Cover story: The building is home to Michael, Philippa and their two children, aged 5 and 3. The couple are dedicated permaculturalists, who initially lived in their quarter of an acre garden, part of an organic farm in Wales, in a static caravan which had seen better days. The caravan had been home to a succession of tenants and farm workers for around 20 years, and since 1996 the small meadow surrounding it had been used as allotment plots and for fruit growing, with damsons, apples, raspberries and blackcurrants. Committed to a low carbon lifestyle, when the field and caravan became vacant in 2005, it seemed the perfect home for the couple but the old caravan was by this stage barely habitable. Replacement with another static was considered, but the access had been cut off in the intervening time and for this, and many other reasons, building a small eco home seemed a preferable alternative to another cold damp metal box.

Cover story: TV cameraman, Mike Coe, would never have guessed, as he set off for work one morning in the mid 1990s, that an assignment that day would have such personal significance. Life as a travelling cameraman for ITV news was never predictable – you never knew what story you might cover or where you might end up. On this particular day Mike was asked to shoot a story about ‘some new kind of house’, for the following day’s lunchtime news ...

Cover story: Over the last century cities have become much more separated from their food sources, and this is directly related to many of the most pressing problems in the world today. What we eat, how we produce it, and where it comes from, have become key factors in issues such as climate change, peak oil, obesity, energy supply, pollution emissions, waste, equity, global poverty, health and quality of life. For example, the World Wildlife Fund estimates that the food supply chain now contributes about 30% of total UK greenhouse gas emissions. Dr Mark Gorgolewski reports ...

Cover story: For the seasoned ‘green builder’ a new project started by 'Transition Town Totnes' may seem a little on the tame side, but its impact on the general populace of England has the potential to be huge. The benefits of low-impact communities, such as Lammas or Tinker’s Bubble, cannot be underestimated, but the point emphasised by Rob Hopkins, founder of the Transition Town movement, is that there is not enough time to completely rebuild society through the construction of smaller low-impact communities, and individual houses. If we really want to create lasting change we need to start working with what we’ve already got, re-structuring and adapting our current buildings; our homes in particular, and on a nationwide scale.

Cover story: The story of Withyfield Cottage is not just the story of a simple and delightful green building, but also an encouraging sign of ‘the system’ beginning to wake up to the whole concept. Talking to Janice Griffiths about the project I was pleasantly surprised to hear how helpful and positive the local Planners, Development Agency, and Building Control had been, and how the marketing department of Horsham Council ‘like unusual things’. If only more green projects received so much official support.