Love for Life

Cae Mabon - A Retreat Village Of Jaw-Droppingly Beautiful Low Impact Buildings In Wales Britain

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Cae Mabon is:

# a work of art

# a centre on the edge

# a clearing in an oak forest

# a place of creativity and celebration

# an elemental retreat centre for healing and inspiration

# a model of low impact, sustainable living

# the lair of the ancient British sun god

# grown on stories

I ddechrau, ysbrydolwyd Cae Mabon gan y dymuniad i ddysgu mwy am fywyd ein cyndeidau miloedd o flynyddoedd yn ol. Dyna felly pam yr adeiladwyd Ty Crwn Celtaidd yma yn gyntaf - adeilad tebyg i'r hyn fyddau ein cyndeidiau yn byw ynddo, ac yn traddodi storiau o gwmpas y tan. Er i nifer erall o adeiladau ecolegol gael eu hadeiladu yma, parha'r Ty Crwn Celtaidd yn galon fyw i'r ganolfan, ac yn hafan fywiog i aml noson o fwynhad, cymdeithasu, can, llenydda a straeon di ri.

The Cae Mabon Retreat Centre has been evolving since 1989. It is set in natural woodland by a rushing river, near a deep lake, at the foot of high mountains and almost within sight of the sea. A family of beautiful, natural, earthy structures provide appealing spaces for groups to meet, retreat, work and play. People have looked all over Britain for something similar but in vain.

PEOPLE

Eric Maddern

Eric has been Cae Mabon's principal inspiration and creator. He has been helped and inspired in turn by many, many people.

Eric was born in Whyalla, South Australia. He moved with his family to settle in Britain when he was 11. He went to school and university in the UK (a psychology and sociology degree at Sheffield University) then set out to travel the world in two years. It took him ten!

After sojourning in the U.S., Central America and the Pacific Islands he returned to Australia, the land of his birth. He worked in Adelaide as a psychologist then as a community artist, visiting remote places in the South Australian outback. This led to a four-year period working in Aboriginal communities, including a stint with the Araluen Bush Arts Team based in Alice Springs.

This exposure to Aboriginal people, culture and land had a profound effect on him. Among other things it made him curious about the notion of 'sacred land'.

Finally, after returning to Britain in 1982 and a spell in London, he was able to buy 5 acres of land in Fachwen with a farmhouse.

Since then he's become a professional storyteller and singer, and Cae Mabon has slowly evolved to the point where it is sometimes described as a 'sacred place'. Certainly it's true to say that it has been built on songs and stories.

Listen to eric's music on line at Indiestore: http://indiestore.7digital.com/ericmaddern
For more about Eric's work: http://www.ericmaddern.co.uk

FOREST

Cae Mabon adjoins the Padarn Country Park, 100 acres of natural oak woodland. It's an excellent example of the indigenous forests of Wales, with most of the tree species native to these parts: oak, ash, birch, hazel, alder, willow, rowan, holly, blackthorn, hawthorn, beech, yew and pine.

On the Cae Mabon land you'll also find apple, plum, pear, walnut, mulberry, lime, aspen, elder, chestnut, wild cherry, sycamore and hornbeam, as well as some fine eucalyptus trees, planted to remind Eric of his origins Down Under. (The one in the top corner of the land by the track as you come down is an especially magnificent specimen).

You may also see wild rose and honeysuckle as well as the ubiquitous ivy, bramble, bracken and fern. Up in the valley there are apparently some rare mosses, and lichen is to be found in many shades of pale.

In the spring wild garlic grows along the riverbank and later primroses, bluebells, violets, foxgloves, harebells and many other wild flowers are to be found in abundance.

RIVER AND LAKE

The Afon Fachwen ("little white river") gathers its waters from Elidir Fawr and flows into Llyn Padarn just 150 metres below the Cae Mabon boundary. Once there was a trout fishing lake higher up the hill where the fishing rights were held exclusively by the managers of the Dinorwic Slate Quarry.

But one year (in the 1950s) there was a terrific storm and the lake became dangerously full. That night the lake-keeper was not in his nearby cottage (was he drunk or dead, no-one knows) and therefore did not open the sluice gates to relieve the pressure.

Eventually the dam burst and water hurtled down the hillside, scattering boulders everywhere. The course of the river was changed forever. But next morning the quarrymen's wives filled their baskets with fish plucked from the path of the torrent and that night ate one final fish supper!

Since then it's been rare to see brown trout in the river pools. But the lake itself (Llyn Padarn) contains trout and, in its deeper recesses, Arctic char, trapped there since the Ice Age.

Migrating salmon are sometimes seen from the old bridge at the foot of the lake as they make their way back to their spawning grounds. The round-the-lake footpath is 5 miles and takes about 2 hours to walk.

MOUNTAINS

Snowdonia, Eryri in Welsh, contains the highest mountains in England and Wales. It has long been a favoured destination for climbers and walkers alike.

Though not high by world standards (Snowdon is 1085 metres) the mountains are very rugged and provide a full range of climbing challenges as well as spectacular landscapes.

The peak which can be seen across the valley (from the loo-with-a-view!) is Moel Eilio (726 metres) which means "The Supporting Hill". Snowdon can be surmounted in many ways and it's worth getting to the top at least once (Pyg Track and Watkin Path recommended). But its iconic status and restaurant makes it often a rather crowded summit.

Those interested in peace and quiet but equally dramatic rock formations and views might prefer to tackle Glyder Fawr and Glyder Fach.

The Fachwen Hill (to the left as you come up the lane) is an outcrop of Precambrian rock, making it some of the oldest, hardest rock in the world. It's a great place for scrambling and practice climbing.

PHILOSOPHY

Cae Mabon Creation Myth

I stumbled upon Cae Mabon when I was looking for somewhere else. I fell in love with the place but couldn't afford to buy it, so had to let go. Later, at the end of a meditation retreat, I had a very strong vision of what I could do there. So I went back to find that someone else had already bought it. Then I really had to let go.

But a year later I discovered, again by chance, that it was up for sale once more. I still had no money, no job and no accounts, but I did have a strong vision and determination. I managed to raise the mortgage.

The day before signing the contract I went to look at it from across the lake. It was a grey damp day in June. I'd come from living in Alice Springs, Central Australia, where the sun always shines! What the hell was I doing?

That evening I went to a singing group run by a friend. Someone had brought a song for us to sing. It went: "Sleep, sleep tonight, and may your dreams be realised. And when the thunder cloud, passes rain, oh let it rain, rain down on me."

By the time we'd sung that over and over I didn't mind about the rain. I knew my dream was about to be realised.

The next day I signed the contract with a clear heart. The day after I bumped into some friends and told them what I'd done.

"Do you know what it was yesterday?" one asked.

"No,"? I said.

"Midsummer's Day."

Now, nearly 17 years later, much of the dream has been realised. Not that I knew how it would be. All I had were a few hopes and hunches, vague ideas about what was possible. Rather than impose a blueprint I wanted to allow things to evolve organically. It sounds corny but I wanted the place to tell me what to do.

The presence of forest, river, mountain and lake is very strong. The elements are everywhere. I wanted to listen to their promptings and to the people who came here, each with their own passion and perception. Ideas seem to arise when their time is right. Some possibilities are glimpsed years before they can be brought to fruition. Others flash in and are made flesh that day.

It's been good to feel that it doesn't all have to be done in one year or even ten. There's time - a lifetime, several generations perhaps - for the full potential of the place to be realised.

It's been important for me to create works of beauty, not the ostentatious beauty of the wealthy but the humble beauty of the simple and natural. The structures are what's known these days as "low-impact".

They are mostly made from timber, stone, reed, straw, grass, lime and clay. They blend in with their surroundings. They are special places to be. Not only that, many of them echo dwellings lived in by people in far away times and places.

There is a sense in which they honour our ancestors - tribal, Celtic, peasant - whilst at the same time being very much of the now. The Roundhouse is not part of a theme park about how life used to be. It is a living contemporary building, capable of being used in many exciting ways in keeping with our "post-modern" times.

I often think the two main gifts of Cae Mabon are "healing" and "inspiration". In many ways it doesn't matter what "workshop" or "event" you do here. The ever-present earth and river, forest and fire will heal and inspire you.

Some might wish to label that a pagan approach. But I prefer to think of Cae Mabon as a place that can hold and nourish many spiritualities. Yes we have Pagan and Shamanic groups come, but we also have Christian, Zen and Taoist groups, and others who just want to write or dance or sing or get married or celebrate a birthday or simply reflect deeply about their lives.

One thing that is common to many groups is the creative use of ritual and ceremony. It seems that for many the old religious rituals do not serve any more. But they cannot dispense with ceremony entirely.

The impulse to ritual - the symbolic use of words and actions to intensify experience, to create meaning and to dignify the individual - is deep. In a place like this it is possible to devise rituals that pay homage to ancestors, that honour Nature, that appreciate beauty, that draw on traditions, that reflect the life stories and dreams of the people involved.

Ultimately such practices connect us to the bigger picture. And here the bigger picture is also about the Earth and how we can live more harmoniously and sustainably with each other and leave a better place for the generations to come. A good place to start is composting your crap!

BUILT ON STORIES

by Eric Maddern

My first ever-professional engagement as a storyteller was for English Heritage at Chysauster, a cluster of Romano-Cornish "courtyard houses" near Penzance. I'd not planned to but when I opened my mouth I began speaking in a Cornish accent. Once started I had to continue through all the stories. It was bizarre but somehow sounded natural. Only later did I realise that from that spot I could see the spire of the church at Madron, dedicated to St Madern and the ancestral home of the Maddern family. Could it be that I was tuning into the spirit of my forefathers who were somehow speaking though me? I told tales that week in the ruins of the chief"s roundhouse, with no roof but walls ten feet thick. It had a powerful atmosphere and I wondered what it was like to live in such a place.

I didn't wait long to find out. A few weeks later I met Jake Keen who took me to the Ancient Technology Centre to see his re-constructed Roundhouse. It was then I realised it was possible to make one. So next summer, back on my land in North Wales, we began work on the foundations. Jake came to help. It was three years before he was able to come again to crown and complete the thatched roof. Then we discovered that his first roundhouse, the same dimensions as mine, had burned down the very day I'd moved to North Wales in 1986, as if the roundhouse seed had flown through the air and landed with me!

In the new Roundhouse I learnt how it felt to be in a dwelling the ancient Britons had lived in for 3000 years B.C. At the core of that experience was sitting round the fire telling and listening to stories.

Since then the Cae Mabon Roundhouse has been the centrepiece for what was at first an encampment and has now grown into an elemental retreat centre, dedicated to healing and inspiration.

From the beginning storytelling has been its central theme. People say the directions to the place read like a story. The tale of how I originally stumbled upon it has become a creation myth. And of course the name itself has a story. Mabon is referred to as the "Great Son of the Great Mother" in the Mabinogion. The name is also a form of "Maponus" who some say was the Solar Deity to whom Stonehenge was dedicated. So "Cae Mabon" could mean the "Home of the Divine Youth" or the "Lair of the Ancient British Sun God"! Grandiose pretensions indeed!

On a more earthly plane, for ten years storytelling has homed in on the Cae Mabon Roundhouse. Many of Britain's storytelling "greats" have performed there, telling their funny, epic, surreal, moving, poetic and extraordinary tales. At times we've squeezed up to eighty people into a space only twenty feet in diameter. More comfortably and more often we've had forty or fifty, their faces lit by fire and candlelight. And yes, it does have a magical, timeless atmosphere.

Most commonly, I am the resident storyteller, regaling visiting school parties and youth groups, who come from as far afield as Edinburgh, Bolton, Nottingham and London. They stay from a weekend to a week and storytelling is part of a programme, which may include outdoor activities, survival crafts, nature awareness, personal reflection, journeying, music making and ritual. I remember one troubled lad from a "Leaving Care" scheme sitting down by the Roundhouse fire and saying: "Being here is like being high on nothing!" Great, except really he was high on the fire, forest, stream, stories and more.

Some of our most memorable days have been when Hugh Lupton and I have brought storytellers here as part of our "Storytelling in the Mythological Landscape" retreats series at Ty Newydd. In 2001 we had a profoundly moving six hour epic retelling of the Four Branches of the Mabinogion, where each teller told a chunk of the tale from the viewpoint of a particular character. In 2002 our theme was "The Battle of the Trees". We spent a perfect autumnal day wandering from tree to tree hearing tales told for sixteen species, from Alder to Yew! Another time we worked with the "Lost Gods and Goddesses" of Britain. Each person made a shrine to an ancient deity somewhere on the land, then we processed around hearing appropriate tales. Afterwards it seemed that the place had been re-sacralized, that the gods and goddesses had been woken from their sleep.

Since 1998, Alida Gersie has led five special workshops here. What a blessing! She's astonishingly good at inspiring creativity and gently touching depths. She works with a blend of traditional, fictional and personal tales. One year we explored the Pied Piper of Hamlin, expanding its meaning and feeling far beyond anything I thought possible. This year we all wrote stories, which Alida guided the group to work with in a myriad of creative and moving ways. It's impossible to do justice to the rich, intricate, stimulating nature of her work in just a few lines. All I can do is highly recommend a workshop with her if you have a chance.

Midsummer 2003 we tried something new. We brought together storytelling with the survival skills of wild food, making string, tracking, shelter building and fire lighting. It was the perfect combination which climaxed in a feast, a procession, chanting to the dead, telling traditional and made up stories, lighting a wheel of fire to symbolize the sun at its zenith, ritual combat between the Oak King and the Holly King, songs and finally a soak in the newly installed hot tub by the river! Bliss!

So, Cae Mabon is well and truly on its way. The burning down and rebuilding of the Roundhouse in 2002 has served only to strengthen it. And given I have been working as a storyteller since it began, I have to conclude that the place has been built on stories!

ERYRI SNOWDONIA

Meaning "The Abode of Eagles" or "The Mountains of Snow"

Since the Romans came to these islands two thousand years ago the rugged mountains and landscapes of Wales (Cymru) have been a refuge for the native peoples of Britain. These folk are the "Cymry", known in English as the Welsh.

This corner of northwest Wales is one of the heartlands of the native Welsh Language - Cymraeg, the oldest living language in Europe. Today, just over 20% of the population on Wales speak the language fluently. Thankfully this is increasing due to a strong policy of teaching the language in all public schools in Wales.

From the 11th to the 13th century Gwynedd (and Snowdonia) was a major centre of resistance by the Welsh to the Normans. Less than a mile away from Cae Mabon are the remains of Dolbadarn Castle, built by Llewellyn the Great to guard the main gateway into the mountains.

FACHWEN

In the late 18th century slate was discovered in many parts of Snowdonia. For more than a hundred and fifty years it was quarried nearby and shipped around Britain and the world. It was Welsh slate that roofed the cities built to house the workforce of the Industrial Revolution.

The nearby Dinorwic Quarry was, at one time, the biggest slate quarry in the world. It was closed in 1969 (due to decline in demand and competition from abroad) and now is the site of extraordinary cliffs and canyons, tunnels and inclines, slowly being reclaimed by nature. One can't help but be impressed by the mighty work done by the Welsh quarrymen, but at the same time shocked by the hardships they had to endure.

On the Fachwen hillside there are about forty houses and cottages (and more now fallen into ruin) where slate quarry workers lived with their families. They supplemented their income by keeping pigs and chickens and growing vegetable gardens.

Just across the river (Afon Fachwen, meaning literally "The Little White River") from Cae Mabon are the ruins of an old flour and woollen mill.

Between the wars they made writing slates for schools. At the mouth of the river a couple of large boats were moored for transporting goods across the lake to Llanberis. A woman living in one of the mill cottages is supposed to have given birth in the boat on her way across the lake!

After 1969 many of the houses on the Fachwen hillside were abandoned in favour of council estates equipped with modern conveniences in nearby villages.

Then, ten years later, Fachwen began to be bought up by English incomers. The spectacular view of the mountains made it a desirable location. Many of these purchases were second homes. When Eric bought Muriau Gwynion (meaning "White Walls") in 1986 the Fachwen Lane was described, by the estate agents, as "millionaire's row"!

CAE MABON

Meaning literally "Mabon's Field". Mabon is the "Divine Youth" of the "Mabinogion" (collection of early Medieval tales of Wales). Some say Mabon (or Maponus) was the Solar Deity of Ancient Britain to whom Stonehenge was dedicated. So "Cae Mabon" is the "Retreat, Lair or Hide-Out of the Ancient Sun God of Britain" or the "Home of the Divine Youth"!!!

Two permaculture workshops were held at Cae Mabon (when it was still "Muriau Gwynion") in 1987 and 1988. Then in 1989 the first, pioneering "men's rites of passage" was held here. The original bender and tipi were erected that year and the ground was broken and a terrace built on what was to become the site of the Roundhouse.

Picture - Looking up through bare wooden roof structure to blue sky, like spiders web.

In 1990 work began on the stone wall of the Roundhouse. It took three years, just working one week each summer. Then, in the summer of 1994, with the help of ex-thatcher Nick MacSmith, Jake Keen of the Ancient Technology Centre in Dorset and many other volunteer helpers, the roof was completed. The roof raising party was held in September 1994.

The completion of the Roundhouse catalysed things here.In 1995 the shell of the barn (roof, floor, walls) was built, followed, the next year, by the beautifully designed doors and windows. In 1997 the "state-of-the-art twin-vault dry-composting Loo-with-a-view" was designed and built, followed by the thatched Shower Hut.

1998/9 were the years of building the straw bale and reciprocal frame roofed Hogan. In 2000 we built the pagoda-esque shed and acquired the Geodesic Dome. 2001 was a quiet year when we established a couple of new terraces and acquired the Mongolian Yurt and the Iranian Shavan. Then, in 2002... !

FIRE AND THE PHOENIX

Excerpt from email letter sent out on 15th May 2002

Dear friends,

As you probably know by now the Cae Mabon Roundhouse burned down on the Spring Equinox, 20th March 2002.

Fortunately no one was hurt, it wasn't arson, nor was it a fault of the Roundhouse design. Rather a candle was unwittingly left burning unattended and seven hours later the whole thing went up. I imagine that wax dripping from the candle slowly set fire to the furnishings inside the Roundhouse, eventually gaining sufficient strength to catch the thatch.

Picture - large fire at night

The Fire

The women here were engrossed in their work inside the barn. The first they knew of it was a bright orange light through the window. The Roundhouse was ablaze.

I was away in Chester at the time and was deeply shocked to receive the news. But by the time I returned home the next afternoon I'd gone through the strongest emotions and was resigned to what I'd see - heaps of ash, charred rafters, twisted fragments of metal, the blackened skeletal remains of the once wonderful Roundhouse.

I did, for about thirty seconds, consider not rebuilding the Roundhouse, but then dismissed it as an option. The Roundhouse was the first building I built here and it has always been the heart of the place.

It was a unique, beautiful structure, the thatch sweeping up in a lovely curve, the flickering fire and lanterns creating a magical atmosphere for so many wonderful evenings. I reckon in seven and a half years more than four thousand people came there.

I imagine most of you will have special memories. For me it's been a place of community and soulful conviviality. There have been innumerable relaxed chats around the fire, times of deep intimacy somehow nourished by the Roundhouse's protective embrace. Many fine storytellers have come to entrance and entertain us. The space has filled with song and echoed with beautiful music, poetry and laughter. There have been times of profound awakening and transformation in specially created ceremonies. Couples have been married there and babies named. Once it was even home to an extraordinary courtroom drama.

Somehow this reconstructed pre-historic Roundhouse was a refuge from the hectic, troubling world, a place where we could reconnect with a simpler, wiser, more ancient part of ourselves. It's been a place enjoyed by children, teenagers and adults alike.

The "wow!" response of all who've seen it for the first time walking down the hill has been delightful. Some have sought other places like it around the country. They have found none.

Picture - roundhouse looking towards A frame doorway, in bright sunshine, trees in background

The new roundhouse

The news now is that, in the last two months, the Phoenix has risen. It has been an extraordinary time. During the four-week building period many dozens of people have come to lend a hand, some for a few hours, some for more than a week. A hardy few even made it several times, keen perhaps to enjoy the incredible atmosphere (one friend said it was the most life affirming 24 hours he'd spent in years) and experience the Roundhouse in its various stages of reconstruction. None of it would have been possible without the generosity of more than fifty people who have made financial contributions enabling us to buy the raw materials and cover various other related costs.

So, a big THANK YOU to all of you who have helped, near and far.

We've incorporated various improvements into the new Roundhouse. The wall, which was badly fractured in the heat, has been pointed and rendered with lime and given several coats of lime wash. It now glistens white. We've put down some huge slate slabs making a beautiful floor: each slab has its own name! Under the floor a clay pipe supplies air to the fire, cutting down on drafts.

The porch is a splendid creation, with an A frame made of cruck oak carved with Celtic knotwork and some lovely wavy edged yew facia boards. And the thatching looks great.

As I write there are still two or three days work to do finishing off and dressing up the thatch. We were delayed last weekend when a swarm of bees settled on top of the roof. We decided to take it as a blessing but it did mean we weren't quite able to finish when we'd hoped.

Later there will be special doors made (by Dafydd who did the windows and doors in the Barn) and of course we also have to restore the mats, rugs, cushions and seating.

ARCHITECTURE

COB COTTAGE

In March 2004 we began the groundwork for the Cob Cottage. Then in April, 30 people arrived for a "cob workshop" and, under the expert guidance of Ianto Evans and Linda Smiley (co-authors of "The Hand-Sculpted House"), we began raising the walls of the beautiful Cob Cottage.

Work has progressed steadily throughout the year and we are hoping that the Cob Cottage will be opening for business at the beginning of the 2005 season.

ROUNDHOUSE ONE AND TWO

The Roundhouse is based on the dwellings of Neolithic and Iron Age Britain. In Snowdonia there are many places marked on the map as "hut circles".

Usually they are rings of fallen stone overgrown with brambles and bracken. Once they were stone walled round huts with conical thatched roofs, the thatch made from water reed (fragmites), heather, rushes or even bracken. The Cae Mabon Roundhouse is a reconstruction of one of these pre-historic roundhouses, with the addition of a rather spectacular porch.

It's about six megalithic yards in diameter, the most common size for a Celtic roundhouse. Each roundhouse was a home for a family, providing space for cooking, weaving, storing food, sleeping and meeting.

The first Roundhouse (Mark 1) took four years to build: three years on the stone wall (about one week per summer) then five weeks in the summer of 1994 on the roof. It had a dry stone wall, an earth floor and a rather loosely thatched roof that allowed the smoke to permeate through.

The second Roundhouse (Mark 2) was built within two months of the first one burning down.It has a lime-pointed and rendered wall, a slate floor and a well-thatched roof. The rafters are spruce thinnings, the ring beams hazel and the thatch is fragmites water reed. It should last at least 20 to 30 years before needing replacing.

In many ways Mark 2 is an improvement on the first Roundhouse. However, we did such a good job on the thatching (using steel rods and screw ties) that it wasn't as permeable to smoke as Mark 1. We've had to make a smoke hole at the top and do a fair bit of fiddling around to get the draw right and minimise smokiness. But still, like Mark 1, it's a great place for "the crack" - songs, stories and conversation - around the fire.

STUDIO BARN AND KITCHEN

In this corner of the field there was originally a small hay barn and an adjacent milking parlour. In 1995 we extended the barn using a conventional double-skin breezeblock construction.

Now the main space serves as a meeting room, feasting hall, dance studio and general all-purpose centre of civilisation, being the only building in the camp with electricity. The kitchen - which was the milking parlour - is simple but sufficient to cater for up to about 30 people.

To equal the beauty of the Roundhouse Dafydd Hughes designed and made lovely, curvaceous windows and doors. (The main double doors by the porch were made from an ash tree that grew just thirty metres away). We also sloped out the base of the walls so the building seemed to grow from the ground

STRAW BALE HOGAN

The Hogan was initially inspired by the Navaho dwellings of Utah and Arizona. They are octagonal structures with log walls and a turf roof. In the end it turned out differently from its original model. It has straw bale walls clad in a lime/sand render (supplied by the highly recommended Ty Mawr Lime at www.lime.org.uk) and a reciprocal frame roof.

Eight principle rafters are pegged on the lintel and rest on each other forming a series of strong inter-locking triangles with a space in the middle for a window. Through this "eye" can be seen the trees and sky!

Picture low round building with shallow turf roof and curvy door

Inside there is a woodblock floor and white walls.

Much work on the Hogan was done by Martin Start of woodstonemetal.

I often think of it as the child of the Roundhouse and the Barn: light, white and bright like the Barn but round and funky like the Roundhouse!

It has a special stillness and is a popular place to sleep.

COMPOSTING LOO

The "state-of-the-art twin-vault dry-composting urine-separating loo with a view" was recently described by Ianto Evans (author the "The Hand-Sculpted House"?) as "the best composting toilet I've seen anywhere in the world"! It was designed and built by Andy Warren of Natural Solutions based on a Vietnamese innovation.

There are two cubicles opening onto a generous porch looking over the forest to the mountains, hence "loo with a view". Beneath each cubicle are two chambers or vaults, each a cubic metre in size. The toilet seat is placed over one chamber. After each use a handful of sawdust or chopped straw is added.

It takes about 18 months to "fill" the first chamber. Then the toilet seat is switched to the other chamber and a blank placed over the first hole.

As the second chamber is being filled, the contents of the first - helped by worms and micro-organisms - compost down into a rich fertiliser.

Then, 18 months later, they are shovelled out and placed around the fruit trees. The seat is then switched back to its original position.

The floors and seating areas in the loo are made from teak recycled from a bank in the City of London. So, if you make your deposits now in the years to come you'll be able to draw interest in apples!

One "state-of-the-art" aspect of the design is that pee is separated from crap using a gutter and draining board. It is piped off to fertilise a nearby pear tree. This means that the smell is minimised. As many visitors have said, the odour is much better than most public toilets!

The only water in the whole system is rainwater which supplies the hand basin on the porch and which, as "grey water", later washes out the gutter and pipes.

One word of warning for blokes. The loo is not designed as a men's urinal. If you want a standing up pee you have to use the bushes!

SHOWER HUT

The thatched shower-hut by the river has a mythological resonance (see the story of ""Lleu and Blodeuwedd" in the Fourth Branch of the Mabinogion)! The Shower-Hut was built with help from Nick MacSmith and Mark Farrant. Water from the river is heated by a wood stove and stored in a hot water tank. This supplies enough for several showers, more if the fire is kept going. If the fire is stoked up just before bedtime hot water is available for morning showers. The showering space is enclosed by hazel hurdles giving sufficient privacy but also making it possible to see and hear the "little white river" rushing by. Not far from the shower hut is a sweat lodge site that is used occasionally through the year.

TENTS

Buckminster - Fuller Geodome

The Cae Mabon family of structures include three elegant tents placed on three terraces that circle the Roundhouse. These are the Geodesic Dome (made by Geoff Geodomes, the Yurt (made by GreenJack Keith Matthews) and the Shavan (made by Brian Melrose). The Geodesic Dome is a modern design based on the work of Buckminster Fuller. It is strong, simple and supple and provides a cosy nesting place for two or three people.

Mongolian Yurt

The Yurt is based on the nomadic Mongolian felt tent. With a canvas covering it has proved very adaptable to the British climate. It is constructed from a stunningly elegant steam bent ash framework with a wheel in the centre of the roof providing a source of light. Our Yurt has amazingly beautiful doors, quite possibly the finest doors on any yurt this side of Kazakhstan!

Iranian Shavan

The Shavan is a nomadic Iranian tent designed for the desert. It is something like a cross between a yurt and a bender, with steam bent oak laths fitting into a central dome shaped wheel which is anchored to the ground by a rope and sturdy peg. It is covered by one tailor made piece of black canvas with red stitching and a separate "hat" for the dome. Unfortunately we have found that it's hard to keep tents up and dry for seven months of the year when used sporadically by visitors unfamiliar with their idiosyncrasies. So in 2003 and 2004 it is planned to replace the tents with more durable weatherproof structures. (See "Projected Work".)

CEDAR CABIN

The split level Cedar Cabin was built in 2002 on a site near the river apart from the rest of the encampment. It was designed specifically for the site (with help from Mike Chown) and largely built by Bo McGowan, who also milled the cedar logs into planks for construction. It was intended primarily for group leaders, though of course its use will be flexible. There is a single and a double room, and a porch. As of March 2003 there is still finishing off work to do on windows, internal insulation and cladding, and landscaping, but it promises to be a very sweet little pad!

HOT TUB

I'd wanted a hot tub ever since moving here. But it was always more important to build structures with rooves that didn't leak. Then in early May 2003 Jack Everett turned up for a Tai Chi teacher's retreat. "What you need here," he said, "A hot tub? I'll look into it." A couple of weeks later he called to say he'd found a company who had the last of a discontinued line of cedar hot tubs with an internal Snorkel stove. "They want to get rid of it," he said. "It's going for less than half its original price."

And so Jack came with the hot tub in pieces. Henry and I had prepared the site and three days later we were in it. Amazing! It hadn't even been on this year's "to do" list! Six weeks after Jack (known as "Bamboo Jack" by his mates) installed some bamboo railings around the decking. And now Cae Mabon can boast sublime levels of luxury hitherto scarcely imagined!

CONTACT

Eric Maddern
Cae Mabon
Fachwen, Llanberis, Gwynedd.
North Wales.
LL55 3HB.

Phone 01286 871542
Mobile 07789 810115

Link to this website: http://www.caemabon.co.uk
Email: eric @ fachwen.org