One lovely afternoon in July I headed off to the Malverns to the Green and Away Private View. This was an open afternoon and evening for G & A to show off its facilities to potential clients and old friends. (I fall into the latter category so far). Visitors were welcomed with delicious cream tea, and later an evening meal too. As evening drew in the fire was lit and a local band played lively folk music, while drinks including organic wines and local beer could be bought from the bar.
Green and away is exactly what it says it is. Green – Europes only outdoor tented conference Centre, and I am sure the lowest impact environmentally. The whole venue is constructed over a couple of weeks, every summer in a field, with teepees, straw bale and hazel structures roofed with tarpaulins, and a marquee or two. All of these comfortably furnished with straw bales covered with throws and rugs and cushions. Bathroom facilities include amazingly ok compost loos, and woodburner heated water for showers. Washing up water is solar heated or heated by an old recycled wood stove from the days of the Crimean War. All the main spaces, including the kitchen and washing up areas are arranged around the ‘village green’, with a fire space in the middle.
Low Impact? The whole venue is made up of structures that are removed at the end, leaving a field with little or no trace of occupation other than the imprints of a few tents. I know, because I’ve seen it in the winter. All electricity for lighting and use in the kitchen is solar or wind generated, so there is no use for traditional generators on the site.
A vegetable garden provides much of the organic vegetables used in the kitchen, and bread and pizzas are baked in a specially constructed clay oven.
Visitors are encouraged to travel by public transport and be met off local buses rather than by use of private car.
And Away – tucked away in a quiet corner of Gloucestershire - I believe the creative use of low impact technology and ideas through out the venue could not fail to inspire.
I suspect that part of what makes G & A such a special place is that it is entirely run by volunteers who turn up for a week or two, or the whole summer for the experience – of living outdoors, away from the hum drum of most normal lives, with a group of people who are simply there because they love and chose to be there too. Now in its fifteenth year, they must be getting something very right.
Green and Away is open for a few weeks every year, and is available for hire to organisations, NGO’s and business, especially those working for social and environmental renewal. I am sure that any group would find inspiration and the space to think outside the box, whilst being nourished by excellently cooked vegetarian food and a taste of living in community. For more information visit www.greenandaway.org.
Why have I written this piece? Because I love Green and Away – feel lucky to know of it, and sometimes be a part of it and want to spread the word. That’s all.
Rachel Stark
rachel@clutterfree.co.uk?