Living in a caring community, where you can work growing your own vegetables, producing your own meat and milk and participating in shared activities with people you know, like and trust would be a way of life many of us would aspire to. This week Open Country visits one such community near Aberdeen.

Newton Dee was the first of the Camphill Villages to be established by Austrian paediatrician Dr Karl Koenig in the 1930s. Based on the principles of Rudolf Steiner, there are now Camphill Villages on every continent of the world, housing some of the most vulnerable people in society, those with emotional and learning difficulties.

Newton Dee is a complex of houses, a farm, vegetable garden, shop and community centre on a former country estate on the outskirts of Aberdeen.

Two hundred people live and work there, mainly adults with learning difficulties and their co-workers. Helen Mark visits Newton Dee to find out about the philosophy behind the running of the village and to find out for herself what the special "magical" quality of the place is that visitors describe.

Dr Stefan Geider tells her why he thinks Newton Dee offers the residents a place where they can live and work away from the stresses of the outside world, but why he does not believe that it is a closed or separate community that marginalises them.

The village shop and café are open to the public and many of the food stuffs produced at Newton Dee are popular with visiting Aberdonians. Helen meets co-worker Simon Beckett and residents Charles and Elizabeth who are busy at work in the garden, harvesting the herbs and vegetables. Simon explains how everyone works together to create a thriving community where everyone has an important role to play.

Head gardener Peter Smitton explains that a system of bio-dynamics is applied to the farm and garden, using homeopathic remedies to stimulate growth and production on the land.

His colleague farm manager Gideon Cowan shows Helen around the farm and stresses how important it is for people to have a job and a role within the community, and that the work they do on the farm and in the gardens is not just a way of filling their days.

Farm worker Paul stops for a quick chat and tells Helen how working with animals and in particular his love for the cows cheer him up whenever he's feeling depressed. As a long term resident of Newton Dee, he sees the village as home and knows that there are many people who care about him. His sentiments are shared by Phyllis, who is very happy living there with the friends she has made over two decades, and who wishes to "see out her days" in the beauty and tranquillity of this very rural setting that belies its position on the edge of a busy city.
Newton Dee Village
Camphill Communities in Great Britain

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