Ecovillage 'Het Carré'

'Het Carré' is a community in the Netherlands, situated between Rotterdam and The Hague. This ecovillage has 49 houses and about 120 people are living there, under which a growing amount of children, about 45 at the moment.

This friendly place is an oasis of rest in the middle of the busy working-area in the Randstad (= the conglomerate of big City's in the west of the Netherlands).

The people living here are interested in nature, personal growth and community spirit. Everybody in their own way, searching for the experience of unity.

About spirituality: among us there are living all kinds of religious people, some are Christian or Muslim or atheists, others are connected to different spiritual teachers. So there is no collectively followed path.

'Het Carré' was build in 2003. These modern houses have individual heating systems based on solar heath. In the summertime the heat, collected by solar panels on the roofs of the houses, is transported through a system of pipelines reaching to 40 meters deep in the ground where it is stored.

This heath is used in the wintertime to heat the houses.
In the summertime the system can be used for cooling our homes as well.
Also the hot water in our households comes partly from heating by solar energy.

In the heart of the square structure of the building is a green area. At Google earth (monitored 2003, coordinates: 51.59' 54.43''E 4.23' 34.21''E) you see a big communal garden with grass and even a yurd, a Mongolian temporary home. Nowadays there are already more trees, places to sit and places to play and we are in the process of developing a community house. In the centre of the garden now is a covered fireplace with sitting places around it. And a trampoline for the youth.
See also Goole Maps

Decision making is done in consent, following the way of sociocracy. In a group like ours, with all different backgrounds and mind sets, this is both a promising as well as a challenging experience.

If you wish to contact us: send an e-mail.