Hello!
After several years on allotment waiting lists and then looking for some land locally we have found a patch about 10 minutes up the road from where we live on the West Pennine moors and will hopefully complete soon. Our current garden is on a steep terraced slope but manages a few fruit bushes, herbs and a pair of very productive white campbell ducks. As we’ve gone along our initial desire for a vegetable patch has developed into a more diverse set up with livestock and woodland but even with that the land, at just over the magic 5 hectares, is a fair bit bigger than we’d envisaged! But around here, where near enough everything it seems is United Utilities owned for the reservoirs, the opportunities are scarce (as we aren’t looking to move house).
We’re hoping to take the permitted development route for a polytunnel and create a fruit and vegetable growing area and an orchard to begin with. We’re also exploring planting a few acres of trees - some native specimens to let grow and a mixture of species for coppicing / pollarding for firewood in future years. Potentially willow and alder as the damp areas of the top field are looking the likely spot. Maybe ash too as there are a couple growing on the field edges already (with alder, sycamore, oak, rowan, plus holly and hawthorne in abundance and a solitary elder) but die back is in the area and I’m not sure whether they are affected. We’ll hopefully get a visit and some advice from the Woodland Trust people in due course.
In future years, as we learn new routines around work (we both work full time) we’d really like to add livestock, particularly raising batches of chickens for meat and a few weaners, but also potentially sheep so we can graze the land ourselves. Until that time the plan is to seek out someone local who needs land to graze sheep on a seasonal basis (with a clear agreement) and use that as a way to learn more and maybe add some lamb to the freezer!
Our evenings and weekends have been filled with researching things and the forums here have been a fantastic resource and led us to the ideas above - thank you! - so I thought we should join and properly introduce ourselves. Hope to keep learning
Magnus & Helen
Topic: Hello from the West Pennines (Read 2216 times)
