Ty Brethyn: Housing in Co-operative Hands since 2007
Meet the people of Ty Brethyn
Nine adults and three children live at Ty Brethyn, split across five households in and around a converted Victorian watermill. We come from fairly different places, an architect, a builder, a psychotherapist, an electrician, and ended up here for a shared reason: wanting to live somewhere co-operative, land-connected, and slower than most of the alternatives. Here’s who we are.
The land and the finances
Roscoe and Robert. Between them, Roscoe (Aga) and Robert (Bunkhouse) keep Ty Brethyn’s finances straight and its systems running. Roscoe studied Maths and has led the co-op’s financial planning through this refinancing. Robert, a retrained electrician with an earlier career spanning oil exploration and a PhD in river sediment transport, chairs the co-op and looks after the heat pumps, the water borehole and the hedges.
The building and the growing
Lucía and Charlotte. Lucía (Aga), an architect specialising in sustainable design, is currently studying Permaculture Design and supports the retrofit of the main mill building. Charlotte (Mill Cottage) brings over twenty years as a psychotherapist, and is now developing land-based skills through gardening and scything courses, alongside looking after the co-op’s sheep.
The community links
Gwen and Ginny. Gwen (Bunkhouse) is drawn to the co-operative model itself, and volunteers locally with a food resilience group in Llangollen. Ginny (Snug) has a strong creative background, teaches art, music and crafts with Adult Learning Wales, and forages wild plants around the site to support local herbalism.
The newer households
Tony. Tony (Mill Cottage) has had about as varied a working life as it’s possible to have, from outdoor pursuits instructor to policeman, hotelier and head teacher, before becoming a self-employed builder. He’s helped establish two community interest companies in Llangollen.
Chris, Nicky and family. Chris and Nicky (Shippon) moved in with their two children more recently, and are settling into the site and its way of doing things.
What holds it together is how decisions get made: everything runs on consensus, in small groups looking after finance, the land, and the buildings, feeding back to the whole co-op every fortnight. It’s slower than most ways of running a household. We think it’s better for it.
Supported By
We are members of the Confederation of Co-operative Housing and receive support from Cwmpas (Wales Co-operative Centre). Our financial management is overseen by North West Housing Services (NWHS).
