‘We just held hands and jumped!’ How one of Britain’s happiest, healthiest communes was built

‘It was a total leap of faith’ … the residents of Cannock Mill. Photograph: Jill Mead/The Guardian

‘Look at this – can you see what it is?” The architect Anne Thorne is showing me around Cannock Mill, the eco-village on the outskirts of Colchester, Essex, that she designed in collaboration with a group of her friends who had grown tired of London life. We are standing behind a terrace of terracotta and honey-toned houses; even on a dreich day, the 1-hectare (2.4-acre) site has a distinctly Mediterranean vibe. There are well-tended grounds, a communal allotment and a fire pit.

Thorne is gesticulating at a tiny path. “It’s a frog passerelle,” she enthuses. I have no clue. “So that frogs can get safely to the mill pond down there.” I can’t see any amphibious commuters, but Claudine and Piaf, the community chickens, are scrabbling around. There are three buzzing beehives, too.