Village Homes RealtyFor the project’s founders, the Witchcliffe Ecovillage has been decades in the dreaming and many more years spent researching, planning and doggedly working through the detail of this unique and complex project.
Acknowledgement of Country
The Witchcliffe Ecovillage is located on beautiful Wadandi country, country of saltwater people. Our streams are tributaries that flow to Piblulmen country, country of plenty, to join the great Goorbilyup, the Blackwood River. We pay our respects to Wadandi and Pibulmen elders, past and present, and commit to listen to, learn from, and look after this country to the best of our ability.
Project History
The Ecovillage site was previously occupied by two farms: an organic vineyard owned by Cape Mentelle, and a hobby beef cattle farm. In the early days of Witchcliffe’s group settlement, the farms were owned by the Fox and Shervington families, hence Shervington Avenue in Witchcliffe, as well as the name of our existing vineyard, ‘Foxcliffe’.
Sustainable Settlements Director and Project Founder, Mike Hulme, first identified the Ecovillage site in 1994. However, it wasn’t until 2010 that his company, Sustainable Settlements, and joint venture business partners, the Perron Group, purchased both properties with the intention of developing a model ecovillage.
Photo taken by Frank Fox on 17 June 1984. The photo depicts the farmhouse that is now the Witchcliffe Ecovillage office and the site of the middle dam.