A Glastonbury group has been meeting in the pub to discuss creating a sovereign Free State of Avalon, including its own borders, constitution, currency and a 13-month lunar calendar.

The proposal was discussed at The People of Glastonbury's third public meeting, where members of several exploration groups gave updates on the subjects they had been looking into.

Wesley, who was introduced at the meeting as speaking on behalf of the Free State of Avalon exploration group, said members had been meeting regularly to discuss the idea.

He said: "We've been meeting every week at the pub to talk about the sort of what, where, and why of creating a free state.

"Creating, for anybody who's in any doubt, what it really means is a country, creating a country, the Free State of Avalon that is sovereign and operates, if you like, outside of the parliamentary system and the Crown of the United Kingdom."

The group has come up with three objectives: establishing its own jurisdiction, developing infrastructure for independence, and creating new decision-making processes.

Wesley said the group's three objectives were "to create our own jurisdiction away from the legal fiction, to create our own infrastructure working towards independence, and to create our own decision-making processes, energy systems and management of the land and those who dwell on it."

One of the questions discussed was where the borders of a proposed Free State of Avalon would be drawn, with options including current electoral boundaries, the Glastonbury Zodiac, historic Abbey boundaries, or the borders from when Glastonbury was a borough.

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The group has also looked to Glastonbury's history for possible precedent, including the town's former links with the Abbey and taxation. Wesley said that, in the past, people in Glastonbury paid tax to the Abbots rather than the Crown.

He said: "Glastonbury used to be independently taxed. So back in the days when it was owned by the Abbots, nobody would pay tax to the Crown. They would pay tax to the Abbots and they would manage things within the town."

Another question was how any such plan would receive public backing, with ideas discussed including canvassing people over months or years before holding "some kind of referendum amongst the people of the town".

He said another option would be to begin with a small area of land and build from there. That would involve creating a community with a different decision-making system, its own currency and a written constitution, before seeing whether the idea could spread.

Wesley said: "Another idea was to start small. So to start with a small piece of land, create a community that operates differently, has a different decision-making system, has its own currency, has its own written constitution, things like that. And then see if that is something which could spread to the rest of the town."

The group has also been looking at how a country is recognised as sovereign. Wesley said one of the main routes would be recognition by the United Nations or other international bodies.

Wesley said a new country would need passports, a written constitution and healthcare systems. He added that "some would say an army", before saying: "Everybody would say that."

The group has also discussed whether a Free State of Avalon would need its own currency, and whether that could be cash, digital, based on precious metal, a gift economy or a LETS-style system.

The meeting also heard that a different timekeeping system had been floated, with Wesley referring to the idea of a 13-month lunar calendar for Avalon.

He said: "Many people in Glastonbury follow the moon. People here follow a lunar calendar, a 13-month lunar calendar. So, it seems it makes sense that in Avalon, maybe you could consider the idea of a 13-month lunar calendar."

Wesley described the subjects being discussed by the group as "outlandish, wild ideas", but said they were the kind of questions that had to be considered when talking about starting a state.

He said: "These are all outlandish, wild ideas, but these are the kind of ideas that you have to consider if you're talking about something as crazy as starting your own state."

There is, however, a significant legal obstacle. Glastonbury cannot unilaterally declare independence from the UK, and the town remains subject to UK law, taxation, policing, planning rules and local government.

The Free State of Avalon group has been meeting at The Mitre every other Monday at 7 pm

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