Postlip’s eight families are a cohousing group (we think we invented the idea in 1968).  Postlip Hall is mostly Jacobean, but includes a 15C Hall House, some Queen Annery and quite a lot of Victoriana.  The Hall is divided into eight separate ‘living units’, each with its own front door (and usually a back door) so everybody has a private ‘house’ that’s part of a much bigger cooperative framework.   People can thus move fairly freely between private life and group life.  We share some communal rooms and we also share the fifteen-acre grounds, pond, stream and kitchen garden.  We don’t cook communally, but eat informally together every now & then, especially in the summer.  

Postlippers talking 

Faye Hatcher of BBC Radio Gloucestershire got three of us together in May 2010 and recorded half an hour about how Postlip started and what we do together.

You can listen to the programme here.  Internet Explorer loads it slowly so be patient (sigh) but if you've intelligently chosen Firefox then the sound comes on a bit quicker .

Being together

Everybody contributes to running Postlip and keeping it together physically and socially.   There’s lots of expertise in the group and people mostly join in what they enjoy, but when we have to do something boring then we’re quite good at organising ourselves.  We tend not to have formal leaders, but anybody who knows something is usually the centre of that activity.  

Community members retiling the roof of one of our outbuildings

Postlip makes most decisions by consensus.   That is, somebody floats an idea, everybody puts in their views, we try to listen to one another, people modify their views, and gradually an agreement emerges that everyone can go along with.  We think this, while the slowest method, is also the best for maintaining cooperation and community.   We have a few formal Rules to guide us, but try to find the best solution to each individual issue.   

Formal structure

Everything is owned by the Postlip Housing Association Limited (which is us) and each member holds a living unit on a very long lease which was bought at a market valuation.  We each pay a monthly community charge (currently £98) as a share of the maintenance and administration of Postlip.   When someone wants to leave, the lease requires them to offer it to the Association, which will always want to buy it.  However, the Association can’t pay until it finds a new member who will buy the unit, which can take up to a year or so.  More about buying & selling here

The Association is a not-for-profit mutual society, keeping formal accounts, electing a Chair, Secretary & Treasurer at an annual AGM, and formally meeting monthly as a Committee of Management (one person from each household).   There’s also a less formal monthly Community Gathering which includes everybody who wants to attend and which discusses whatever’s on our minds at the time.  Both these meetings are minuted.