History of ecological living in Britain?

[RC162 at mercury.anglia.ac.uk]

Ive been reading some books on BioRegionalism. The literature is 
entirely American.  They keep on refering to Native Americans as  
examples of cultures whose identity was firmly based in the nature of 
the region.  I think that in order for an eco-village to create and 
maintain a culture of sustainability its members have to have an 
understanding of the local ecology and ways in which to make a viable 
business in harmony with this.  What do I mean?  In Cambridge there 
is a shop 'Botanicus' which is planning to produce local herbal 
concoctions such as shampoo soap etc. from herbs grown in harmony 
with nature in Cambridgeshire as opposed to shipping them in from the 
Czech Republic which it currently does.  This could be seen as a 
bioregional business.  What I really want to know and hope that one 
of you can help me with is  in the history of Britain where do we 
look for an example of when we produced things in this bioregional 
way?  Where as americans refer to Native Americans where do we refer 
to?  When is the best example of people in Britain living according 
to natural laws as opposed to economic laws?  Did people have free 
access to nature and organise business collectivelly with a 
consideration of sustainability before the revolution/civil war, 
before the normans, before the romans?  Which is the best time in 
history to see this?