DEVON YURTS   Glamping in Style!
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    • Photo Gallery 2018 >
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    • PHOTO GALLERY 2017
    • PHOTO GALLERY 2016 >
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    • PHOTO GALLERY 2012 >
      • Our Yurts
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      • YURT CAMP UNDER CONSTRUCTION
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    • PHOTO GALLERY 2013 >
      • Autumn 2013
      • Badgers July 2013
      • Badgers August 2013
      • Lovely summer pictures July 2013
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      • Stable yard and horses
    • PHOTO GALLERY 2014 >
      • Fungi in our fields 2014
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      • Foxes August 2014
      • Wild Flowers at the Lake July 2014
      • Badgers - June 2014
      • Canada Geese and Goslings May 2014
      • Our yurts in the spring sunshine
      • Wildlife on our pond 2014
      • Starry night over the yurt camp
      • New kitchen for 2014
      • Hems yurt being Constructed 2014
    • PHOTO GALLERY 2015 >
      • Autumn pictures 2015
      • Our fields and lake June 2015
      • Badgers June 2015
      • Tree planting May 2015
      • Chicks May 2015
      • Goslings May 2015
      • Spring Flowers March 2015
      • Our Hens March 2015
      • Feb 2015 winter at the yurt camp
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Some useful information.......

Once you have stepped into a ger or yurt, and experienced the freedom of life within its circular space, or enjoyed a night's sleep within one, then you will know what it is like to get a sense of nomadic life, in a portable, highly individual and protective, and ultimately sustainable, ancient form of ecological architecture.Individuals and communities across Europe are now enjoying life in these beautiful dwellings, living on and with the earth, in a highly sustainable way.Nomads all over the world have traditionally lived in moveable dwellings that can be assembled and disassembled quickly, stored, and then taken with them as they move their cattle to the next pasture. This ease of movement, lack of rootedness to one particular spot, dependent upon the needs of their animals, created the sense of living lightly upon the earth, having a very low ecological footprint upon it.

On the plains of Mongolia, in Inner Asia, nestling between Russia and China, the structures that have proven up to the job are called gers, which is the Mongol for dwelling. These are made from canvas, felt, and wooden poles; materials that were once readily available locally. Nowadays the materials are bought in bulk from neighbouring China. Only the felt, still sheared from a families animals, soaked, dyed, and beaten to bind it together, is the part of the dwelling that originates from the local area. Intricate designs on the doorway, internal supporting posts and roof crown (that the roof poles fit into and hold the structure up) represent ancient Mongolian beliefs -a mixture of ancient Shamanism with Tibetan-style Buddhism, the national religion.

Similar structures were used on the plains of Anatolia, or modern-day Turkey.This is where the word yurt originated, but generally yurt or ger means the same kind of circular, portable structure, made from the same materials. In shape and style, yurts and gers are different from tipis, which originate from the North American Indian tradition.

Nomads often pitch their gers close together to form one small village; either of related families, or hunters working together for a season. Inside a thick hinged doorway, the eyes take a moment to adjust - often there are smells of milk being churned, dung burning in the central fire, or thick plumes of fragrant tobacco being shared. A circular wall, built in several sections, of poles bound together in a crossed formation, is the frame that holds the ger together. Then, depending upon the season, a thick layer of felt insulates, and on top of that, waterproofed canvas sits. Some have raised wooden floors, others use the bare earth. Some have ornate furniture and beds in frames.

None have partitions, although there are invisible divisions between a mans area,and that of the woman's area. An honoured guest is given a central seat. The Mongols have a strong spiritual belief that their ger doors should face west. Also there is a powerful sense that living within circular space prevents energy being trapped in dead corners. This ties in with the need to be always ready and available to deal with whatever may come, in terms of hunting and livestock-raising.

The yurt is a highly adaptable dwelling, which can be seen built and lived in in many different ways. It is a perfect way for people to experience sleeping close to the ground, out in a rural space. For those not keen on camping, and yet in search of a more sustainable way of living closer to earth, and doing so by using renewable resources, this is the ideal way to experience it. Go nomadic! Enjoy!!!



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