Environmentally conscious types will love Scotland’s Findhorn Ecovillage for its pioneering work in sustainable living.
Boozehounds will love the company for its pioneering work in whisky barrel architecture.
Back in the 1980s, Roger Douda dreamed up a use for a batch of giant decommissioned whisky vats from Haig Distillery that were otherwise bound for a veneer factory. Soon he had his first prototype of a house built from the retired barrels, and found that it made perfect sense for a community that had already proclaimed its ambition to “reduce, reuse, recycle.”
Today the ecovillage has grown to 500 residents, and four more whisky barrel houses have sprung up on the block.
Novel as these homes are though, Findhorn gets the bulk of its visitors due to townspeople’s attempts to live an “ecologically benign” lifestyle, including employing a biological wastewater treatment system and on-site wind turbines.
We admire their dedication. Cheers.
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