Board Director | Planning Lead
Core Circle | Legal and Finance Circle | Village Circle | Design & Planning Circle

James shapes the strategic pathway that makes Bowden Pillars possible. He works at the intersection of vision and consent guiding how the project navigates the planning system while staying true to its regenerative ambition.

He was the first to look at a derelict dairy farm and see something more.
Not just land but the possibility of a whole land-use system: rainforest restoration, regenerative farming, and a village designed to live within ecological limits.

After more than 30 years working across local government, consultancy, campaigning and social enterprise, James became convinced that the planning system doesn’t have to simply limit harm, it can actively regenerate places and communities.

He has shaped national and regional policy, including authoring the Welsh Government’s One Planet Development Practice Guidance and Cornwall’s AL1 guidance:  frameworks that proved low-impact, land-based and community-centred development is not only possible, but viable.  Motivated by the belief that human settlements should restore ecosystems rather than deplete them, he founded Regenerative Settlement CIC (ReSet) to support nature-positive development across the UK. He also sits on the Devon Net Zero Task Force and co-authored the Devon Carbon Plan, translating bold climate ambitions into practical, place-based action.

Yet his focus has shifted beyond “sustainable development.”
He believes regenerative development, and whole land-use systems, must become the new organising principle for planning if we are to respond meaningfully to climate, ecological, food and housing crises.

Bowden Pillars is, for him, the epitome of that shift: community-owned, not-for-profit, restoring ecosystems while building homes and livelihoods.

Alongside his strategic work, James runs a planning consultancy, with experience spanning everything from simple rural prior approvals to complex, multi-year projects such as the reinstatement of five miles of the Lynton & Barnstaple Railway on Exmoor, where he managed a £500k budget over five years. He has handled appeals of many types and scales, working for both local authorities and private clients.

James lives the reality of community development as a resident of Bowden House Community.

For James, regeneration is something you commit to: in planning meetings, on building sites, and around the kitchen table.

Ask James about:
planning (especially the “impossible” bits), the early days of Bowden Pillars, how policy can unlock regenerative futures, and what it really takes to get bold ideas consented in the UK.

Board Director | Core Circle | Village Circle | Legal and Finance Circle

Sally finds herself both speaking up and listening deeply within Bowden Pillars, holding the balance between structure and relationship. With an owl’s eye on the perspectives of the legals and the numbers, she also tends to the relational field: the founding agreements, the vision work, and the fertile support space of the women’s weaving circle as well as facilitating the Village Circle.

She is committed to ensuring that the feminine is not lost within the linears of moving the project forward.

She was drawn in by an urgent WhatsApp plea to help purchase a farm for the benefit of people and planet followed by a chance meeting at a music gig in a barn on a dark February night. What made her say yes was the palpable joy of ordinary people coming together to make meaningful change, and the rare alignment of head, heart and gut, plus the finances stacking up.

Sally cares deeply about helping provide a safe passage through  the “hospicing of modernity,” while midwifing new ways of living and relating - ways rooted in reverence for nature and rather than extractive, colonial systems of separability, dominance and greed.

Her background spans decades as a lawyer in the television industry, where she experienced hierarchical systems first-hand while honing clarity of thought and precision of action. Alongside this, her work as a homeopath, mindfulness meditation teacher (trained with Tara Brach and Jack Kornfield), and participant in the Devon Unlearning programme has shaped her inquiry into power, privilege and healing systems.

She brings attention to detail, courage in asking difficult questions, and a capacity to hold relational complexity. She offers grounding meditations, embodied pauses, and a poetic ear attuned to the voices of the seen and unseen.

Deep listening, truth-telling, humility and compassion guide her work. She is careful to ensure all voices are heard, to apologise when needed, and to find balance between clear structure and organic emergence.

She hopes people experience her as open, energised, holding, expressive and joyful.

Ask Sally about:
holding the feminine in systems work, legal detail and deep listening, hospicing modernity, embodied pauses in meetings, power and decolonial inquiry, and the poetry of nature.

Board Director nominated by Devon Wildlife Trust

Nick Bruce-White joined Devon Wildlife Trust as CEO in September 2023. Prior to that, Nick worked for the RSPB for 22 years, most recently as Regional Director for Southern England. He also held roles with the RSPB managing nature reserves in London and across Northern England.  

Nick grew up on the family farm in Wiltshire, an upbringing which both sparked his connection with nature, and has given him a close affinity to the farming community and the vital role that nature-friendly farming needs to play in restoring UK biodiversity.

Nick lives in Exeter with his wife and daughter. He is a keen marathon runner and with his family, loves being outdoors and active amongst nature. After all those years with the RSPB, it is perhaps little surprise that he loves birdwatching too!

Board Director | Legal and Finance Circle | Core Circle | Village Circle | Design & Planning Circle

Jerome wears many hats at Bowden Pillars. He facilitates the Finance and Legal Circle, serves as Secretary to the Core Circle, contributes to storytelling and community engagement, and liaises with Devon Wildlife Trust on rewilding and nature restoration. He is also a lender and Director of the Community Benefit Society.

He first heard about the project through a fellow lender and, curious, took the train to Totnes to meet James for lunch. What made him say yes was the sense that this project could provide real answers to some of the most serious questions facing society today.

Jerome has spent 17 years at Historic England, witnessing first-hand how heritage and sense of place can help communities thrive, and how easily places can become hollowed out when people feel left behind. He has seen how deeply people care about where they live, and has come to believe that anywhere deserves the chance to start over and shine. Bowden Pillars, for him, is a living demonstration of what is possible.

A defining moment came when he helped secure funding for the restoration of Birnbeck Pier in 2024 proving that when organisations and local people work together, ambitious regeneration can happen.

He brings momentum and steadiness to the team. If there were ever a board role advertised for “someone who just gets stuff done,” he would happily apply. People come to him with almost anything, and he usually finds a way to move it forward.

Clear communication and kindness sit at the heart of how Jerome works. Jerome cares deeply that the right people know what they need to know. If he says he will do something, it gets done, usually with a smile.

He credits much of who he is to his two sons, who continue to shape and ground him.

Ask Jerome about:
finance and legal realities behind regenerative projects, restoring Birnbeck Pier, working with Devon Wildlife Trust, why communication matters more than we think, and how to turn big ideas into practical action.

Board Director | Core Circle | Village Circle | Farmland Circle | Nature Circle

Hannah is involved in coordinating several strands of Bowden Pillars -the Village Circle, Farmland Circle and the newly formed Nature Circle. Already living on the land at Bowden Pillars Farmhouse, she plays a natural role in welcoming others in, regularly showing people around and sharing the vision with prospective residents and land stewards.

She first encountered the project on one of the early public walks of the land in 2023 and was immediately enchanted. Having long felt drawn to community living, she recognised in Bowden Pillars a rare alignment between land, people and purpose. The project’s commitment to reciprocity between humans and the more-than-human world resonated deeply, and she knew she wanted to be part of bringing it to life.

For nearly a decade, Hannah has led community cooking and foraging courses, witnessing how gathering, preparing and sharing food creates profound connection. Her work with diverse food-growing projects, from families to asylum seekers and refugees, strengthened her belief in the importance of access to land and the wellbeing that flows from it. That experience led her to help establish the Bowden Farm Collective within the wider project.

Living in community herself for over a year has confirmed what she already sensed: collective living nourishes practical, psychological and spiritual wellbeing. She hopes to help more people experience that.

Inclusivity and accessibility guide how she works. She cares deeply that people from all walks of life feel welcome, whether to live, steward the land or simply visit.

Ask Hannah about:
foraging and wild food, the realities of living at the farmhouse, inclusive community-building, escaping pigs and chickens, and why nettles and dandelions deserve far more respect than they get.

Board Director | Legal and Finance Circle

Jackie Garton is Interim Head of Corporate Climate at ShareAction, working to decarbonise hard-to-abate industries at the intersection of finance, policy and corporate action. Inspired by the vision of regenerative living in harmony with nature, she became a member of the Bowden Pillars Future Community Benefit Society.

An Australian-qualified lawyer, Jackie has worked on grassroots climate justice campaigns, provided pro bono support to Australian climate litigation, and successfully campaigned for her local council to declare a climate emergency. Her work bridges systemic change and practical action, from boardrooms to community movements.

She also studied Permaculture Design at the Apricot Centre, reflecting her interest in regenerative land practice alongside financial system and policy change.

Jackie brings a depth of experience in responsible investment and climate strategy which is grounded commitment to regenerative living.

Ask Jackie about:
corporate climate accountability, climate litigation and justice, the role of finance in systemic change, permaculture principles in governance, and how policy can support regenerative futures.

Company secretary | Core Circle | Village Circle | Legal & Finance Circle

Ian does his best to keep all the plates spinning in a complex project with many moving parts. You’ll find him answering emails to the team mailbox, doing the accounts, keeping us aligned with regulatory requirements and occasionally ending a meeting with a song.

In a previous life in public service, he ran million-pound inner-city regeneration schemes and an England-wide grant programme for rural communities, so he knows his way around rules, regulations and spreadsheets.

He’s lived next door at Bowden House Community almost since it began in 2005. When he retired in May 2023 - on the very day the farm purchase completed - he offered to help the project “a bit” in his new-found free time. Within six months, that “bit” had grown into three-plus days a week.

He’s quietly passionate about using his talents and experience to serve others. Living in an intentional community and raising a child there has been a profound learning journey about relationships with others and especially about his relationship with himself. Being part of the ebb and flow of Bowden Pillars widens that exploration.

He is inspired by the many different energies people bring to the project and by what the farm and village could become over the years. He also draws inspiration from standing at his favourite viewpoint overlooking Totnes, aware of life teeming in the soil below, the great beech trees who have witnessed generations come and go, and beyond them the ancient tors.

Ask Ian about:
project finances, making a loan, the reality of living in community, sacred song, heritage tomatoes, and composting.

Core Circle | Village Circle | Design & Planning Circle

Chloe represents the growing Community Group within Bowden Pillars and is involved across several circles, helping to weave together the different threads of the project. She is particularly interested in how what is emerging can be shared in ways that are beneficial for everyone: human and more-than-human alike.

It has long been her dream to help grow a community that aligns with values which enrich both our lives and the Earth. Bowden Pillars feels like a living expression of that possibility.

Chloe cares deeply not just about what is done, but how it is done: how it feels, how it ripples outward, and how it shapes culture. She believes meaningful change often begins in small, intentional acts. Her background in Social Sculpture - a field exploring how we shape ourselves and the world around us - informs her belief that transformation begins within, but must be embodied collectively.

She brings adaptability, enthusiasm and a willingness to listen. For Chloe, a cultural shift from “me” to “we” is essential if we are to create a world where all are cared for. She values clear communication, courageous conversation and compassionate listening, and hopes people feel they can come to her openly.

Attuned to the rhythms of nature, she is passionate about tending both the world within and the world around us, aligning hearts as well as actions.

Ask Chloe about:

community weaving, Social Sculpture and inner change, aligning values with action, courageous conversations, and what it means to include the more-than-human in how we work.

Core Circle | Storytelling Circle

Stephanie coordinates the Storytelling Circle and leads on communications at Bowden Pillars.

What first drew her to the project was a curiosity about community life , but it quickly became something much deeper. Bowden Pillars brings together her love of story and her fascination with human relationships: how we live together, learn together, and build something meaningful side by side.

For Steph, this work feels like a rare and extraordinary opportunity. Few places allow you to move from conversations about soil health to architecture, from community dynamics to wild food — all in a single day. That richness, and the people who make it possible, are what continue to inspire her.

Her distinctive contribution lies in asking a simple but powerful question: What stories can we tell? With so much happening across the project, she helps ensure those moments, learnings and milestones don’t disappear internally. She holds the awareness that there is an ever-widening circle of people who care about what Bowden Pillars is doing — and she works to keep that connection alive.

Guided by authenticity and integrity, she is careful that the story told reflects the reality lived. She believes communications should feel as honest and grounded as the work itself.

Ask Stephanie about:
how we decide which stories to tell, what’s really unfolding behind the scenes at Bowden Pillars, community dynamics and human relationships, and how storytelling can shape culture, not just communications.

Read Steph’s journal posts

Village Circle | Design & Planning Circle | Storytelling Circle

Aleksandra is deeply involved in coordination of the design and planning of the Village. She works closely with designers and consultants, making sure information flows clearly and decisions move forward with care. Alongside this, she quietly holds much of the behind-the-scenes structure: from IT systems to building and maintaining the website.

What drew her to Bowden Pillars was both personal and practical. As a solo parent living in the city, she experienced isolation and found herself longing for a way of life where “it takes a village to raise a child.” The project became a living response to that longing.

Trained and qualified as an architect, Aleksandra has managed large-scale developments as well as designed eco-homes. Over time, she realised that where she places her life hours matters deeply. Purpose became non-negotiable. Bowden Pillars represents a different way of developing: one that shows owning land does not have to mean extracting from it.

People often describe her as organised, analytical and attentive to detail with a strong eye for aesthetics.

After years in corporate environments, discovering sociocratic ways of working shifted how she sees leadership and collaboration.

Outside of her roles, Aleksandra is a a parent, deeply social, and grateful to live in Totnes for its creativity and community spirit. She loves to dance: a reminder that building structures and moving freely can coexist.

Ask Aleksandra about:
village design and planning details, balancing beauty with practicality, and what it truly means to build a village that raises a child.

Core Circle | Farmland Circle

Pritam has been involved in Bowden Pillars since before the land was purchased. For him, Bowden Pillars represents a meaningful local response to the global polycrisis facing much of life on Earth.

He spent his early years in India, deeply influenced by his father’s love of wildlife, nature restoration and farming. After studying Development Studies at Sussex, he returned to India to steward his family’s business, Anokhi - a much-loved artisanal textile company that has been running successfully for over five decades. With a desire to feed employees nourishing local organic food, he established a ten-acre market garden alongside an organic café, embedding land stewardship within enterprise.

Five years ago, Pritam moved to England seeking ways to participate in collective responses to interconnected ecological and social crises. This journey led him through climate activism and on to Schumacher College, where he studied regenerative farming practices. He is now also a Director and volunteer at School Farm CSA.

Across continents and contexts, a common thread runs through his work: care for land, community and long-term resilience.

Ask Pritam about:
regenerative farming in practice, linking enterprise with land stewardship, lessons from India and the UK, and how local action can respond to global challenges.

Core Circle | Sociocratic Facilitator

As Sociocratic Facilitator, Alex supports the cultural foundations of Bowden Pillars, tending the trust between people and helping ensure that every voice matters. His participation is diverse, but centres on supporting a transition from fearful individualism to functional systems of meaningful human experience.

He believes we are all capable of thriving in a far more attuned and harmonious way than we currently do. For Alex, the strongest chance of a true, lasting transition to a “better world” lives in how we come together - the culture we are constantly weaving between us.

If we focus on growing healthy, vibrant, responsible local culture, to the very best of our ability, others will be inspired by the health we bring to ourselves and the nature we are part of. Everyone has incredible gifts to bring, and part of Alex’s role is to support those offerings being shared in the right space and time.

Through sociocratic practice, he helps keep the project aligned with its vision while nurturing clarity, accountability and collective intelligence.

“That which we feed — so too feeds us.”

Ask Alex about:
sociocracy in action, how culture is consciously shaped, navigating conflict with care, collective decision-making, and what it really takes to move from “me” to “we.”

Village Circle 

Alison is a member of the Village Circle, contributing through practical support and steady presence. She takes minutes in meetings, participates in workshops, and helps with public engagement events, including recent family days. She enjoys working alongside motivated and knowledgeable people to help create a thriving, sustainable community that may inspire others.

Her involvement began by attending an early public meeting at the Civic Hall, followed by joining an informal gardening group growing on a small scale on the land. From there, she was invited to become part of the Village Circle - a natural continuation of long-held interests.

Alison has maintained a lifelong curiosity about intentional communities and sustainable living, visiting many projects in earlier years when WWOOF meant “working weekends on organic farms.” Her 40-year career in the NHS, alongside periods of law studies and time working as a Steiner Kindergarten teacher, reflects a life shaped by care, learning and service.

A committed grower and cook, she is an allotment holder in Totnes and holds a Permaculture Design Certificate from the Apricot Centre (2019). For Alison, tending land and tending community are closely connected.

Ask Alison about:
early intentional communities, permaculture in practice, growing food in Totnes, what makes a meeting run well, and how small-scale growing can shape bigger visions.

Farmland Circle | Bowden Farmland Collective

Sid is a multi-award-winning ecological horticulturalist, designer and artist working at the intersection of ecology, food systems and creative practice. At Bowden Pillars, he is supporting the establishment of the Bowden Farmland Collective and developing an agroecological project rooted in regenerative land practice.

His relationship with plants began early. At ten years old he was tending his first vegetable garden, growing up on a permaculture smallholding where food, ecology and daily life were deeply intertwined. That childhood laid the foundation for a lifelong commitment to working with land in ways that restore rather than extract.

With over 16 years of hands-on experience, Sid has worked across diverse landscapes, always guided by a simple intention: to deepen the relationship between people and plants while regenerating ecosystems. Trained at the Eden Project in Ethnobotany and Landscape Design, his approach blends scientific understanding, traditional ecological knowledge and creative practice.

His work spans climate-resilient public spaces, education and widely recognised design,  including a Gold Medal at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show and the Prince of Wales Trophy for Sustainable Horticulture. Yet at its heart, his passion remains simple: creating landscapes that mirror the beauty and resilience of wild plant communities while producing food and supporting life.

For Sid, regeneration is cultural as much as ecological. He believes humans must move from managing land to partnering with it - restoring ecosystems, growing food abundantly and rekindling our connection to place.

Ask Sid about:
fruit trees in public landscapes, agroforestry and edible ecosystems, regenerative horticulture in practice, ecological storytelling, and how plants can help us reshape culture.

Project Manager

Emma is the part-time Project Manager for Bowden Pillars, weaving together the many threads of this complex and evolving project. She was drawn to Bowden Pillars Future because of its commitment to finding new ways of living and relating - something that deeply reflects her own exploration of how to live lightly on the earth and be part of meaningful community.

She sees this project as a potential pioneer. It is challenging to deliver, but if it can help pave a pathway for others, its impact could ripple far beyond the land itself.

Emma has long been interested in how change happens and how organisations can deliver truly impactful work. A recent Masters in Regenerative Economics at Schumacher College, inspired in part by Kate Raworth’s Doughnut Economics, reoriented her focus firmly towards regenerative projects and outcomes. Alongside Bowden Pillars, she works on community-led transformation through This Living Place and volunteers locally with the Local Entrepreneur Forum and People’s Assemblies, reflecting her passion for participatory democracy and social change.

She brings enthusiasm, openness, and a willingness to both learn and unlearn. For Emma, how the work is done matters just as much as what is delivered. Guided by what serves the whole project, she cares deeply about collaboration and navigating challenges together as a team.

Outside of work, she loves hiking -having walked the entire South West Coast Path - and finds joy in yoga, book club conversations, camping, wild swimming and foraging across Devon’s landscapes.

Ask Emma about:
regenerative economics in practice, how complex projects stay coherent, participatory democracy, lessons from the South West Coast Path, and how Bowden Pillars could inspire wider change.

Filmmaking and Photography | Storytelling Circle

Clare has been photographing and filming at Bowden Pillars since the beginning, when the land and its derelict farm were first purchased. Drawn initially by the vision of creating a new temperate rainforest above Totnes, she soon became fascinated by the unfolding story of Bowden Pillars Future itself.

With curiosity and care, she has continued to document the land as it changes—its breathtaking landscapes, the growing community, the conversations, gatherings, and quiet moments that shape a shared vision. Listening closely, she gathers these fragments with the intention of one day weaving them into a longer film about this evolving experiment: a new kind of village surrounded by nature, rooted in low-carbon living, ecological restoration, and sociocratic self-governance.

Clare is an artist and filmmaker whose work spans independent film, contemporary art, broadcast television, and immersive installation. Her storytelling is visually evocative and deeply attentive to sound and the human voice. Alongside her creative practice, she guest lectures and runs workshops. Much of her recent work explores ecological themes through collaborative filmmaking, integrating music and soundscape to deepen our connection to land, place, and one another.

Ask Clare about:

documenting Bowden Pillars through film, storytelling through sound and landscape, the emerging rainforest above Totnes, and how filmmaking can reveal the quieter stories of place and community.

Storytelling Circle

Steph has recently joined Bowden Pillars as a Core Storyteller -  a role that brings together her love of performance storytelling, organising and distilling content to its essence, and sharing deeds that shift how humans relate to the natural world.

What thrills her most is the opportunity to seed inspiration and ignite enthusiasm for a project that could genuinely change how we live our everyday lives.

Steph holds a Master’s degree from Schumacher College in Ecology and Spirituality, where she explored how reconnection to indigenous Brythonic myth might guide a society transitioning away from outdated systems toward more life-aligned ways of being. This thread runs through her work, from pioneering intergenerational education to curating local social history and honouring the unique contribution each person brings to community.

Her own community journey began when she joined Bowden House Community as it moved into a crumbling Grade I listed building with a tree growing through one room and no floor in another. There she learned the joy of shared work and shared meals, and the dance between “me” and “we.” Through her paid work with the Transition Network, she later walked 2000 miles around England collecting stories of communities in transition, published as Tales of Our Times. She became a storyweaver with the hedgerow at her side, walking through rain, hail, sleet and sun.

Being part of the team at Bowden Pillars is a full revolution on the spiral of life for her, as she returns to engage with the land she loves.

People experience Steph as a patient listener and wayfinder, often quiet in groups, yet able to name the essence of what is unfolding. She delights in drawing out and celebrating the hero within each of us, aware that tending individuals is essential to sustaining collective work.

She is a poet, teacher and writer who practices yoga, dances, sings, walks country lanes, reads with a cat curled on her knee, and creates art from found natural objects. For Steph, storytelling is a pathway back to joy, belonging and reconnection.

Ask Steph about:
myth and ecology, walking as pilgrimage, storytelling as cultural change, sustaining community through celebration, and why sometimes slow is the quickest way through.

Village Circle

Simon leads on landscape architecture and permaculture design at Bowden Pillars weaving together the land-based elements of the site into a coherent, regenerative whole.

He describes projects like Bowden as “once in a generation.” We need these projects to become the norm. Supporting Bowden Pillars, for him, is both an honour and a responsibility.

Trained in landscape architecture, Simon was inspired by Ian McHarg’s idea that design can “apply balm to the wounds of the earth.” Regenerative development has since expanded that lens — not only restoring land systems, but helping people grow their own capacity to steward the places they inhabit.

He works at the intersection of how we settle, commune and shelter — exploring how human systems and ecological systems can be intelligently integrated. For Simon, meaningful landscape change cannot happen without working first with the humans who shape and manage it. Aligning shared values, building collective will, and listening deeply to place are as important as hydrology, soil and planting design.

He cares deeply about the way we inhabit land as humans and how that can shift from extractive to generative.

People often come to him with the complexity of working with land and with other humans. He listens for what is really being said, knowing that what surfaces is often just the tip of the iceberg.

Outside of titles, Simon is easy-going and believes work should be fun. He has dedicated most of his career to this space and sees little separation between work and purpose.

Ask Simon about:
regenerative land use in practice, permaculture design at scale, hydrology and natural processes, how human systems shape landscapes, and what it really means to settle well.

At every stage of the project we work with experts, thinkers, consultants and creatives who help in a myriad of ways. Our network includes local organisations and individuals, academics, land-based projects and many more.

Does this project sound exciting? Everyone we meet has something to offer Bowden Pillars, in small or larger ways. Add your voice, ideas, skills or presence and help us shape what’s to come.

Contact Us

An essential part of the team here is the land itself. We are forever finding ways to continue the conversation between human, land and project.