05/30/2026
“Wouldn’t it be lovely to live together? We’ll buy a big house, we’ll have a kitchen in the middle, and we’ll always have wine.” 🍷👵
Most women have joked about doing this with their best friends, but 26 women in the UK actually went out and made it a reality.
Meet the women of New Ground—Britain’s first all-female, co-housing community. 26 women from nine different nationalities.
Ten years ago, this group of trailblazers (ranging from their early 50s to mid-80s) took a stand against the paternalism and isolation often found in traditional elder care. They didn't want to be infantilized; they wanted autonomy, dignity, and community.
🏢 What is New Ground?
A transformed old convent school in North London, turned into 25 beautiful individual apartments with a massive shared common house, kitchen, and garden.
🤝 How It Actually Works
This isn't a passive retirement home—it’s fully run by the women themselves. They share all responsibilities, from finance to gardening.
And no, it’s not a perfect utopia. They experience disagreements just like anyone else. But to keep things running smoothly, every resident is formally trained in conflict resolution. Decisions are made by a strict 80% consensus majority, proving that communication is the ultimate secret to living in harmony.
To ensure it wasn't just a place of privilege, they even fought to reserve eight apartments specifically for social housing tenants (low-income housing)
"We are unique, but we don’t want to be unique." The original founders have just released a new book, Our Later Years, hoping to inspire women all over the world to rewrite the script on what aging looks like.
Photo credit: Pollard Thomas Edwards
