An Interview with The Grand Designs Eco House of the Year Award Winner Rachel Shiamh

The following is an interview with Grand Designs award winner Rachel Shiamh, who designed and built an amazing eco straw-bale house in Pembrokeshire. A truly incredible building and a remarkable lady. I discovered the plot whilst taking a break from a life in New York, to visit my parents. I found the plot during a magical walk through the woodland, or it found me. I then discovered that it was privately for sale. I put an offer in and a year later it was accepted. Q1) What led you to do move into the above plot- a desire to do it for a long time, a snap decision or? Did you buy the land with this intention? How old were you when you decided to move onto the plot? I never consciously planned to have my own home here, being quite nomadic, but it all unfolded and made sense along the way. I then moved onto the plot with a strong desire to be in nature, to undo my learnings and learn from nature. I was 30. Q2) What did you friends/family think of you doing this? Family and friends were interested, a bit concerned but supportive, altho I was quite hermit-like in my life for a while. Q3) What did you do for a living before this? Before this, I lived as a contemporary dancer, but my interest was very much going towards yoga and meditation. Q4 ) What interests do you have outside this work that might shatter any stereotypes people may have When I moved onto the land, I trained in healing and making flower essences and oils, plus silversmithing. Other interests I have are music, walking on beach and the hills with dog and friends, crafts.... Q5) Where did your interest in living and learning from the land come from? The interest in living and learning from the land came from a desire to let go of the identity I was carrying in the world, and to discover who I was. Q6) Were your parents/ involved in anything related to this- if not, what did they do? My parents were not involved in what I had chosen to do here, although my mother had begun to practice in complementary therapies. My father was more in the education system and an Olympic athlete and team manager for the British athletics team. They both inspired me in different ways, but I had to find my path. They supported my vision, and after my father passed away, with the inheritance, I was able to manifest the vision to build this eco home. Q7) Where are you from originally ie grew up, and where are you living now? I grew up in Yorkshire, with many holidays here in Wales, as my father was welsh. This place felt like home, and now it is, here in Pembrokeshire. Q8) Are the services (and products) you offer now making you a living? - who tends to make use of your services? The services and products I now offer are starting to help me to make a living. Building the house has been a long process so now I am more free to set up my work and a centre here called The Quiet Earth Project, Centre for Authentic Living. I intend to build a couple of smaller eco dwellings on the land for people to be able to come and experience living here in such a close way to nature, whilst at the same time learning new skills and approaches. Q9) How do people generally react to what you do? The reactions to what I have and am doing are generally very positive. Early on there was some suspicion in the village about what I was doing here in the woods! But the positive media attention has helped to dissipate that. Q10 What gives you the most pleasure in what you do? What is your big highlight so far? The Grand Designs Eco House of the Year Award has just been awarded to me and I feel it goes also to the extended community not just locally, but globally who have supported this vision too. There have been many who have helped and learned from this project and I hope the award will help to encourage others to find the resolve to take their own steps to support this beautiful environment we live in. My greatest pleasure has been working harmoniously with others on this project and to see people leaving with greater confidence and enthusiasm in there own potential to create positive change in their lives and the world. Q11) Whats the biggest obstacle in your opinion, to more people doing what you do? Is it preconceptions, lack of awareness, knowledge or....? Obstacles are created by the mind.... All pure visions are possible and yet they take great patience, flexibility and usually time. Q12) Whats your message to people? My message to people: same as Gandhi. If our lives are our message, we have no one else to blame and we can only take responsibilty for our selves and our choices in life. This includes choices about how we think about things which is very important. Q13) is there something we can learn from your work to improve harmony between people. I think the greatest way to improve harmony between people is firstly through acceptance. This then creates a space for harmony and for love. Rachel Shiamh Grand Designs Eco House of the Year Award Winner see http://www.ecohouseagent.com/eco-straw-house-pembrokeshire.html for more info