeting in Pam's house.<br />
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Fiona <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz9O3j5YZF6ZjCkhSr5JahYjR5O8hX8CxqL7FPuLkg6SsCWH0AY6UXM-m7L_Y-dTeM7bTPQg1fxDoUwdEhk9pWHvX1h3cFEt1sDjCYzbPDwWHUBAEnwcZ3O4SyN9q257U9aYBblc9WWgoc/s1600/P1010627.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz9O3j5YZF6ZjCkhSr5JahYjR5O8hX8CxqL7FPuLkg6SsCWH0AY6UXM-m7L_Y-dTeM7bTPQg1fxDoUwdEhk9pWHvX1h3cFEt1sDjCYzbPDwWHUBAEnwcZ3O4SyN9q257U9aYBblc9WWgoc/s320/P1010627.jpg" width="320" /></a><br />
That Sunday we planted more trees in their new home on Butterfly Bank, a piece of meadow land by the river where we are encouraging a diversity of native flowers, grasses and trees. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbH4Ieay08C71EkdBRXa95g_ry3TxzdaMCu9ec35F-gEnre-AUi_Yk5fCCio9nSym8fxc4R3EI1UTaW6KkYNAUscTC0HeypGcs30i6xCFODFLBLak8dramABlSU3SqjbWny2ZHhnHAIpZv/s1600/P1010621.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbH4Ieay08C71EkdBRXa95g_ry3TxzdaMCu9ec35F-gEnre-AUi_Yk5fCCio9nSym8fxc4R3EI1UTaW6KkYNAUscTC0HeypGcs30i6xCFODFLBLak8dramABlSU3SqjbWny2ZHhnHAIpZv/s320/P1010621.jpg" width="240" /></a>The Land group was out in force and with willing helpers we planted six oak and six alder saplings that we had saved and now are transplanting into this site. <br />
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We are also cutting back invasive non-native buddlleias and rooting out the masses of himalayan balsam that has invaded the meadows.<br />
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Despite the rain, we kept ouselves warm digging, planting and staking then repaired to the cosy Common house for tea and had a fabulous cake made specially for us by Pam.<br />
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Another busy weekend in the Lancaster Cohousing project. Come and join us - we still have one flat and 2 houses available to buy!<br />
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Rosemary <br />
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<a href="http://www.lancastercohousing.org.uk/">www.lancastercohousing.org.uk</a>Lancaster Cohousinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13354084178101474586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7988873472251051849.post-17045226135523657382013-03-04T11:53:00.000+00:002013-03-14T17:27:26.070+00:00Loop O' Lune<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxVj6v4htQpjhOJtS7iznoM9Ull6L5ukBypi30GNEAKJnP86JKLZITssFezYfCzLA7YHlLRUbHs3hmCRLAOb3znmjLljArOsHGb2jnF3lfsmoAhXfHoKTx-F7RMOmAmABQJxLLnkfsa4GA/s1600/DSC01471.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxVj6v4htQpjhOJtS7iznoM9Ull6L5ukBypi30GNEAKJnP86JKLZITssFezYfCzLA7YHlLRUbHs3hmCRLAOb3znmjLljArOsHGb2jnF3lfsmoAhXfHoKTx-F7RMOmAmABQJxLLnkfsa4GA/s200/DSC01471.jpg" width="133" /></a>One aspect of the Forgebank that I look forward to enjoying is the fact that we are on the edge of the countryside; from the front door there is mile after mile of uninterrupted tranquillity and beauty. Yesterday I took the opportunity to run ("gentle jog" might be a more accurate description) upstream in a loop of about six miles.<br />
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My starting point for the journey was Terrace D, which the builders are busily finishing off, even on a Saturday. Elizabeth, the kids and I are all getting excited now that we are close to moving in, given that we started planning this move in 2007!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidqhydVTBbHZSX8PQh2qluT_uSXcgIXW7ZtgN26rR0Y5tllPoDFgzDIOGbwATH0spx15fVGiJF_6T7BBt8c-MvrG8I78zbIY74Wz4Ffe_4MrohXL3Hd3o2zPo2aOj8z9faiQ3djLf3fUyT/s1600/DSC01482.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidqhydVTBbHZSX8PQh2qluT_uSXcgIXW7ZtgN26rR0Y5tllPoDFgzDIOGbwATH0spx15fVGiJF_6T7BBt8c-MvrG8I78zbIY74Wz4Ffe_4MrohXL3Hd3o2zPo2aOj8z9faiQ3djLf3fUyT/s200/DSC01482.jpg" width="200" /></a>Moving up the path we can see the weir, where the Halton community hydro is planned to be built; pending a final decision by the Environment Agency, who seem to find an endless list of reasons for not approving the application.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAx1Y1OjJYk1BVwhTP5fCuVNHT9W2MJ8jVNvBgZ7x4zy9R1WMqfiosHxuAMA1ayj_brvLVNEG8nLZVq-2G87chf4wf2hhutsxDFBpBnVPRfGxLHFLKtzRlh28KnNB7gsFoKOd-DQxANQ4R/s1600/DSC01483.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAx1Y1OjJYk1BVwhTP5fCuVNHT9W2MJ8jVNvBgZ7x4zy9R1WMqfiosHxuAMA1ayj_brvLVNEG8nLZVq-2G87chf4wf2hhutsxDFBpBnVPRfGxLHFLKtzRlh28KnNB7gsFoKOd-DQxANQ4R/s320/DSC01483.jpg" width="320" /></a>We then pass through the five acres of "extra land" which a group of eight of us bought when it became available a couple of years ago. We have no plans for the land yet, but once the build is finished we will have more time and energy to think about it.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjLZpLFburPlv9S00RclwDb8wmefAxtT5YUFOLcS05TXhCSQR3bkptfRYfn5gxjgK34URzeaoKizPGR022x1vhXSrPoB6FvO47dFM7IV3nBvDvxbr23-LiLAN9g_l9vtYuRRKwxjqa3otW/s1600/DSC01485.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjLZpLFburPlv9S00RclwDb8wmefAxtT5YUFOLcS05TXhCSQR3bkptfRYfn5gxjgK34URzeaoKizPGR022x1vhXSrPoB6FvO47dFM7IV3nBvDvxbr23-LiLAN9g_l9vtYuRRKwxjqa3otW/s200/DSC01485.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQiE1PekOB5jtiMVZ8Kj83jZpbuYBRMbGcPB6tXWgTTg2VMm-9f9P7Ore-A3gCDWgTUDaVgUwRsREdyHzFXlAicYlgvHsu5lcMDYBDpMbiTpYKfwieoIpEUvRvFBYNj-vt17aNb-roGXMT/s1600/DSC01487.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQiE1PekOB5jtiMVZ8Kj83jZpbuYBRMbGcPB6tXWgTTg2VMm-9f9P7Ore-A3gCDWgTUDaVgUwRsREdyHzFXlAicYlgvHsu5lcMDYBDpMbiTpYKfwieoIpEUvRvFBYNj-vt17aNb-roGXMT/s200/DSC01487.jpg" width="200" /></a><br />
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Gutterflat Wood is beautiful in spring - full of bluebells and has a delightful beck, which the kids love to play in.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQI2tHNrBBN8J2gmz8SRFNojgxlhsuDl7EfotziFZqSNu3B7_M4mGs3ylTb00JmEFleyoBazRD2ndaCvQ3-IXu51svBKFfZLqToWT8jDgJi3z5V6IXvo2zJB7sq19EOThRZtSSNisDqIQK/s1600/DSC01493.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQI2tHNrBBN8J2gmz8SRFNojgxlhsuDl7EfotziFZqSNu3B7_M4mGs3ylTb00JmEFleyoBazRD2ndaCvQ3-IXu51svBKFfZLqToWT8jDgJi3z5V6IXvo2zJB7sq19EOThRZtSSNisDqIQK/s320/DSC01493.jpg" width="320" /></a>The view from the Crook O'Lune is just a short walk away, and on a clear day the distinctive shape of Ingleborough can be seen in the distance. Even on a misty day, the views are still good.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUx1WGR9G60BJ36XGZLB50ZofkazWZUVjLL6rxfB_U-oxSAqBjDz8N6f20Npy0qdvuZJXOrIXUIMyc9GkSZnX8b3bDkqyiL7zpnFP6lyvwXSVs4U55Tqsud-6wN7nsj1K7EGl6FeAErMql/s1600/DSC01499.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUx1WGR9G60BJ36XGZLB50ZofkazWZUVjLL6rxfB_U-oxSAqBjDz8N6f20Npy0qdvuZJXOrIXUIMyc9GkSZnX8b3bDkqyiL7zpnFP6lyvwXSVs4U55Tqsud-6wN7nsj1K7EGl6FeAErMql/s320/DSC01499.jpg" width="320" /></a><br />
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There are paths on both sides of the river from this point, though we are now on a flood plain so some parts become impassable or very muddy! Luckily the snowdrops are at their peak at the moment and seem to be everywhere.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMfDRjDQ5Hh7pLW9DJmM4nJV7AFPNP-7eoYlOWXJ1eUFyEiRhSEH_ICVBfR8vExiJ4IFinAZwmp3e_12TFjT_VHrCbshP8EZe8zNjvugLFbmTn8cqL5JrKeeMZUE3xpVI9yl_i2L1qLoB7/s1600/DSC01516.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMfDRjDQ5Hh7pLW9DJmM4nJV7AFPNP-7eoYlOWXJ1eUFyEiRhSEH_ICVBfR8vExiJ4IFinAZwmp3e_12TFjT_VHrCbshP8EZe8zNjvugLFbmTn8cqL5JrKeeMZUE3xpVI9yl_i2L1qLoB7/s320/DSC01516.jpg" width="320" /></a><br />
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You can pass across the Lune using a grand Victorian(?) bridge, which looks very incongruous stuck in the middle of nowhere, but nonetheless very useful if you want a circular route.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibclwdFf4gx9jmYIJum1FkWqvMivrafuVQGYH0mCkvQwzK4Ue0A-VEEuXeCJOeRzM8Xm2WnudacAqh5xsJZfa2_ZuPp9zQCKZHizPoW1XgQmbPa-qlhm5h-LN8T8QpOYtlCdyGZ5bBp_0m/s1600/DSC01521.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibclwdFf4gx9jmYIJum1FkWqvMivrafuVQGYH0mCkvQwzK4Ue0A-VEEuXeCJOeRzM8Xm2WnudacAqh5xsJZfa2_ZuPp9zQCKZHizPoW1XgQmbPa-qlhm5h-LN8T8QpOYtlCdyGZ5bBp_0m/s200/DSC01521.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
Returning to the Crook O'Lune, Woodies is as busy as usual on weekend with various walkers and cyclists dropping in for a refreshment.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1vnxsqTFnewqNGx1QzwTibP05UpGZCz7s9_H1nxEoQQO6esCYNit4EZp7-K6NuSS6YA3PEiF46GOJTKaevb4bIsl-jaOxCe9zGULXqgYOWnziAvgj7mFrawv3wi_5AentPesBNv1RrmWK/s1600/DSC01522.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1vnxsqTFnewqNGx1QzwTibP05UpGZCz7s9_H1nxEoQQO6esCYNit4EZp7-K6NuSS6YA3PEiF46GOJTKaevb4bIsl-jaOxCe9zGULXqgYOWnziAvgj7mFrawv3wi_5AentPesBNv1RrmWK/s200/DSC01522.jpg" width="200" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJpgmYtC3FGbvl7K0nseCsAatWyQXGR-Jkm9zcj2-5YmGNWsPVbXVjS1kYC97ewclLEVVMGxmvIyjpvKP3S8RTymVt27FwUk5thLLKQFDnDfSDJECJS7pvHpJagFuEJPhDBtEgn7LjkaTl/s1600/DSC01525.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJpgmYtC3FGbvl7K0nseCsAatWyQXGR-Jkm9zcj2-5YmGNWsPVbXVjS1kYC97ewclLEVVMGxmvIyjpvKP3S8RTymVt27FwUk5thLLKQFDnDfSDJECJS7pvHpJagFuEJPhDBtEgn7LjkaTl/s200/DSC01525.jpg" width="200" /></a><br />
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On this side of the river, there is a tarmac path running to the mouth of the Lune estuary at Glasson Dock, mainly following the route of a defunct railway line. You can see the "crook" in the river on the here, along with the real-life view. It can become very busy at the weekend with cyclists and walkers. </div>
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Within a few minutes you reach the opposite side of the "extra land" - the panorama shot gives you a better feel for the space, and also another view of the weir.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij4UBrLOKLBDkMITAjP21FEWytMNoaN61U9e56QPNdWKcHMwGeoxIy2sSwdAbK_e-VGQY_tVD4lHGQA_w9CDKgVSa54XHsa1e_jLHNBxnMBoxNLb9gouTqHjnIyK8SguqNa22_INsM9Ozr/s1600/DSC01542.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij4UBrLOKLBDkMITAjP21FEWytMNoaN61U9e56QPNdWKcHMwGeoxIy2sSwdAbK_e-VGQY_tVD4lHGQA_w9CDKgVSa54XHsa1e_jLHNBxnMBoxNLb9gouTqHjnIyK8SguqNa22_INsM9Ozr/s200/DSC01542.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
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Terrace D is looking good, the balconies are just beginning to be installed and the gabions finished. </div>
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Unsurprisingly, one regularly bumps into other cohousers; today it was Lucy, Toby and Martha who had just cycled/walked to Woodies...with Martha enjoying her new bike.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8_Pn72hhJUMP47JtApHuXBz7lzXp-nnQoCcM3XC8lFuAISC75zmCh_9j1Q0p0nzYtbBPmAjzBwRpiUFBJFE2WgDiP5TEROIJwfZbc5UCi2DTLnaRZxPyCEu2eInFUszk6i93uyBzlzrWF/s1600/DSC01551.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8_Pn72hhJUMP47JtApHuXBz7lzXp-nnQoCcM3XC8lFuAISC75zmCh_9j1Q0p0nzYtbBPmAjzBwRpiUFBJFE2WgDiP5TEROIJwfZbc5UCi2DTLnaRZxPyCEu2eInFUszk6i93uyBzlzrWF/s200/DSC01551.jpg" width="200" /></a><br />
The old station at Halton is now used by the local rowers for storage. It happens to have a car park there, so is the starting point for many walkers.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmtFC5McT-3foUzjyodivVJBHTAmHHZYM90brFE8kkdebgea4XZpN1nYzLn1Jt6fWm2x-RcHtm1Z2B_N_PKMYBQy9Y_D6czZziJLkxE_ViiWKTFzgudJ4mA7EXvDLyjHg8Kkgey_P8gXP-/s1600/DSC01556.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmtFC5McT-3foUzjyodivVJBHTAmHHZYM90brFE8kkdebgea4XZpN1nYzLn1Jt6fWm2x-RcHtm1Z2B_N_PKMYBQy9Y_D6czZziJLkxE_ViiWKTFzgudJ4mA7EXvDLyjHg8Kkgey_P8gXP-/s200/DSC01556.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiS8YBYRz6ueUMNbpZXvLw0RlBAXOj7FMUIC6pjq3gwn3fEmFkXsdH6oJ0Qm1kWJh5df8Y5RrtV3cOBDSGYbPm3bI8thZbtHdJtCA-X3z6xx6vcW1SDumnQPG-9Q05DLMEZMEySjfFKrdLz/s1600/DSC01554.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiS8YBYRz6ueUMNbpZXvLw0RlBAXOj7FMUIC6pjq3gwn3fEmFkXsdH6oJ0Qm1kWJh5df8Y5RrtV3cOBDSGYbPm3bI8thZbtHdJtCA-X3z6xx6vcW1SDumnQPG-9Q05DLMEZMEySjfFKrdLz/s200/DSC01554.jpg" width="200" /></a>The narrow bridge at Halton is a short-cut to the motorway and Lancaster, but more importantly it provides access to the cycle path. It is easy for walkers and cyclists to get across, not so easy for cars, especially wide ones - lol. It provides a good view up the river.<br />
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Finally we return to the starting point. The six three-bed homes of Heron Bank are steadily rising, and I am guessing that the roofs will be on before long. There is at least one home still available for anyone interested!!<br />
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Luke.<br />
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<a href="http://www.lancastercohousing.org.uk/">www.lancastercohousing.org.uk</a>Lancaster Cohousinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13354084178101474586noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7988873472251051849.post-6378355085254949772013-01-22T23:39:00.000+00:002013-01-22T23:40:16.117+00:00Flat for sale! I went with Luke to take photos of no. 8, the upstairs flat for sale a couple of days ago. It reminded me of our happy few days camping out there when we first moved to Forgebank and our house wasn’t quite ready. Some of Luke’s photos are great so I thought I’d share some of them and my memories of that time with you all.
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUWoIyNJzSi8Tn04zdkJSNAcmG5PhbRkYypXSt4Z8wbz7X-5ZwmpeQwXMBRTFqcrtFNwC2RejvStfxYwS7LxuVebRsTf0xxMImVl4LCu-QYHwQJSUcz5ZH-QgK3E0QBO7xMghL63YNgyor/s1600/049+small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUWoIyNJzSi8Tn04zdkJSNAcmG5PhbRkYypXSt4Z8wbz7X-5ZwmpeQwXMBRTFqcrtFNwC2RejvStfxYwS7LxuVebRsTf0xxMImVl4LCu-QYHwQJSUcz5ZH-QgK3E0QBO7xMghL63YNgyor/s320/049+small.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
It’s a lovely space with great views and a full length balcony. It wasn’t ideal for a family of four in terms of getting sleep(!), but I’d recommend it to any couple or single person looking for a lovely private living space and community. It’s located at the end of terrace A next to the Common House and close to most of the communal facilities such as the guest bedrooms, bike shed, laundry and food stores.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyOuEn9LHBqQgfvl5yo_3V_CEK2wQ1DHuxhiJVkocT7Ij2RD_Zi5C-rpxluqKjKO3QrGxw4P0quejeF77mB9sAGz-9sDLkNSpNOcBPKfM2zfNQVcDL-pMEUk9XrorqqUrsfSKRR3f07MRT/s1600/ours+037+small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyOuEn9LHBqQgfvl5yo_3V_CEK2wQ1DHuxhiJVkocT7Ij2RD_Zi5C-rpxluqKjKO3QrGxw4P0quejeF77mB9sAGz-9sDLkNSpNOcBPKfM2zfNQVcDL-pMEUk9XrorqqUrsfSKRR3f07MRT/s320/ours+037+small.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
Here’s the view down the pedestrian street alongside the Common House from outside the 2 flats.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgU22jardp5UYiekCkA9c-blmk4z8KhxBDeeMRDxMGrwnBdZ-uTXTPWJzZwmTCKYBKZicKrqQx5a9P4t1ePDNY1rkNkVmv8x5IJahLdRNtqbydirdpjE1ySBRJPS2UqfJuIqjl4ib-N55AM/s1600/060+small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgU22jardp5UYiekCkA9c-blmk4z8KhxBDeeMRDxMGrwnBdZ-uTXTPWJzZwmTCKYBKZicKrqQx5a9P4t1ePDNY1rkNkVmv8x5IJahLdRNtqbydirdpjE1ySBRJPS2UqfJuIqjl4ib-N55AM/s320/060+small.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9LDalw8qIn7L692OlwwfTVmIvb_4uKG8m6-Fkk81Hv-ByHXRcGIjfL32Gz3s87zO-cs75zWLVcZO3P9hxWFW3_5Ey_Z1CrGlJMRQGt3eiI6dAUGsuqk9dGYInI4u8qOa7yWcERXjykrW7/s1600/view+from+flat+of+terrace+f+small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9LDalw8qIn7L692OlwwfTVmIvb_4uKG8m6-Fkk81Hv-ByHXRcGIjfL32Gz3s87zO-cs75zWLVcZO3P9hxWFW3_5Ey_Z1CrGlJMRQGt3eiI6dAUGsuqk9dGYInI4u8qOa7yWcERXjykrW7/s320/view+from+flat+of+terrace+f+small.jpg" width="320" /></a>This is the view from the side window of the river, the common house terrace and the sedum roof.<br />
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Terrace F looks lovely in the evening sun (right).<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9ymtjr15wEeBxBY5FfusQ3Fynzt-6iMyqYE4z2nECXPg_3GxPeRGNU7WQd5vTFr2qL6W43LHWIdOfSfJcvzr2eRnvRscs2ADvrzYdbdpb6i1HJLaf43ITWSn5IA3ViVQK8MyTWH3YGlvg/s1600/007+small.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9ymtjr15wEeBxBY5FfusQ3Fynzt-6iMyqYE4z2nECXPg_3GxPeRGNU7WQd5vTFr2qL6W43LHWIdOfSfJcvzr2eRnvRscs2ADvrzYdbdpb6i1HJLaf43ITWSn5IA3ViVQK8MyTWH3YGlvg/s320/007+small.jpg" width="240" /></a><br />
Back in September Polly and Martha loved sitting in that window watching the builders and their JCBs...<br />
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To the south you can see the other side of the river. While we were staying there the trees were gradually changing colour; at this time of year you can see the cyclists and walkers on the Millenium path in the distance. Of course from the balcony you get a 180 degree view of all this, how lovely!<br />
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<a href="http://www.lancastercohousing.org.uk/About/WhoWeAre#Gill">Gill</a> downstairs is lovely, the perfect neighbour, always calm and smiling. When I found myself with a just fallen asleep baby Isla amongst a flat full of bouncy older children I just carried her downstairs so she could enjoy her sleep in the peace and quiet of Gill's flat! We only heard some just discernible music once and apparently she was playing it very loud, and incredibly all she heard of our noisy family of four was Polly’s little footsteps occasionally when she ran around!<br />
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Last but not least some shots of inside the flat – how beautiful our homes are. The open plan downstairs area is very light and spacious.<br />
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The mezzanine bedroom is a lovely shape with the sloping ceiling and there’s a very large ‘crawl in’ cupboard for storage which the children loved to play in when we were there.<br />
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The flat will be included in the tour 1.30pm this Sunday (27th January). Meet at the Common House, 9 Forgebank Walk, Halton, Lancaster LA2 6FD if you want to come along.<br />
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For more details see our website (link below) or contact info@lancastercohousing.org.uk or 01524 812972.<br />
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Kathy<br />
<a href="http://www.lancastercohousing.org.uk/">www.lancastercohousing.org.uk</a>Lancaster Cohousinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13354084178101474586noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7988873472251051849.post-74401065970878977112013-01-06T16:04:00.000+00:002013-01-06T16:55:04.266+00:00Cohousing Christmas<br />
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It’s just turned 2013 and we have just celebrated our first Cohousing Christmas, in fact we seem to have been celebrating for weeks.<br />
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Some people hate Christmas...all that family, materialism, jollity. Me I love it, but I live with someone who is not so keen (a bit bah humbug even), so it was great to have people around who love the build up as much as I do.<br />
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Everything became an opportunity to have fun and to do stuff ourselves - the talents that emerged were phenomenal.
There was the evening spent decorating the Common House Christmas tree - we all got
to bring our favourite decorations and watch the children have a ball (while having one ourselves).<br />
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Kate, our resident artist, got us making things. She created some wreath bases out of
willow, into which we twisted holly, ivy and pine cones. We used old magazines to make origami paper chains and decorations - birds and stars - to hang on an entire alder tree that miraculously appeared (Chris having cut it down during his path clearing endeavours, potted it and transported it into the Common House to complement the more traditional Christmas tree). It looked stunning.<br />
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along presents and had the chance to swap them for the presents other people had
brought, so for once we could get the one we really wanted. I ended up with the promise of a loaf of freshly baked bread delivered to my door on the morning of my choice, but it could have been a mini bee hive, an outdoor thermometer or black salt.<br />
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Sadly I was away from Lancaster for Christmas, heading off to London to be with my sons. But Kevin, my bah humbug partner, stayed at Forgebank and was joined by his son. Now you might think that, not liking Christmas, he would find all the cohousing celebrations too much: they seemed to spread over several days culminating with a “bring a dish” Christmas lunch for 30. The delicious Danish Christmas Pudding has already entered cohousing mythology, alongside Marinated Oranges and Mushrooms Wellington.<br />
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Kevin, a vegan who usually feels a resented afterthought at Christmas dinner (which may be part of the reason for his bah humbug tendencies) said it was the best one he had ever eaten - and he really, really cares about his food. He may even be coming round to the joys of Christmas.<br />
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I managed to get back to Lancaster for New Year’s Eve. When someone suggested a
cohousing revue, some cringed, but enough of us were brave/foolhardy enough to give it
a go. In the end it was an extraordinary show of talents: verbal, musical and comical. We have saved <a href="https://docs.google.com/open?id=1y5XklTBXZEyYnEX1i2EAG5Svm2jEhZuTcVg2lcj5DH5KEd9nvf0445xNG295">some of the rhymes and lyrics</a> for posterity...<br />
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So
the year ended with more good food, wine, company and entertainment.
Hmmm...can we really keep this up in 2013? With another 15 households still to move in
this year, I think perhaps we can.<br />
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Alison<br />
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<a href="http://www.lancastercohousing.org.uk/">www.lancastercohousing.org.uk</a>Lancaster Cohousinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13354084178101474586noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7988873472251051849.post-77089662688727832112013-01-05T23:53:00.001+00:002013-01-06T16:05:05.295+00:00Busman's holiday? A cohousing weekend away<br />
One of the Lancaster Cohousing highlights of 2011 was when we <a href="http://lancastercohousing.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/arnside-yha-3-years-on.html">came together at Arnside YHA for a weekend in December</a> , to celebrate signing our formal agreements to lease. We took advantage of the <a href="http://www.yha.org.uk/special-offer/winter-warmer">YHA Winter Warmer offer</a>, which is a great deal... those of us who weren't members already took out a group membership, and we pretty much took the place over for two nights.<br />
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A year on, many of us have moved in and we see each other all the time... but in October Lucy sent a message round saying that she and Huw and their family were going to spend a weekend at Arnside again in December, if anyone fancied joining them. And quite a few of us did!<br />
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Eight of us set off by bike together to the train station, leaving plenty of time, which is advisable when you have chariots to detach and convert from bike mode to push mode, and a big bundle of bikes to lock up together on the station. There was also a last minute platform change, just to add to the fun.<br />
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It's well known that train journeys make you hungry, even short ones, so when we arrived in Arnside it seemed only right to head for the (excellent) <a href="http://www.arnsidechipshop.co.uk/">fish and chip shop</a>. Some had peas, some had beans, some had coffee, some had tea, some had juice, but we all enjoyed it very much indeed.<br />
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We were meandering rather slowly down the main street feeling a bit disappointed that the tide was so high that there was no beachcombing possible, when Kathy arrived -- with Polly & Isla in *their* chariot -- having cycled all the way from Forgebank. Clearly, this called for cake and hot chocolate, so we attended to that next.<br />
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This was all in preparation for walking up <a href="http://www.arnsidesilverdaleaonb.org.uk/AONB/Enjoy/Wildlife-sites/Arnside-Knott.html">Arnside Knott</a>, of course, which we did in two parties: the advance group, with the smaller walkers and their pie-carriers went first, while the others took our bags to the YHA then caught us up. We made it to the top before they reached us, which was very pleasing.<br />
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We admired the view, ate the pie (and some chocolate, and some Tic Tacs) and headed back down... some of us were getting a little tired now, and it was raining, so we did feel a bit gloomy when we reached the YHA to discover it was another hour till reception opened and there was no one around.<br />
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There was nothing else for it, we had to go to the pub. On the way there, we met Jon cycling up the hill, coming to join us after a run further up the coast. He didn't take much persuading to turn round and come with us to the Albion, where ale, mulled wine and more hot chocolate were enjoyed.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjv57j6mTutIb383VB24_lkBm5u2rJYS6iLqlV1-AWfbqvh0zopYHwGPF4WdcbLN0AxBhmdc9d1SytYBEEfWYAbrCjjGyYp2WaRsQ7iyraQd7H2XkJy1rraRG35DkFAPwlXc1CNhX69R-UN/s1600/IMG_2533.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjv57j6mTutIb383VB24_lkBm5u2rJYS6iLqlV1-AWfbqvh0zopYHwGPF4WdcbLN0AxBhmdc9d1SytYBEEfWYAbrCjjGyYp2WaRsQ7iyraQd7H2XkJy1rraRG35DkFAPwlXc1CNhX69R-UN/s320/IMG_2533.JPG" width="320" /></a>We did make it back up the hill to the hostel in the end... to find our various rooms and then head down for dinner. Arnside YHA has its own chef and everything is cooked to order on site. Apparently this is quite unusual... I say apparently because I am relatively new to youth hostelling as a grown up, in fact if you'd told me three years ago that I'd be a YHA member by now I'd have laughed you out of town... but I can report that the food was splendid. As was the sleep -- if you'd told me three years ago that I'd be going to bed at 9.30pm on a Saturday night I'd have laughed you out of town again, but it's tiring, all this eating and walking up hills and beer drinking.<br />
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One thing that was interesting though was how aware I was of the draughty old building, and though I was perfectly warm enough in bed under my YHA duvet and blanket, how hard it was getting undressed in a chilly bedroom, so used am I to my nice warm eco-home.<br />
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There was more eating and wandering on Sunday morning, where again we were lucky with the weather, and we did get a bit of beach action this time. We all got the train back together, which was quite hilarious -- two bikes, two chariots, five children, seven adults, more bags than we came with... but somehow we managed it, and found the rest of the bikes in Lancaster, and made our stately progress home. As a non-parent I had the luxury of an afternoon nap when we got back, it was definitely more hanging out with small children and less reading the paper than I normally do on a weekend, and I don't have the stamina! But I had a great time, and I look forward to more hostelly fun in 2013.<br />
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jo<br />
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<a href="http://www.lancastercohousing.org.uk/">www.lancastercohousing.org.uk</a>Lancaster Cohousinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13354084178101474586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7988873472251051849.post-42291809104238659412012-12-21T23:08:00.000+00:002013-01-06T16:06:22.060+00:00Moving house - by pedal powerI recently moved to Forgebank by bicycle! I borrowed an eight foot cycle trailer for the move. It took me six days, and 11 trips, to take my belongings the three and a half miles from Lancaster to my new home. Frances has done a great video about it that you can view on youtube here:<br />
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Lots of my new neighbours helped out. On one journey I had five cycling helpers, towing two more trailers, two baby buggies and one with large panniers.<br />
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You’d be surprised how much can fit in a baby buggy!<br />
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Everything went by bike, including a dresser, chest of drawers, bookcase, dining table and chairs and two garden benches.<br />
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The last day was hard. It was pouring with rain and the trailer got stuck in mud on my garden path. I had to unload and start again. Then at the end the slope, the heavy load and the rain meant I only just managed to screech to a halt!<br />
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But it all feels worth it now I’m settled in to my warm eco home by the River Lune and enjoying living in the community. It was a lot more fun and less stressful than moving the traditional way!<br />
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When I had finished with it, Kathy used the trailer to pick up a festive tree for our Common house. Happy Holidays!<br />
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Debbie<br />
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<a href="http://www.lancastercohousing.org.uk/">www.lancastercohousing.org.uk</a>Lancaster Cohousinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13354084178101474586noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7988873472251051849.post-637870108178688382012-11-08T10:10:00.001+00:002012-11-09T08:11:40.051+00:00First Week in the Life of the Common House<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCnI__XHQavZvqFWLBVKjU9K8IG8I-j7tW6mP6Fqou7JzDqm-v5N2z7Ij_ULu2RjUvCBRvFjZ3M9i2CjJ4o786FXmZayHee3md1M05oQgb3qqbEQQ8_KCbXGZ4oSd0jpz42NtdeK9LJuoV/s1600/DSC00476.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCnI__XHQavZvqFWLBVKjU9K8IG8I-j7tW6mP6Fqou7JzDqm-v5N2z7Ij_ULu2RjUvCBRvFjZ3M9i2CjJ4o786FXmZayHee3md1M05oQgb3qqbEQQ8_KCbXGZ4oSd0jpz42NtdeK9LJuoV/s320/DSC00476.jpg" width="320" /></a>The common house is now complete. We have all been so excited about using it that this post is a little late! Mainly photos - but I think they will give the full picture.<br />
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The first actual meal was an impromptu picnic for a hungry boy. </div>
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But our first proper communal meal happened to coincide with Halloween, so we decided to make the most of it</div>
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I think I am correct in saying that it was a combined effort from various people who all mucked in when and where they could.<br />
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The children helped to create the decorations.<br />
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Everyone else helped create the atmosphere.</div>
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And whilst the room was warm enough, we did need to check that the woodburning stove actually worked!</div>
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<span style="text-align: center;"><br /></span>Some of the children had fun outside playing "What time is it Mr Wolf" under the covered walkway..<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzMMy5okvDFUmY9VU7YZUommuqZJxDszJ2D3mksDxJekAOHCcz9kRaqUEN7_DWAzkIsnS50ZmoloFNL6bnmLi_YaFffLO1ofHynvsFfxht7vfc7uRteQXBzjiCg06EJ7TvTSNboaEXcNTX/s1600/DSC00611.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzMMy5okvDFUmY9VU7YZUommuqZJxDszJ2D3mksDxJekAOHCcz9kRaqUEN7_DWAzkIsnS50ZmoloFNL6bnmLi_YaFffLO1ofHynvsFfxht7vfc7uRteQXBzjiCg06EJ7TvTSNboaEXcNTX/s320/DSC00611.jpg" width="320" /></a><br />
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whilst others preferred the warmth of inside.<br />
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Luke.<br />
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<a href="http://www.lancastercohousing.org.uk/">Lancaster Cohousing</a><br />
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<br />Lancaster Cohousinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13354084178101474586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7988873472251051849.post-9182617443223478962012-10-03T18:16:00.000+01:002012-10-04T12:19:42.521+01:00Living Cohousing for real<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Our first residents have now been living in cohousing for nearly six weeks. So I decided to ask them what they liked best about it. Warmth, both physical and human, was the answer. Oh and fabulous views, despite the building work still going on around them. <br />
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<b>Living in an eco home</b><br />
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Huw says: After living in a Victorian house for the last 20 years, I thought cold draughts were a fact of life but our new passivhaus has none! Everybody who walks in asks us if we have our heating on as it feels so warm - we don't.<br />
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Miles says: We don't say: "put another log on the fire" we say: "invite another person round" -- their extra body heat will bump up the temperature in no time. These houses are machines for living, and there's a lot that's been learnt since Victorian times -- this is seriously impressive technology we're living in.<br />
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Mark says: There’s some lovely unexpected features in the houses, the staircase design works really well and helps make the living room more spacious than I expected and the sills are so big you can sit up on them looking out on the view – I always wanted a window seat! Inside is almost eerily silent – the heat insulation also insulates against the sounds of outdoors.<br />
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<b>The view
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Miles says: We love the view from our house (left). But even more we love the view as we walk from our house along the river.<br />
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Kathy says: The views are amazing. We look over the sedum roof of the Common House to the river Lune beyond. As a former hydrologist I have really enjoyed observing the changes in the flow of the Lune during the recent heavy rain, whilst confident (and reassured) that it will not come anywhere close to our new houses! The trees on the other side of the river have changed colour during the three weeks we have been here so I already feel more in touch with the seasons.<br />
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Mark says: My favourite moment so far was sitting on my deck at 11pm for half an hour with a crystal-clear sky and bright moon, watching its reflection in the river and on the autumnal leaves. It felt so Mediterranean. Magic. I’m planning to initiate a lights out festival once a year when we can all marvel at the night sky unpolluted.<br />
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<b>The community </b><br />
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Huw says: We all love the pedestrian street particularly the girls. Martha wants to rush out there in her pyjamas each morning and play with Polly.<br />
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Mark says: The pedestrian street has totally exceeded my expectations, wide and light, a real winner, with the evening sun coming in. What was most strong though was the sense of community. There’s such a great vibe here. I’m now planning an outdoor table and bench by the back door and expecting a few early evening post work beers there. It was lovely seeing the kids running, skate boarding and scootering up and down, no-one quite sure who was looking after them but everyone sure that someone was. I’ve been surprised that people are discreet and quickly learning when you’re up for socialising or not - I haven’t felt bothered once yet!<br />
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Fiona says: So far, I've made dinner on the terrace for a couple of other residents, my neighbours have hung my washing for me and let the telephone engineer in, and we have companionably taken the bins out together. I've used the car club car for the first time and have looked after another neighbour's baby while she was moving in. And I've helped carry lots of boxes from removal vans for everyone.<br />
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Gill says: Chats in The Street have transformed into an offer of a cuppa tea, a ‘Let’s all put the bins out after The Archers’ ended with us sharing a bottle of wine.<br />
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I’ve had Eliza pop around with her Mum to meet my cat; in fact I’ve had visits from all the young ‘uns on the street, whether it’s been Isla needing a quiet place to sleep, Polly to do a bit of dancing and Martha to just to check what I have in my pretty boxes (verdict: a bit boring).<br />
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Polly says: 'I love playing next door with Martha'<br />
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Kathy says: When I found myself with a just fallen asleep baby Isla amongst a flat full of bouncy older children I just carried her downstairs so she could enjoy her sleep in the peace and quiet of Gill's flat - you can't do that as soon as you move in to a 'normal' street!<br />
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I say that I am really, really jealous and cannot wait to move in. Living on my boat as the autumn sets in makes me long for that toasty Passivhaus, and I’m looking forward to all that human warmth as well.<br />
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Alison
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<b>** We still have one three-bed home for sale - please see our <a href="http://www.lancastercohousing.org.uk/join/homes">website </a>for more details! **</b><br />
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<a href="http://www.lancastercohousing.org.uk/">www.lancastercohousing.org.uk</a><br />
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<br />Lancaster Cohousinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13354084178101474586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7988873472251051849.post-54132513721447903212012-09-17T15:17:00.000+01:002013-01-06T16:07:02.133+00:00Extreme Gardening - Sunday 16 September<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqPWaRCXnBBsqaIQFU0oBaUn9GJhOV6uHG-UWW9J_uytldbbj77uDxZtbXMB_KMvmAJweYDNTzzTPHdurqD6z14EaaWYNdTK-JlFBcC3VvWdnmKRcmAk_ar3x1XCy6zdIL6PYG-THteW3v/s1600/kitting+up.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqPWaRCXnBBsqaIQFU0oBaUn9GJhOV6uHG-UWW9J_uytldbbj77uDxZtbXMB_KMvmAJweYDNTzzTPHdurqD6z14EaaWYNdTK-JlFBcC3VvWdnmKRcmAk_ar3x1XCy6zdIL6PYG-THteW3v/s320/kitting+up.jpg" width="241" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kitting up</td></tr>
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Many people wanted to take part in this, as it sounded so much fun. In the end, for safety reasons we chose our experienced and qualified climbers, Steve, Robin and Becky. And though they all remained incredibly cheerful, it was cold and poured with rain, so maybe the fun aspect was somewhat diluted.
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Getting started</td></tr>
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Having seen the complexity of the climbing skills needed, on top of the dangers of stanley knives in operation near security ropes (very counter-intuitive for climbers), this was definitely the right decision.
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sowing seed</td></tr>
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The retaining bank north of Terrace D was seeded as a meadow last spring as it is the plant roots which will really hold the soil in place long term rather than the green matting. Some of the soil washed out within a few weeks taking the seeds with them and leaving bare patches. We thought we would try and reseed the bare bits this September, by cutting small slits in the upper matting and spreading a mix of seed and sand behind and then repegging.<br />
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Becky said, 'This was a great new experience. I have never tried to garden from a rope before.' However in some areas all the soil has gone, which is useful to know as something else will need to be done there, and we could only have found out in this way.<br />
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Vertical Gardening Continued, Steve: </h3>
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To add to Kate's blog I have added a couple of photos taken hanging off the rope. From the big grin on her face it's obvious Becky just loves dangling from ropes in the pouring rain!</div>
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Hopefully the reseeding will take effect before the winter weather draws in. I suppose we will have to wait until spring to see how effective it was.</div>
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<br />Lancaster Cohousinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13354084178101474586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7988873472251051849.post-73058293181476526532012-09-16T12:56:00.001+01:002013-01-06T16:05:48.519+00:00GM Weekend and more residents move in to Forgebank<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3A3wbIm0_wFZzIx-clIGqjBZgmyJRG3i_99L4_ykP-muXa4GUHF9FkSi8wWzpSrI4aU7Gy5fTr-BZLuH93YoNthWcCMp7S48beeO-nMDsVJNn9BiTD0zVRTuHW0tRyA_2fVDT1M9aV-GH/s1600/P1090158.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; cssfloat: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" hea="true" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3A3wbIm0_wFZzIx-clIGqjBZgmyJRG3i_99L4_ykP-muXa4GUHF9FkSi8wWzpSrI4aU7Gy5fTr-BZLuH93YoNthWcCMp7S48beeO-nMDsVJNn9BiTD0zVRTuHW0tRyA_2fVDT1M9aV-GH/s320/P1090158.JPG" width="320" /></a>Another month, another GM. This September saw a move closer to the Common House, just up the road at The Centre, Halton. A great location (with an amazing skate park) if, on that Saturday, a mite toasty what with the warm September weather and the number of bodies in one room. Long discussions on Common House food were lightened by Polly taking the role of energy monitor and communicating with her fellow cohousers through the medium of toy gesticulation, and sprint circling of the room.<br />
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The view along Terrace A. All is peaceful. The location of the children identifiable by the assemblage of bikes, scooters and shoes.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYCh45oPdujFuxh3PpxwahcNfsPQ8v2i5KWhsaz4Gb0HjE1_9iL5kZwC5F8xvAbr4n5oF18gnjqAp5QYAtEpcdEr-HjEA3dUSgmLLYJbu3PaaiNaYuZGPH7XMoI17SSTg4etdGKC-kBCHy/s1600/P1090195.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; cssfloat: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" hea="true" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYCh45oPdujFuxh3PpxwahcNfsPQ8v2i5KWhsaz4Gb0HjE1_9iL5kZwC5F8xvAbr4n5oF18gnjqAp5QYAtEpcdEr-HjEA3dUSgmLLYJbu3PaaiNaYuZGPH7XMoI17SSTg4etdGKC-kBCHy/s320/P1090195.JPG" width="320" /></a>Sunday sees the return of another Marshalls van, this time loaded with Paul and Kathy's worldly belongings all of which are swiftly transported to one of their two current abodes in Terrace A. For some (well me) this was the first experience of life on the pedestrian street - everyone lending a hand with a tag team of watchful adults keeping a relaxed eye on children whilst being able to help the removals. </div>
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Then afterwards hanging out on the stoop formed from the steps up to the cycle store opposite Huw and Lucy's house .</div>
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Martha, Lucy and Eliza at home.<br />
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Some of our first guests to Forgebank. Two (or was it three) nests of swallows with their accompanying displays of aerial bird acrobatics in the sky above the street.</div>
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Wednesday sees work starting on the gabion wall to Terrace F. Pouring rain slows the work but must help to wash the mud off the stone.</div>
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And finally, through the deluge, the view of Forgebank from the over the Lune. Our homes are coming along fast.</div>
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Can't wait to move in...</div>
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<a href="http://www.lancastercohousing.org.uk/">www.lancastercohousing.org.uk</a></div>
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Lancaster Cohousinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13354084178101474586noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7988873472251051849.post-32501124801903866792012-08-19T21:51:00.000+01:002013-01-06T16:07:30.766+00:00The first pioneers Forge ahead..<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikJe7aEuRfASWoc0sYu4ZikKAJhlhS3A2IvEdGzgua0CfecXcqMbnFE6y7bc4Il2hOUq60LexZphY8LlGu7-fo8gPwW06aT664HM26KeHn7p36FfTDLvq8OoCWRRpu02VbB8yMRPQ4OxK6/s1600/_DSC3828.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikJe7aEuRfASWoc0sYu4ZikKAJhlhS3A2IvEdGzgua0CfecXcqMbnFE6y7bc4Il2hOUq60LexZphY8LlGu7-fo8gPwW06aT664HM26KeHn7p36FfTDLvq8OoCWRRpu02VbB8yMRPQ4OxK6/s400/_DSC3828.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
The first residents moved in today!<br />
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Everyone helped Miles & Jo to unload the van.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEht6tDZ-Vto2vtz247-MHlDO4iOJQA673hVKAuM0M7ycAJuPliXopHvoqRpooeLzMM2b_2UIheN9k5bmgTI5OiMAxcdfWQWudwkw2x3K7p8tMJC2w64WapAymy_bmlVePuSlx0kDZd8jnQ2/s1600/_DSC3862.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="265" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEht6tDZ-Vto2vtz247-MHlDO4iOJQA673hVKAuM0M7ycAJuPliXopHvoqRpooeLzMM2b_2UIheN9k5bmgTI5OiMAxcdfWQWudwkw2x3K7p8tMJC2w64WapAymy_bmlVePuSlx0kDZd8jnQ2/s400/_DSC3862.jpg" width="400" /></a><br />
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Whilst Fiona organised the celebrations and a Mezuzah ceremony. Amazingly there were 28 people in the room with plenty of space spare.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBwX_K0HEkvY2c8e9i4pVovSkneSmMOUO2j1JVlnEotem-VunAeCCuq_N_uyDiIn4vrvP-EFekeEmYkcAhUgdilGNFEs-RSaj3_gK7_TDwaE1-_iNqcDMcHfyxDVqgr-HKBCAtua5FlVdl/s1600/_DSC3878.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBwX_K0HEkvY2c8e9i4pVovSkneSmMOUO2j1JVlnEotem-VunAeCCuq_N_uyDiIn4vrvP-EFekeEmYkcAhUgdilGNFEs-RSaj3_gK7_TDwaE1-_iNqcDMcHfyxDVqgr-HKBCAtua5FlVdl/s320/_DSC3878.jpg" width="209" /></a></div>
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Though the same could not be said of the doorstep...</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinUZSO0CMbH5Hv2bI6OYwLpkIQ7iUxh08nK_UDkbBVQZRCvth8h8T9-EUO7Ooo0RRFcOkhIy7Hl4Z4BjNEpX15AlU7Sa3cr64qWQhPSpk1oQaQHmp6B693sUUiuGfeiYIkbpqzVYcLw5JY/s1600/_DSC3222.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinUZSO0CMbH5Hv2bI6OYwLpkIQ7iUxh08nK_UDkbBVQZRCvth8h8T9-EUO7Ooo0RRFcOkhIy7Hl4Z4BjNEpX15AlU7Sa3cr64qWQhPSpk1oQaQHmp6B693sUUiuGfeiYIkbpqzVYcLw5JY/s320/_DSC3222.jpg" width="212" /></a>We even have a temporary post box until the common house letterboxes become available.</div>
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We've got there at last!<br />
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Only six terraces to go :o)<br />
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Luke.<br />
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<a href="http://www.lancastercohousing.org.uk/">www.lancastercohousing.org.uk</a>Lancaster Cohousinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13354084178101474586noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7988873472251051849.post-88904148016151648992012-07-19T19:29:00.000+01:002012-07-19T19:29:51.407+01:00Terrace A - approaching completion<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiynj3ttXZlfQOyknxUMrnvqOFaKGq840RXec9gwUUwvF47CcZ-gVE9IjZVjjwncuFdGWIqM-Z1famYQweAQ-KneSA1xjZrHbdf3InZ2G35Uo-gOeXNrHDHi3yS_mw9eMMlZD-7dNeaoj_c/s1600/P1010513.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiynj3ttXZlfQOyknxUMrnvqOFaKGq840RXec9gwUUwvF47CcZ-gVE9IjZVjjwncuFdGWIqM-Z1famYQweAQ-KneSA1xjZrHbdf3InZ2G35Uo-gOeXNrHDHi3yS_mw9eMMlZD-7dNeaoj_c/s400/P1010513.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The building site is busier than it has ever been</td></tr>
</tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMLR0ibnHXs1f8l6T7dL7NzXY1RbZt6-tw8t3jJ1QCPJ6rCwmO-rH2oYplf122CNPekgqjCd7JlBpZuthszr7Aqn9vSFNAGz966CxuBDPoscLEPSRJFXw5sJyOmMcuDvoia5DjlVh5oRhX/s1600/P1010498.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMLR0ibnHXs1f8l6T7dL7NzXY1RbZt6-tw8t3jJ1QCPJ6rCwmO-rH2oYplf122CNPekgqjCd7JlBpZuthszr7Aqn9vSFNAGz966CxuBDPoscLEPSRJFXw5sJyOmMcuDvoia5DjlVh5oRhX/s400/P1010498.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The cladding on the flats is being finished off</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDRkTyn50fOhGtKr_fuVMzl4Q6s6qpiJlMKYgNkoYwputI0YMY174j9VFN0KoAhw9oqd5q16E6oZ9fDIJk-4Lmg8ZUhZ2LQpzIMMddnbpsveWHYiIQIDu4As3Uc79RF1NQ57e2kIh7aLZS/s1600/P1010510.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDRkTyn50fOhGtKr_fuVMzl4Q6s6qpiJlMKYgNkoYwputI0YMY174j9VFN0KoAhw9oqd5q16E6oZ9fDIJk-4Lmg8ZUhZ2LQpzIMMddnbpsveWHYiIQIDu4As3Uc79RF1NQ57e2kIh7aLZS/s400/P1010510.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The scaffolding on Terrace B and the Common House has come down a bit early so that we can get a cable through the the solar panels on the adjacent terraces before the 31 July Feed In Tariff registration deadline </td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjWUjV0MC3_S9pCwzpAck4mBfEW8n7UTAYUsc9KgFHzPu5hXd2Xs9m8MVbcagNogOh3VABZQ3Db-uJk6cdgQEueGVSgIItPtTzhls6VQpA7nImqzWEVEBV_KFihovyuOWlTBJjtuBlCZjI/s1600/P1010515.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjWUjV0MC3_S9pCwzpAck4mBfEW8n7UTAYUsc9KgFHzPu5hXd2Xs9m8MVbcagNogOh3VABZQ3Db-uJk6cdgQEueGVSgIItPtTzhls6VQpA7nImqzWEVEBV_KFihovyuOWlTBJjtuBlCZjI/s400/P1010515.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Common House looks roomy now it's not full of scaffolding</td></tr>
</tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDAgPl8zt73n7OD67Bg1h_OYDSqcELJqDBj3Wa-Btyv1V2PDUoJp7kfjoZ3cox1HJT43Zg6m_gaos3Cz8Pc2TSjb9_hGBKES3jv4KM1F-9JLL9kXEZsk8yLdmR-TGniOHomourMMtC4YE5/s1600/P1010517.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDAgPl8zt73n7OD67Bg1h_OYDSqcELJqDBj3Wa-Btyv1V2PDUoJp7kfjoZ3cox1HJT43Zg6m_gaos3Cz8Pc2TSjb9_hGBKES3jv4KM1F-9JLL9kXEZsk8yLdmR-TGniOHomourMMtC4YE5/s400/P1010517.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The sliding doors will lead to a terrace overlooking the Lune </td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9og-dOqEYDTawAyO6Y0Goyo4TBHsGjTLAzM5V0C-kfe_zd5EYnvEiRw6LPBukidlpFOAsLEFbrhLvERKWYgp2d_F-YA0Tl2_PQcOI5mIhJIS2rXd5USta6oDnVcnYiaF-T0Zisc11-o6b/s1600/P1010501.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9og-dOqEYDTawAyO6Y0Goyo4TBHsGjTLAzM5V0C-kfe_zd5EYnvEiRw6LPBukidlpFOAsLEFbrhLvERKWYgp2d_F-YA0Tl2_PQcOI5mIhJIS2rXd5USta6oDnVcnYiaF-T0Zisc11-o6b/s400/P1010501.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A bathroom in a typical house</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmos_DiIWXjRFNhSs6QmxrU-I55y0DFFfQVVD5UsNBF2416shF4yKVS6sVS7Fu1-mdqcSwBvIozbOq-Gpru91KY06dshd6Wl36_I6ISAL2Ba5_6OnlVO4evwDr8gHkxmp-DQxAKXqVREYk/s1600/P1010499.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmos_DiIWXjRFNhSs6QmxrU-I55y0DFFfQVVD5UsNBF2416shF4yKVS6sVS7Fu1-mdqcSwBvIozbOq-Gpru91KY06dshd6Wl36_I6ISAL2Ba5_6OnlVO4evwDr8gHkxmp-DQxAKXqVREYk/s400/P1010499.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">And the district heating station under the stairs</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdPJh9z_-6uxtwKeyQi6wwHFRewYdKGQ3jIdDt3-WCXzHwP6ZpyY5dDhbKyWPYLNDuNHvyv4ZiISWcqeQ35R4HlzdiieHGv5LQs-7MRfVyCp4Wa__ZF-lq6X3qfSzwaC6yg_SK0oir7RcJ/s1600/P1010518.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdPJh9z_-6uxtwKeyQi6wwHFRewYdKGQ3jIdDt3-WCXzHwP6ZpyY5dDhbKyWPYLNDuNHvyv4ZiISWcqeQ35R4HlzdiieHGv5LQs-7MRfVyCp4Wa__ZF-lq6X3qfSzwaC6yg_SK0oir7RcJ/s400/P1010518.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">An upstairs flat</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLuJRfCd3QutZejdXrNz-MpNiZoYQ96bGyZzNq6jRpwvDgaotTeUCvjRApIPVediGkrrXaFWw-_Wd85nk490R8yapBsFqwa2wQqzmEtPiXB3Ltg6wWMDNV8znAQrKcuW5SOAx9AOjsmEa2/s1600/P1010520.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLuJRfCd3QutZejdXrNz-MpNiZoYQ96bGyZzNq6jRpwvDgaotTeUCvjRApIPVediGkrrXaFWw-_Wd85nk490R8yapBsFqwa2wQqzmEtPiXB3Ltg6wWMDNV8znAQrKcuW5SOAx9AOjsmEa2/s400/P1010520.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Paving the street<br />
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</tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3V3eQOJR1p06O3_3uzFrsiioIL2HK1XRsICqQ6gVs_QmT2gGp4FAAj6Chw-apBdJXzyCFknnQ72Ky160HzAN4pG7C6no_GC9oBGLh_rPlDlAnO8jfNSvOpn0_KChjUFib9RoUhmnDbDAA/s1600/P1010522.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3V3eQOJR1p06O3_3uzFrsiioIL2HK1XRsICqQ6gVs_QmT2gGp4FAAj6Chw-apBdJXzyCFknnQ72Ky160HzAN4pG7C6no_GC9oBGLh_rPlDlAnO8jfNSvOpn0_KChjUFib9RoUhmnDbDAA/s400/P1010522.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A typical house kitchen<br />
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</tbody></table><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhENT3Iuh7MTD9G2Z0AUE7aku2qOZO8R3jsg12fgeXN8AGxrNa3ealo9YhnuFZFl1boPrBvB6AWO0L9Hkp6pD_52YcVQWQYH6H_ouCqheZrdQAbrhnyObPGYhTfLKleU53VW4VHHLB8CjaK/s1600/P1010507.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhENT3Iuh7MTD9G2Z0AUE7aku2qOZO8R3jsg12fgeXN8AGxrNa3ealo9YhnuFZFl1boPrBvB6AWO0L9Hkp6pD_52YcVQWQYH6H_ouCqheZrdQAbrhnyObPGYhTfLKleU53VW4VHHLB8CjaK/s400/P1010507.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">We're screening the stone out of the subsoil which came from the slope that was below terrace E. The subsoil can be recycled into topsoil whilst the stone can be reused.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi4OnSedIytlo0N4hpwSbEZiXTf-nRk4U8C7GhnUprLhyphenhyphenXQdZ07yYlAj5oz8hBZLTS7YCxspmGoGQP-1j63kxIC_wstpcg7e3mOJSMwrxOUGdy6Xml4DilN-k0fXofwPd5KPuX4gryazOl/s1600/P1010523.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi4OnSedIytlo0N4hpwSbEZiXTf-nRk4U8C7GhnUprLhyphenhyphenXQdZ07yYlAj5oz8hBZLTS7YCxspmGoGQP-1j63kxIC_wstpcg7e3mOJSMwrxOUGdy6Xml4DilN-k0fXofwPd5KPuX4gryazOl/s400/P1010523.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Building gabions in front of Terrace A<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtQMvH_yB4OrTKim8aVGDjKSq7-RDGpGF-N9ONjJD-STjEbgqjSx90lNDtiraRBYjdJVmbCU0oPFynoBVSOj6IlQ6FLN2hkeFclq4ZXcBk6IO9PTh4etG2iA9ZSRSnXdfI1zl3C8IQkwbA/s1600/P1010463.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtQMvH_yB4OrTKim8aVGDjKSq7-RDGpGF-N9ONjJD-STjEbgqjSx90lNDtiraRBYjdJVmbCU0oPFynoBVSOj6IlQ6FLN2hkeFclq4ZXcBk6IO9PTh4etG2iA9ZSRSnXdfI1zl3C8IQkwbA/s400/P1010463.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Laying the floor in an upstairs flat - a couple of weeks ago</td></tr>
</tbody></table><a href="http://www.lancastercohousing.org.uk/">www.lancastercohousing.org.uk</a>Lancaster Cohousinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13354084178101474586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7988873472251051849.post-37065807794483706482012-07-14T20:51:00.000+01:002012-07-14T20:51:37.518+01:00Interested in one of our last few homes?<div class="gmail_quote" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">
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<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">We expect to sell all our remaining homes this month!<span> <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span>All but two homes are bought or reserved and we have one application.<span> <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span>If you want to apply to join/buy a home please do so by<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><b>Sunday</b><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><b>29<sup>th</sup><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>July</b>.<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><span> </span>Info about joining is<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><a href="http://www.lancastercohousing.org.uk/Join" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #027ac6; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">here</span></a><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">.<span> <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span>If you do miss out this time don’t worry; we have an active<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><a href="http://www.lancastercohousing.org.uk/Join/WaitingPool" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #027ac6; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">waiting pool</span></a><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;"> and potential rental opportunities.<span> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">The homes that are available are</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Plot 36; a<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><strong>2 bed in Forgebank</strong><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>(the current owner wishes to move to plot 32)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">This is a semi detached leasehold home with an elevated position, small private garden and great views, priced at £208,500.<span> <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span>Please contact us if you would like to know more details and they will be available on the website soon.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Plots 33 and 32;<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><strong>3 bed Heron Bank homes</strong></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">The details of these terraced freehold homes are available<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><a href="http://www.lancastercohousing.org.uk/Project/HeronBank" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #027ac6; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">here</span></a><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">.<span> <span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span>They are on the edge of the site and have private gardens and car parking spaces. Buyers are welcome but not obliged to fully opt in to the community, details<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><a href="https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B3KrMwKdNWyoYmRqSWFXeGxEdEk/edit?pli=1" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #027ac6; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">here</span></a><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Our events this month are</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Sunday 22 July (and 4th Sunday every month)</span></div>
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<span><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">11am Brunch at Whale Tail Café, 78a Penny Street, Lancaster, LA1 1XN</span></span></div>
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<li class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: #f8f8f8; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin: 0px 0px 0px 15px;"><span><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">1.30pm site tour, Forge Bank, Halton (</span><a href="http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=LA2+6RH&sll=54.076865,-2.75671&sspn=0.011406,0.038624&ie=UTF8&ll=54.077168,-2.754779&spn=0.011406,0.038624&t=h&z=15&iwloc=A" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #027ac6; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">map</span></a><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">),<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><a href="mailto:info@lancastercohousing.org.uk" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank"><span style="color: #027ac6; font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">by request<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span></a><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">. Meet at the Mill building – follow the Whittle's signs (our building contractor) to get to the site</span></span></li>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">We hope to offer an integration meeting this month (provisionally 3.15pm after the site tour on 22 July) so please let us know if this would interest you. Also if you’d like to meet us or see the site at another time <a href="http://www.lancastercohousing.org.uk/Contact">get in touch</a>.</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: arial,helvetica,sans-serif;">Kathy</span></span> </span></span><br />
<a href="http://www.lancastercohousing.org.uk/">www.lancastercohousing.org.uk</a>Lancaster Cohousinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13354084178101474586noreply@blogger.com0