Insight for Sunday 29 January 2012

In the first new programme of 2012, Insight looks at communes, as they were known in the 1970s.

The orignal communes offered a lifestyle often associated with hippies and ramshackle retreats in remote valleys, where conventional society was rejected.

Forty years on, some of those communities are still thriving, but the way of living is less flower power and more eco-themed rural living for the middle class in old-fashioned village ways.  

Geoff Moffett has visited the Tasman countryside to explore the new style of communal living and discovered increasing conflict with planning regulations.

Picture:   Stephan Tate in his garden at Marahau Community