Our Story
Shw'mae! We are Lily and Pete. We met in 2009. By 2011 we were married. That year, we moved into a truck, beginning a project that would change the trajectory of our lives forever. We didn't know it at the time, but we were on a quest for Cynefin...
A quest for home
Disillusioned by a culture of consumption and alienation, and with a child on the way, we set off on a journey around the UK, in search of the seeds of a different story...
Over the next three years, we crowd-funded, filmed and edited our first (and only!) feature length film.
Released in 2016, Wetheuncivilised: A Life Story is an award-winning ecological documentary and community project that has screened in over 200 communities worldwide.
We toured this grass-roots project with our own solar-powered cinema and workshop space, supporting people to explore practical responses to the challenges of our time.
In 2017, with a clear vision of what we wanted to create, we began looking for a place to draw together everything we’d been learning. In a serendipitous convergence of events, we found ourselves living in the Herefordshire/Monmouthshire borderlands, and began to put down roots. Lockdown and a second child slowed life down, and our dream for a land-based project began to feel like it might never happen...
But how could we afford to buy 16acres?
In 2021, Lily's mum and step-dad sold their home in Brockely, South East London. The house had been bought collectively by Lily's mum and two friends in the early 80's as a response to being single parents after meeting at the Greenham Common Women’s Peace Camp. Between 1984 and 2021, the house was home to many people. In the mid-80’s it was run as a communal household with shared chilcare responsibilities. By the 90s Lily's mum had met Lily’s step-dad and they had become sole owners through a series of re-shuffles and buy-outs. Still, the house remained busy with lodgers, student exchanges and also as a foster home. After the sale of the house, Lily's late mum and step-dad went on to set up a co-housing project Cannock Mill co-housing and Lily inherited sufficient funds so that when, we saw the advert on right move, for 16 acres of pasture and woodland, right here, in the heart of our community, we were able to make an offer. We spent a summer here without running water and one solar panel in a small touring caravan as we applied for planning to begin to establish the basic infrastructure, and to build the tiny home (a converted 7.5ton lorry box), where we now live under the caravan act.
It is our intention to use this privilege to create something that will serve the local ecology, the local community and our family now and for years to come.
We have found our Cynefin. We can’t wait to share it with you!
And so, the next chapter begins...
Lily and Pete x
So, how were we able to buy 16-acres?
In 2021, Lily's mum and step-dad sold their home in Brockely, South East London. The house had been bought collectively by Lily's mum and two friends in the early 80's - after meeting at the Greenham Common Women’s Peace Camp - as a response to being single parents. Between 1984 and 2021, the house was home to many people. In the mid-80’s it was run as a communal household with shared childcare responsibilities.
By the 90s Lily's mum had met Lily’s step-dad and they had become sole owners through a series of re-shuffles and buy-outs. Still, the house remained busy with lodgers, student exchanges and also as a foster home. After the sale of the house, Lily's late mum and step-dad went on to set up a co-housing project Cannock Mill co-housing,
meanwhile, enabling us to action our dream.
When we saw the advert for 16-acres of pasture and woodland - right here in the heart of our community - we were able to make an offer. We spent a summer here without running water and one solar panel in a small touring caravan as we applied for planning to begin to establish basic infrastructure, and to bring on our temporary home, a converted 7.5ton lorry box, where we now live under the Caravan Act.
It is our intention to use this opportunity to continue with the spirit of Lily's childhood home - something that stretches beyond the needs of the nuclear family. It has always been our plan to create something that will serve the local ecology, the community and our family - now and for years to come.
We have found our Cynefin. We can't wait to share it with you!
Lily & Pete x
More About Us
Pete/
An ecological design consultant, builder, and carpenter with a background in architecture, communication, and sustainable design (MA Sustainable Design, Permaculture Design Certificate 2011). Pete has lectured at the University of Brighton, taught Permaculture Design, and contributed to community woodland and wellbeing projects, focusing on men’s work and mental health. His practical work includes the design and build of orchard processing facilities, creation of an off-grid forest school, fit out of the Angel Bakery shop in Abergavenny, and design and construction of a low-energy garden studio and other OPD projects. Skilled in off-grid systems and ecological building, Pete is now based full-time at Bryn Cynefin.
The back story/
The only person in my family to attend University, I struggled throughout my education. Despite having skills and the imagination I struggled to focus barely scraping by to obtain a Degree in 3D Design. Diagnosed with ADHD in my early 40’s, I can now appreciate the challenges I faced in these more traditional learning spaces and why I’ve made choices I’ve made since then, leading me to what is now my home and work.
After graduating in the early 2000's I found work as an architectural assistant before going on to be a graphic designer. Living during a period of 'economic growth' I managed to keep myself in employment by using my creative skills as a means to an end and DJd house music on the weekends, in clubs and as a member of DIY sound system - a passion that is still very much alive in me today.
After spending my 20's trying to make the most of my educational opportunities, I increasingly found myself out of place, suffering a sense of dis-ease that I had no remedy for. Unable to fully align to the jobs being asked of me whether as a designer for a Global Branding Agency or the folly of some Russian Oligarch, I experienced a descent, a moment where my inner world and it’s longings were out of sync with my reality.
Not long after the economic collapse of 2008, I found myself out of work and signing on, looking for direction in the vacancies posted on the boards of the local job center. An existential panic enveloped me, punctuated by periods depression, anxiety, self doubt and uncertainty. I felt a calling to find a new home for my skills. Initially I found work with a charity supporting young asylum seekers through temporary housing. With the help of a post-graduate loan, I went on to study a Masters in Sustainable Design. After successfully completing my studies, with more questions than answers and no clear 'career path' in sight, I was drawn to the Permaculture Movement for its hands on approach to sustainability and equity - suddenly the penny dropped.
Originally born in Sheffield to parents who ran numerous post offices and newsagents I moved around a fair bit as a kid, growing up in flats above the business. Although nature was always a backdrop for my play and adventures, I didn't have a deep sense of connection to the land or a specific place, it wasn't something that felt like a part of me.
Permaculture provided an ecological lens through which to view my life, culture and my work - a home for my questions. Now it all made complete sense.
The years since have been spent cultivating skills, knowledge and experiences that have led me to this point - filmmaking, forming networks and support groups, engaging in activism and direct action, learning crafts and skills to support healthy ecosystems and communities - the composting and learning is ongoing.
Lily/
Lily has 11 years’ experience researching, volunteering and working in permaculture and market gardens and three years of herbal medicine studies. Lily is also a published poet and creative event producer, with a background in facilitation, physical therapy, perinatal wellbeing and community projects.
Lily is now reducing her work as a Soft Tissue Therapist to focus on horticulture, product development, events and communications for Bryn Cynefin.
The Back Story/
I left London in 1997 to go to University, and spent the next 15 years trying to find my way… I had always been interested in community action and creativity. In 2001 I put on the first UK Community production of The Vagina Monologues, and went on to set up a small women-centred theatre production company.
In my mid-twenties, trying to fit into the mainstream, I worked first as PA to Lynne Franks of SEED. then later for a small brand consultancy, Eatbigfish . I also did a PGCE. Somehow, though, nothing felt right. It always felt like something was missing...
I moved to Brighton in 2007, feeling disillusioned with London life, looking for a sense of meaning. When I met Pete in 2009, I was working at a beach-front gym.
We had a conversation about the state of the world. I felt like I’d found someone who understood the cognitive dissonance I’d been feeling. Over the coming months and years, with the discovery of permaculture and alternative ways of living, I realised that there was a new framework, one that finally made sense, and brought together my passions for creativity, community and the living world.