Hummingbird Cottage

About Us

We are Ben Gray and Tessa Brechin and we're on a mission to self create our lives! Ultimately we want to be as self sufficient, green and creative as we can manage while ideally living above the poverty line! 

At the moment we share a little flat and tiny garden with our lovely cat Spice and we have an allotment nearby. At some point we hope to have a cottage in the countryside, plenty of land, chickens and a goat. We may also look to become a B&B or host a camping spot, we're loving playing with ideas at the moment.

Interests

Between us we have a number of interests and freelance endeavors alongside our main jobs. 

Ben is a keen and talented silversmith and general craftsman who always has a project or two on the go. He's recently been making recycled Steampunk creations - everything from a trunk on bicycle wheels for festival luggage, to solar powered lightbulb gardens. He is the main gardener and allotment king. We have a hydroponic system made out of old guttering and a window box from an old pallet among other things. You can follow our allotment progress at Plot 35 INSERT LINK

Silversmithing has been a main hobby for over 10 years and Ben has recently taken the plunge and set up an Etsy site to sell some of his jewelry. About time too! Take a look at his SilverPunk Etsy page.

Tessa is the writer of the house and is a freelance writer, editor and proofreader. In theory she is still writing the novel started on her Masters in Creative Writing, in practice she's been a little distracted by baking, reading, researching self sufficiency and setting up this website as a platform for our future plans... However, she's not too busy to accept work so have a look at her freelance site Tessa Brechin Words.

In partnership, we have become Neal's Yard Remedies Consultants. Neal's Yard ticked lots of boxes for us. The products are ethical, organic and natural and the work is flexible and sociable. To find out  more about Neal's Yard products, place and order or book a party please go to our Hummingbird Cottage Neal's Yard page. 

To find out more about any of our projects or if you are interested to see/buy any of our homemade creations please have a look at our Hummingbird Cottage shop or contact us.