FAQ

How is the community managed?

Primarily Redfield is a home to a community of people who have chosen to live and organise collectively and take on the stewardship of the house and surrounding land.

Redley Housing Cooperative is a mutually assured housing coop, meaning tenants are members and members are tenants. We share the responsibility for the day to day running, upkeep and management of this large house and gardens and agree to take this on as part of living here.

Redfield is not an organised institution but in order to run things we as members take on roles such as secretary, treasurer, food account, visitor coordination etc, etc to keep on top of household tasks. We host a fortnightly meeting to discuss current topics and make decisions.

Here is a copy of the internal rules that have been around since the beginning of the community: https://redfieldcommunity.org.uk/newsite2021/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Redley-Internal-Rules-2001.pdf

What is consensus decision-making?

Redfield members meet once a fortnight to discuss and agree on projects, finances, membership, issues of the day, organise upcoming events and raise any issues of concern.

Decision-making is by consensus of all members of the community at the fortnightly meeting. Redfield members meet to discuss and agree on projects, finances, membership, issues of the day, organise upcoming events and raise any issues of concern. As well as community business there is space for feelings to be expressed in a supportive atmosphere. Communal life tends to highlight individual foibles and test how we look at ourself and others. As well as bringing us closer together, open communication and shared feelings are necessary to limit the scope for misunderstanding.

Consensus means moving forward together. This sometimes happens grudgingly from some parties, but it is important to recognise that we will not always agree on everything and sometimes there is a need for give and take.

Coming to a consensus meeting involves:

Listening, patience, tolerance, understanding, openness, negotiation
Being prepared not to dig your heels in about anything but to listen and be open to changing your mind
Being ready to have your ideas challenged, suggestions rebuffed, details scrutinized from the outset
Being ready to amend or withdraw any proposal you might have come with
Being ready to listen to and accept everyone’s potentially differing opinions and take them on board

Some say voting is inherently divisive by its nature. Consensus decision-making allows us to move forward together as one, and gives us a framework (as far as possible) for letting go of entrenched opinions and ego.

Consensus decision-making is not always easy, and is not as easy as accepting the rules imposed by someone else.

I am interested in visiting and/or membership, what do I do?

Firstly you’ll need to come on a visitor day or organised work weekend to meet the people living here, be shown around, have lunch with us and find out more about what it is like to live here and how we run the place. It is a chance to ask all the questions you may have and clarify your understanding, and for us to get to know you a little bit too.

When can I visit?

Please check the latest dates at https://redfieldcommunity.org.uk/newsite2021/visiting/

Why can’t I just drop in sometime?

We are a single household of multiple occupancy who share a lot of our day to day domestic
living together. We also have our own lives, jobs, families and responsibilities outside of the
community. We take on admin, cooking, cleaning and hosting roles as part of our communal
input. It can get quite busy here on any normal week. Making time for new people on an ad
hoc basis would disrupt our private family space too much. Therefore, we ask people initially
to come on a visitor day.

Can I bring my dog?

Redfield has a no dog policy for visitors and residents.

What is your membership process?

The first initial step is your visit on a visitors’ day, or one of the work activity weekends
This is followed by at least two overnight community work activity weekends, or events
Following on from that you are welcome to apply for membership. If everyone resident at the time is happy to move forward with your application a formal membership process begins. This involves:
At least two immersive weekend stays as potential members
A two week immersive stay

After each visit we take a decision by consensus whether to take the membership process forward or not. If we are not in agreement to proceed, further visits will not be arranged. This way we make sure everyone is happy, we keep cohesion within the group and you are also not misled into further visits.

Why is the membership process so long?

We are a single household with lots of individuals sharing a space and a lot of our day to day domestic activities. Living together with many people throws up lots of challenges as well as being supportive and good fun. We all need to have some common ground to get along; getting to know each other and how all of us might get along with one another is our primary concern in membership (for both incoming and existing members). The best way we can do this is by spending time together.

What happens on a visitor day?

We accommodate about 10 adults on a visitor day, plus kids.

10-11am: tea and home-made cakes in the dining room. Kids can play outside or in the activity room. It’s an opportunity to mingle, have a chat with members who are around.
11am-12:30 pm: a tour of the grounds and buildings, and a chance to ask a few questions.
1-2pm: lunch in the dining room
2-3:30pm: a chat in the lounge about structures, finances, organisation, rotas, food, and other practicalities; an opportunity to ask any questions you may have
3:30-4pm depart

If you would like to visit again, get in touch after your visit and make further arrangements to visit on a work activity weekend or to help prepare for the next visitor day.

We always appreciate help in the kitchen after lunch with clearing away and washing up.

What happens on a work activity weekend?

This will depend on the weather, priorities of the day/month, who is about, and other things but might include things like:

Digging the garden, weeding or preparing growing beds for spring/winter
Clearing land/brush from overgrown areas
Harvesting and processing fruit and veg
Making apple juice
Repairing roofs on outbuildings
Taking down old structures or building new ones (greenhouses/sheds)
Chopping and processing wood for the log boiler

It will generally be outdoors (regardless of the weather so please bring appropriate clothing), working 9:30am – 5pm on Saturdays with an hour or two for lunch and again on Sunday morning 9:30am-1pm. Visitors arrive on Saturday morning (or Friday evening by prior arrangement) and depart after lunch on Sunday.

Beds will be made for visitors and meals prepared but we also always appreciate help in the kitchen with food preparation, washing up and putting away (a never-ending task here!). If it’s easy for you to bring your own bedsheets for the none-night stay, that’s also much appreciated as it’s easier on the planet as well as our guest room team.

What happens on a maintenance week?

Maintenance weeks are an opportunity to come and take part in more practical tasks like:

Repairing roofs on outbuildings
Repairing sash windows
Repairing holes in the driveway
Plumbing (any plumbers out there?)
Painting and decorating
Servicing the log boiler
Taking down old structures or building new ones (greenhouses/sheds)
Cleaning windows

Maintenance weeks are less suitable for kids; if you do want to bring kids it is useful if there are two adults so that one can give us a hand with the maintenance tasks while the other keeps an eye on the little ones.

We can accommodate up to 3 adults and up to 2 kids at a time on maintenance weeks.