Communal Roundhouse.
Photo credit: Settlements, David Spero

Tinkers Bubble

Welcome to Tinkers Bubble's official website.

Recent Updates - March 2023

We're hosting fortnightly volunteer afternoon throughout the summer - get in touch for details

About Tinkers Bubble

Tinkers Bubble is a small off-grid woodland community in Somerset. We use environmentally sound methods of working the land without using fossil fuels.

We have planning permission for self-built houses on the condition that we make a living from the land. We make our monetary incomes mainly through forestry, apple work and gardening. As a result we’re money poor but otherwise rich!

We manage about 28 acres of douglas fir, larch, and mixed broadleaf woodland using horses, two person saws, and a wood-fired steam-powered sawmill. Our pastures, orchards, and gardens are organically certified, and we use a combination of no-dig methods and horse-ploughing. We press apple juice and cider for sale, grow most of our own vegetables, keep chickens, bees, and a milking cow and make a lot of preserves.

We have solar powered 12v electricity, spring water on tap, and use compost toilets. We burn wood for cooking, heating, and for hot water in the bath house. We sometimes eat meat from our land, and although we try to cater for all diets we do tend to rely on animal products during the hunger gap. Most people wash their clothes by hand. Life is lived mostly outdoors, so it’s cold in the winter, but we live on the top of a steep hill, so there’s plenty of chances to get warm! There’s loads of wildlife on site, particularly badgers, deer and ticks! We’re currently a group of 6 adults, plus long-term volunteers. Though some of us would consider ourselves to be spiritual, we have no shared spirituality. We are open to new live-in members who are interested in making a living from the land.

Businesses

We currently run two communal businesses.

We process timber from our woodland using a steam-powered sawmill, and usually have a stock of Douglas Fir available in various standard sizes. We sometimes also have other woods, including Ash, Cherry, and Apple. We can cut to order.

We also press apples for juice and cider, which is available directly from us or from local shops. We deliver by bicycle, so are glad of orders within a reasonable cycling distance!

Some residents also run their personal businesses from the land. As of summer 2021, Laura is selling salad, and occaisionally residents make food and crafts to sell at market.

Volunteering and Visiting

We are generally not open to day visitors, as we are busy managing the land, although we do sometimes hold local volunteering afternoons. Most years we run an open day in autumn in which people can see the land and various activities in operation.

If you are keen to join in with what we do then you can apply to volunteer with us for a 2 to 3 week stay. See here for more information. Please get in touch by email or post if you would like to volunteer with us, including why you’re interested in visiting, and any relevant experience you’ve got. We don’t expect you to be a professional peasant; it just helps to get an idea of what you’re about.

Please check your spam folder for our response - we answer all emails, usually within a week or so, but some email providers (particularly hotmail) seem to put all emails from riseup.net in the spam folder (please let us know if this is the case).

Making hay by horse and hand
Photo credit: Settlements, David Spero