Guilden Gate Smallholding

by Simon Saggers
(Guilden Gate, Bassingbourn, Cambridgeshire, UK)

chickens under cobnuts

The Guilden Gate smallholding blends historic wisdom and modern technologies in one practical example of a more self reliant way of life.

The holding has a mixed mosaic of native hedging, wild flower meadows, coppice woodland, vegetable fields and fruit orchards that yield organic vegetables, herbs and fruit.

The object is not to produce a huge yield of one crop but to create a rich, diverse and interconnected smallholding 'eco-system'. Our design plan for Guilden Gate has sustainability as its guiding principle and aims to close as many resource cycles as possible.

The cottage we have built includes materials, technology and environmentally sensitive concepts that we hope offer a new vision for the country cottage in this new millennium.

The smallholding meets its water requirements through rainwater harvest and a borehole. We have also installed a complete recycling system for our greywater. This comprises of straw and bark filters vertical and horizontal flow reed beds as well as a solar pond and a willow trench soakaway. We are not on mains sewerage as we have a dry twin vault compost toilet.

Guilden Gate independently generates its own net energy needs from renewable resources. The sun, when it shines, heats our water and our wind turbine meets our electricity requirements. The woodland provides wood for heating.

Our energy conservation when combined with the provision of our own energy, means, Guilden Gate is a net zero C02 emissions site. The holding aims to keep external inputs to a minimum and minimise the creation of waste. We re-use and recycle as much as possible on site.

Click here to visit the Guilden Gate website