15th Century Yorkshire Charm

The Bank House in Yorkshire, England dates from the mid-fifteenth century and has true period style and character. It is built with stone and timber and has the original beams, inglenook fireplaces, solid oak doors and stone mullioned windows. It has been sensitively remodeled with modern conveniences. The kitchen includes a Leisure Zenith 110 multi-fuel … Read more

Extraordinary Native American Engineering Feats

The Native Americans who occupied the area known as Poverty Point in northern Louisiana more than 3,000 years ago long were highly skilled engineers capable of building massive earthen structures that have withstood the test of time. It has been believed that they were simple hunters and gatherers, but new  archaeological findings paint a very … Read more

Houses in Trees

If you go to www.messynessychic.com you will find a delightful array of archived photos of various kinds of shelter carved out of tree trunks, mostly from the giant sequoia found on the west coast of the U.S. There are also some descriptions of who created them and how they were used.

Hermit Dwellings Among Boulders in Greece

Hermits clamped their dwellings on to Meteora boulders in Greece. Meteora has been considered a holy place since the Paleolithic, several millennia before Christians were attracted by the area’s majestic boulders. Later, monasticism flourished since Byzantine times, during which at least 24 monasteries were founded and maintained. Today, only six of them are inhabited. Meteora  … Read more

A Natural Building Network

Over a decade ago there was an active Natural Building Network that maintained a website with a membership directory where natural builders could find each other and communicate. There was a board of directors that coordinated the organization as a non profit membership association promoting natural building principles, materials and practitioners worldwide. They supported ecological … Read more