Member Profiles
Member Stories
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All the world’s a stage
I’m blown away by the amount of arts & culture on the South Shore of Nova Scotia, where Treehouse Village is located. I’m directing a play for the South Shore Players, a community theatre here in Bridgewater. I’ve cast my neighbour Andrew (also a Treehouse Villager) in the play. Here he is on the left, overseeing some silliness during rehearsal! Our production is a special staged reading of Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, a hilarious and thought-provoking spin on Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Two minor characters from Hamlet — the attendant lords Rosencrantz and Guildenstern — now find themselves at…
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We love all our visitors!
A big advantage to being a “cohousing” community is the shared connections we have with each other at Treehouse Village — and with each other’s visitors, who come for the afternoon to hang out, or the evening to attend an event here, or to stay overnight in one of our guest rooms. We’ve welcomed at least eight visitors to Treehouse Village over the past week! They got to explore our 4000-sq.ft. Common House, our 11 acres of forested land, our climate-smart housing development (with solar panels on our rooftops!) … along with the chance to have spontaneous conversations with residents…
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Repair Café: Where Treehouse Meets Bridgewater
At Treehouse Village Ecohousing, we believe that community thrives when people come together to share skills, stories, and laughter. That spirit was on full display at Bridgewater’s recent Repair Café, where Treehouse residents joined forces with neighbours to breathe new life into well-loved items. The Repair Café, co-led by Treehouse resident Etienne and a couple of his friends, brought together a team of handy volunteers—many from Treehouse Village—to help with various repairs, from sewing to repair of small appliances. It was a day filled with creativity, problem-solving, and connection. Sewing Stories Sue, who volunteered at the sewing station, described one…
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Who needs a gym membership when you have Cohousing?
By Katherine Harman, Treehouse resident “There is no drug in current or prospective use that holds as much promise for sustained health as a lifetime program of physical exercise.” – Walter M. Bortz I admit that there was confirmation bias at play when I first read that quote from renowned age researcher Walter Bortz. I have always had a steady presence of exercise in my life. When we were imagining what the Treehouse Village Common House would be like and the elements that we valued, I was encouraged when I heard others in my future community identify a gym or exercise…
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‘We felt at home right from the day we arrived’
By Treehouse Village Ecohousing Treehouse Village Ecohousing is so excited to welcome our two new households! Sue and Phil Aylesworth made the trek to Bridgewater, Nova Scotia, from Windsor, Ontario, in January. They jumped right into the community — Phil operated the Treehouse snow plow and he now manages the site keys and access control, while Sue leads the “Craft & Chat” group and has taken on the role of Guest Room Steward. “We’d been investigating cohousing since 2021, when we first learned about the concept and Treehouse Village,” says Phil. “We were taken with the idea of living lightly,…
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From Berlin to Bridgewater in less than a year
By Bastian Gruber, Treehouse Village community member It has been a big year of trade-offs and jumping in an adventure head first. Joining a co-housing community and moving to a small town were, what we thought, the biggest challenges. Shortly after we signed the TVE shareholders’ agreement, we felt the floor ripped beneath us with the announcement of the 35% price increase. Not having any financial ties in Canada meant an almost impossible challenge to get a home financed. We not only had to say goodbye to friends and family, we had to break the close relationship between Cora and…
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A special “Rite of Passage trek” to Treehouse Village
A Rite of Passage is a ceremony or event marking an important stage in someone’s life. My partner, Matt, and I decided to go on a very special pilgrimage – to mark our own “rite of passage” as we transition to our new home at Treehouse Village. We decided to walk the 130 kilometers (80 miles) from the front door of our last apartment in Halifax to the front door of our new home at Treehouse Village in Bridgewater! So, on August 31 we set out and began to walk. Right away, we had blisters on our feet and realized…
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“We were home”: Treehouse Village Ecohousing Welcomes Its First Residents
Treehouse Village Ecohousing, Atlantic Canada’s first cohousing community, has its first residents. The first family to move in was that of Clara Lovatt and Kathy Horton in late July. They were joined later the same day by the Stonhams – Caitlin, David, and their son Alfie. A few days later, Shirley Robb joined them at the cohousing development in Bridgewater, Nova Scotia. Treehouse Village Ecohousing is a “cohousing” community. All households have their own private home, clustered around shared space to facilitate social interaction, with a Common House and many shared amenities. The 30-unit, eco-friendly condominium community has been built…
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Planes, Trains, and Automobiles
Many families are moving to Bridgewater, and when Arlene, Wendy and Cedar (their 13 yr. old Labradoodle) pulled up stakes in Victoria, there were 9⅔ (Katy & Michael; Rick-not yet) households living there. Their arrival on December 18, 2022, made the community ⅓ present, even though none are yet living in their Treehouse homes. Getting to the starting line…weaving the plans together Arlene and Wendy had said that they were stepping away from the project because they were uncertain how the move would affect Wendy’s health. So, when they changed their minds, put their condo up for sale and started…
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A multilingual cohousing community
Pourquoi? Warum? Por qué? Waarom? Why are so many folks flocking to purchase a home at Treehouse Village Ecohousing in Bridgewater, Nova Scotia? One of the exciting things about our community is all the languages our members speak — French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, and Dutch (so far!). But no matter the language, we all speak “cohousing”. We can’t wait to share meals in the Common House, practice new language skills, and learn about different cultures and traditions. The children at Treehouse will grow up surrounded by a diverse, caring community, with tons of unique learning opportunities. Why should you and…