A Very British Utopia | Off-Grid Communities by Robin Mellor

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a very british utopia

a generation has grown up watching the idea of owning a home recede out of reach, every year more people in britain are making the same quiet decision: to stop paying rent on a life that doesn't feel like their own, and to build something for themselves instead.

i spent two years amongst britain's off-grid communities — photographing the people i met, the houses they had built by hand, the food they had grown, and experiencing the kind of freedom you can only earn by walking away.

this is what i found.

"abandon profit for something more beautiful"

"I CAME HERE TO LIVE IN A WAY I KNEW I COULD BELIEVE IN"

"IT'S AGAINST THE LAW TO BE POOR IN THIS COUNTRY"

"SMALL STEPS - IT'S VERY DIFFICULT TO TAKE THE LEAP"

"as soon as i got here i knew i'd found my homeland"

"THE GREEN MOVEMENT WAS LAUGHED AT AS BEING TOTAL CRACKPOTS, 30 YEARS ON IT'S MAINSTREAM"

"TIPI'S HAVE A VERY STRONG MAGIC, YOU LIVE LIKE YOUR ANCESTORS DID FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS"

"YOU'VE HEARD OF BIODEGRADABLE CARRIER BAGS, THIS IS A BIODEGRADABLE HOME"

"THE FIRST HOUSE I MADE COST 50 PENCE TO BUILD"

"WHEN I CAME HERE I BECAME PART OF NATURE- INSTEAD OF TRYING TO CONTROL IT"

"we are in many respects asleep"

"it's a matter of response of your spirit to the universe"

"NATURE HAS BECOME A SORT OF NOVEL EXHIBIT RATHER THAN THE BASIS FOR ALL THINGS"

"of course i'm sent by god! Aren't you?"

a very british utopia

a generation has grown up watching the idea of owning a home recede out of reach, every year more people in britain are making the same quiet decision: to stop paying rent on a life that doesn't feel like their own, and to build something for themselves instead.

i spent two years amongst britain's off-grid communities — photographing the people i met, the houses they had built by hand, the food they had grown, and experiencing the kind of freedom you can only earn by walking away.

this is what i found.

"I CAME HERE TO LIVE IN A WAY I KNEW I COULD BELIEVE IN"

"abandon profit for something more beautiful"

"IT'S AGAINST THE LAW TO BE POOR IN THIS COUNTRY"

"as soon as i got here i knew i'd found my homeland"

"SMALL STEPS - IT'S VERY DIFFICULT TO TAKE THE LEAP"

"THE GREEN MOVEMENT WAS LAUGHED AT AS BEING TOTAL CRACKPOTS, 30 YEARS ON IT'S MAINSTREAM"

"TIPI'S HAVE A VERY STRONG MAGIC, YOU LIVE LIKE YOUR ANCESTORS DID FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS"

"YOU'VE HEARD OF BIODEGRADABLE CARRIER BAGS, THIS IS A BIODEGRADABLE HOME"

"THE FIRST HOUSE I MADE COST 50 PENCE TO BUILD"

"WHEN I CAME HERE I BECAME PART OF NATURE- INSTEAD OF TRYING TO CONTROL IT"

"we are in many respects asleep"

"it's a matter of response of your spirit to the universe"

"NATURE HAS BECOME A SORT OF NOVEL EXHIBIT RATHER THAN THE BASIS FOR ALL THINGS"

"of course i'm sent by god! Aren't you?"