Found this forum looking for information on tractors, whether two or four wheel - a slight bone of contention whether I 'need' one or not... Looks like there's lots of useful info here so makes sense to join.
Our South West Shropshire idyll is about as rural as you can get in middle England. 37 acres of mostly pasture in the Clun Valley (written about by A.E. Houseman as "the quietest place under the sun" -- accurately).
We're not yet smallholding, as I still have a job in London so only get back at weekends, but we are making a start. Currently let the grass-keep to two neighbouring farmers who have their sheep on the land and help out maintaining fences, topping annually etc. In the four years since we bought, en route back to the UK from Tokyo, our energies have been consumed with:
- finishing the house (vendor's work in progress was part way through second fix, fixing badly applied limewash, sorting out un-started kitchen and unfinished bathrooms, etc.)
- converting the old stable barn into two holiday lets - which should be ready to market in the Spring
- completing the cart barn (which had no external doors or windows, no upstairs floor or internal walls)
- completely re-doing the farm track
- tidying the farm courtyard - partly paving with some of the granite setts that came with the house
- and starting to create a patch of wild flower meadow.
Now we're starting to turn our attention to the garden - projects in no particular order include:
- raised beds for vegetables and some cutting flowers
- drainage and paths - using the remainder of the granite setts that came with the house
- garden room (in part to protect our water tank store - we're on a spring-fed supply rather than mains and need to get the electronics out of a damp hole in the ground!)
- building a greenhouse - have just moved a large aluminium 'meccano' kit of parts across the country - a reasonably large semi-commercial greenhouse (from the late 1950's/early 1960's) that my parents dismantled more than 25 years ago that we hope to rebuild
- soft fruit cage
- also have some chicken runs that came from a local rare breed centre that closed down - so some chickens (and quail?) may appear once we work out whether a friendly neighbour will feed them when we are away
- and in the longer term converting a 1 acre field nearer the house that used to be an orchard into some form of permaculture garden
So no shortage of things to do and that's before I get to pasture and riparian management. I'm sure my wife will be along in due course (as I've pointed her at the forums, too) to talk about the foraging that's gone on in the hedgerows, her home-brewing and preserving and other things I haven't mentioned.
Topic: Hello from Shropshire (Read 5332 times)
