Brithdir Mawr: The off-grid community who refuse to leave
2025-02-16
Category: economic

In an old Welsh farmhouse a group of friends chatter and joke while tucking into a lunch of home-made soup and sourdough. But behind this convivial scene a "gnarly and unpleasant" legal battle is underway.Last year, Brithdir Mawr - an 80-acre (32-hectare) farm in Newport, Pembrokeshire, that has been home to an off-grid community for the past 30 years - was sold to a new owner who plans to turn it into a retreat centre.The community were issued with an eviction notice and some members left by the 31 December deadline, but others refused and are determined to remain. 
Will Cooke, who has lived with the community for four-and-a half years, said he hoped the adults who remained living on the site could come to an arrangement with the new owner that would work for all."There are no bad people in this situation, there are just many, many people trying their hardest to do the right thing and we've got into a glitch with each other," he said."I want us all to sit down with each other and try and straighten it out."Brithdir Mawr was established in 1993 by Julian Orbach with his then wife Emma and was originally part of a site of 160 acres (64 hectares).After the couple separated the site was split into two, with Emma establishing the neighbouring Tir Ysbrydol [Welsh for spiritual house] community and Mr Orbach remaining at Brithdir Mawr.In 2002, he moved out but remained Brithdir Mawr's landlord. 
When Mr Orbach decided to sell, he said he "very much" wanted the community to continue and it was given first refusal to purchase the site. But after the community's 10-year bid to raise the £1m for the purchase, he sold the site last year to Rachel May, who is described as a shadow work and mindfulness coach, doula [offering help and support] and soul guide.She has not responded to requests to be interviewed."We are aware that Rachel is our new owner, we are very aware of the fact that she's spent a large amount of money to do this, but the way in which she is wanting to bring about this process of change is completely out of alignment with who we are as a community," said Will."We've invited Rachel to come and visit with us several times, to come and negotiate with us to find a way forward that works for everyone." 
Will was a teacher and later worked for Extinction Rebellion UK before moving in with the community. "I was expecting to spend two weeks here and I never left," he said. "It's a really good fit for me, I get on really well here and feel like I'm valued and appreciated for who I am."The community's members are dedicated to sustainable living. They keep goats - primarily to make cheese and occasionally for meat - as well as chickens, grow their own vegetables and manage the site's woodland.The building runs off hydropower and a tiny wind turbine and is heated by a log burner. They host weekly Welsh language classes, run workshops, open days and volunteer weeks to demonstrate their way of life.Many in the community have jobs away from the farm, they eat communally five times a week and, before the community's families left ahead of the eviction notice, the children were home-schooled.Will and the other members each pay rent as well as their contribution to "food club", bills, and a savings pot for expenses such as building repairs. With no-one in charge, decisions are made collaboratively and their shared values include inclusivity, gratitude and valuing learning and culture. 
Does living in this way come with the occasional conflict?"There absolutely are difficulties at times," admitted Will."Occasionally conflicts happen... but there are far fewer than there are beautiful times."He said the community tried to take blame out of conflict."A conflict for me is when we find a glitch in the way in which we're working, no-one's at fault," he said.He said "detangling" conflicts when there was no-one in charge was "very deep and intense work and often very painful, but by the end of it we find ourselves stronger, more beautiful, able to act with each other in a more beautiful way".
Rosie Gilam, who grew up in nearby Cardigan, is Will's partner and spends about three days a week with him at Brithdir Mawr.She has been visiting the community since she was a child and previously lived in communities in Cornwall. "A major wonderful thing about being human is to accept others for what they are, understand they've got their own needs which might not intersect completely with your needs, and to come to a place where you're accepting of your differences and find a way to work together," she said."I think that is so needed on the planet at the moment." 
Like Will, she insisted "nobody's to blame" for the community's current predicament. She said the situation was an example of "broken systems" which meant "tenants don't have rights, a family can be turfed out of its home with little notice, and that people generally don't have affordable access to land". She hopes media attention on Brithdir Mawr will start a conversation about land rights and be "one step towards systemic change". "So for example, there might be community right to buy, which means that a community like this in the future would have the right to buy an asset," she said.  
Andromeda Gervasio, who is from Portugal, moved to the UK 12 years ago, and moved to Brithdir Mawr last summer after feeling burnt out with city life, "craving a different lifestyle" and being drawn to "intentional community"."The water is the purest water I've ever drank, and the food is the best food I've ever eaten," they said."People are here not just because, there's a bigger purpose of really living together and sharing the work that it is to live and to live in a place like this... it's pretty incredible."They said they cherished being accepted in the countryside. "Being a queer person in the rural landscape has always been something that I was generally scared about... and then actually discovering it and feeling incredibly safe here, I've been so grateful... and I think that I owe lots to Brithdir in that regard," they said.
Like the rest of their community, Andromeda insisted they did not feel animosity towards the new owner. "We're not up against a particular person but a system and a normalised way of going about things," they said."Just because someone has the legal backing to do something, it doesn't necessarily make it okay or how the world should be."We have a history of things that were within legal bounds not corresponding to what is morally OK to do... [denying] women's rights, slavery and queer witch hunts were all legal at some point."For now, what will happen next for the community is uncertain.  "Essentially I feel really, really sad about it," said Rosie. She lives in hope of all parties sitting down together and looking for a solution "with an open heart". Will is confident a resolution can be found."I don't know exactly what that would look like and that's OK," he said. "This complexity and this difficulty feels very difficult, feels gnarly and unpleasant, but also I truly believe that something very special is happening."I look forward to this process continuing and resolving in a way that works for everyone in the near future."