As the general election approaches, most of us can expect either leaflets being pushed through our letterbox or a knock at the door from candidates soliciting our votes.

But for the residents of an ‘off the grid’ community not far from Yeovil, the election campaign is a rather more serene affair.

Residents of Tinkers Bubble, near Norton-sub-Hamdon, will be voting on December 12 just like anyone else; some have already had their polling cards delivered to the communal postbox where the farm track ends and the community begins.

But the watch word here is sustainability – and many of the public services which others take for granted are simply not used by Tinkers residents.

Nick Tizard lives here with his wife and three children, with the site being able to support up to 15 adults – provided that everyone does their bit and lives by the community’s green principles.

He said: “We wanted to live a lot more sustainably. We had come from Devon – I had three children and I was mortified by how much waste we were producing as a family.”

Mr Tizard has not yet registered to vote – he’s still weighing up his options.

Given his choice of eco-friendly lifestyle, you could be forgiven for assuming he’d be a Green Party supporter – but it’s a bit more complicated than that.

He said: “We will still vote – I think our nearest polling station is in the village hall.

“I’m a fully paid-up member of the Labour Party – I think the aims of their manifesto would be shared by a few of the people here.

“But there’s no point voting for Labour out here. If I do vote it will be the Lib Dems. Paddy Ashdown gave us a lot of support when this place was being set up.

“They are the only party which wants to change our electoral system to proportional representation, which is required.”

The residents of Tinkers Bubble don’t use many of the day-to-day services which are provided by either the district or the county councils.

As much waste as humanly possible is recycled on site, with whatever is left over being transported to the nearest recycling centre by horse and cart once every six months.

The road leading to the community is a private road maintained by a local farmer – though residents do offer to help fill in holes when they get too big.

The residents grow their own food as far as possible and no fossil fuels are burned on site, with the cooking and hot water being provided by a wood-burning stove.

While the community isn’t actively recruiting more new members, Mr Tizard hopes more local people will be able to live this sustainably in the future.

He said: “It would be nice if more people could live this way and live off the land.”

The general election candidates standing in the Yeovil constituency are as follows:

Tony Capozzoli (Independent)

Mick Clark (Liberal Democrat)

Tom Fox (The Constitution and Reform Party)

Marcus Fysh (Conservative)

Terry Ledlie (Labour)

Diane Wood (Green)