Is a commune the key to perfect parenting? Couple set one up and now live with another family

Charlotte Knee-Zaska, 30, a mum-of-three, had always dreamed of building a commune in the countryside, as their family home. Her ultimate aim was for her and her husband, a 32-year-old musician called Max, to start their own 'sustainable community' and enjoy a 'slower pace of life'.

In August 2017, she and Max finally made the leap, leaving their home in Dublin, moving to the county of Offaly in Ireland, where they invested in an acre of land. They had spent the past three years saving up the £47,000 they needed to make their vision a reality.

With their eldest daughter Iza, now five, in tow, the couple set about building two houses – with a view to inviting other families to join their commune and learn to live sustainably together.

They spent two years renovating a cottage already on the land and building an extension with its own living areas so they could have another family join their unconventional set-up.

And in April 2021, they were able to welcome their friends, James Smith, 32, a music producer, and Ffion Thomas, 31, a holistic therapist, and their one-year-old daughter, Connie, into their home.

Now the two families live as a community – eating homegrown, or organically sourced food, and running women's retreats from their home.

“We have eggs from the chickens and try to become more and more self-sufficient as time goes on,” Knee-Zaska says.

The families have their own vegetable patch, growing courgettes, kale, leeks, beetroot and squash. They eat as much as possible of their homegrown food throughout the summer and use organic food from their local farmers.

“I’d always wanted to have a proper home as I was moving around so much as a child,” explains Knee-Zaska.

“When we moved it was a bit daunting at first as we had no heating, and the garden was just rubble and mud. But slowly we’ve built up the garden and homes so we can live as a community with our friends.”

“It’s worked really well,” Charlotte says. “We’re not on top of each other as we still have separate living areas, but you also know you’re never alone.”

“All the adults often have a coffee in the morning together and we help each other out with our kids.”

Knee-Zaska loves the slower pace of life.

“It’s great because I can get some peace and quiet while Ffion or James look after the kids. I also know that they can run out and play in the garden and I don’t need to watch them,” she says.

Knee-Zaska set her sights on creating a community while living in the city, but struggled to get people together to make it work.

And after hunting on cheap housing sites, she fell in love with a piece of land in Offaly, Ireland.

“It was a bit over our budget but I really liked it, so we went to go and look,” she says. “We fell in love with it as soon as we saw it.”

“It was quite a lot at first as I was still commuting to Dublin to work so we could get some money in to fix up our heating and stuff like that.”

“But we did the renovations bit by bit as we started to save up,” she explains.

In the time they were doing up the house, the couple welcomed their two other daughters, Eden, now three, and Thea, one.

“After a few months I quit my job in Dublin and became a yoga teacher and worked part-time in social care,” she says.

“It meant I could be home with the kids six days a week.”

Now, Knee-Zaska and Thomas have started running private retreats and women’s circles once a month in a tipi in the garden.

“We do breath work and massages with them,” Knee-Zaska says.

She has hopes of expanding her community if she is able to buy more land.

“It would be lovely if we had more people to join us,” she says. “I’d love to find somewhere a bit closer to the sea.

“But it would also be hard to leave here as I have an attachment to it now. It’s amazing to be able to walk out in the garden and see the countryside. The environment is so soothing, and I love living as a community.”