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Author Topic: New Introduction to TAS Members  (Read 3137 times)

bungalow Bill

  • Joined Dec 2015
  • Llanynghenedl, Anglesey
New Introduction to TAS Members
« on: December 27, 2015, 10:16:03 am »
 
Dear TAS members,

Earlier in my present career, I made plans to retire to an idyllic Greek island once my employment as a petroleum Engineer came to its inevitable end. In preparation I bought a plot of land overlooking a turquoise bay  and constructed a large villa with swimming pool. So why am I lamenting to a group of strangers with little to do with the oil industry or perhaps Greek islands. Here is the connection.
 :
The title of this forum appears to me most appropriate as I indeed became a small holder quite by accident when my wife, bless her, informed me that she had purchased a derelict barn while on a shopping trip to the UK. The barn is located in Anglesey, North Wales and on my first trip to view her new purchase, I discovered that Anglesey has a different type of rain. It rains horizontally as opposed to the more conventional vertical type I have observed elsewhere in the world. Attached to my wifes derelict barn, (which she told me to make her dream home and had no bearing on Greek islands, villas or swimming pools) was 4 acres of land divided up into four small fields, each separated by blackthorn hedging. So there you have it.

It is now four years since that fateful day and the barn as instructed is now pretty much to my wifes liking and hasn't been burned down yet. I know nothing of hay making, ditch cleaning hedge cutting, or tractors but hope to pick it up as I go along with hints and tips from the more enlightened TAS members. I have made a start, I have planted 100 cider apple trees in the hope that the results of the fermentation process may blunt the sting of the horizontal rain and the fading memory of a Greek villa.

If any TAS members are willing to pass on their knowledge for land husbandry, I would be happy to share the results of my fermentation process as the occasion so dictates.

Bungalow Bill.

P.S. Does anybody want to buy a Greek Villa?     
Bungalow Bill

devonlady

  • Joined Aug 2014
Re: New Introduction to TAS Members
« Reply #1 on: December 29, 2015, 08:27:33 am »
And that sounds to me like a very happy accident!! Who needs endless sunshine when they can have horizontal rain and sleet? Who wants a warm swimming pool when they have icy streams to wade looking for straying sheep?
Good luck to you in your new career, you will love it!

Bionic

  • Joined Dec 2010
  • Talley, Carmarthenshire
Re: New Introduction to TAS Members
« Reply #2 on: December 29, 2015, 08:33:22 am »
Wow, what a change but nonetheless I am sure you will enjoy life in Angelsey  :thumbsup:
Life is like a bowl of cherries, mostly yummy but some dodgy bits

Rosemary

  • Joined Oct 2007
  • Barry, Angus, Scotland
    • The Accidental Smallholder
Re: New Introduction to TAS Members
« Reply #3 on: December 29, 2015, 09:38:06 am »
One of the best introductions ever. Welcome to TAS  :wave:

waterbuffalofarmer

  • Joined Apr 2014
  • Mid Wales
  • Owner of 61 Mediterranean water buffaloes
Re: New Introduction to TAS Members
« Reply #4 on: December 29, 2015, 09:55:14 am »
hi and welcome to the forum, also from wales :wave: sounds brilliant, are you planning on keeping any animals at all? I couldn't afford a villa in Greece sadly, but why not rent it out to people who go on holiday there; maybe start up a travel business :D
the most beautiful people we have known are those who have known defeat, known suffering, known struggle, known loss and have found their way out of the depths. These persons have an appreciation, a sensitivity and an understanding of life that fills them with compassion, gentleness, loving concern.

MarthaR

  • Joined Sep 2013
  • Near Abergavenny, South Wales
Re: New Introduction to TAS Members
« Reply #5 on: December 29, 2015, 10:57:22 pm »
Brilliant intro Bill.
And if it is of any consolation I can confirm that the horizontal rain also occurs here up my hillside in SE Wales.
I've been going 2.5 years after ignoring the fact that I am the clumsiest person alive which is not the perfect trait as a smallholder and having the opposite of a mid life crisis; selling the fast car and buying land and a truck. It's mostly brilliant ( I have chickens, pigs, veg patch and new orchard) although today has ranked as a 'git' of a day owing to two scrapping 150kg sows and accidentally covering myself in pig antibiotic whilst cleaning equipment. It's never dull.
Welcome!
Martha R 

Lesley Silvester

  • Joined Sep 2011
  • Telford
Re: New Introduction to TAS Members
« Reply #6 on: December 29, 2015, 11:39:14 pm »
It rains horizontally in Isle of Arran, Scotland as well although it's a few years since I lived there. Still it rains here in Shropshire as well and, at the moment, is very windy. Goats weren't keen to leave their shed at milking time this evening. Fine, I told them. I didn't want to leave my armchair either.

devonlad

  • Joined Nov 2012
  • Nr Crediton in Devon
Re: New Introduction to TAS Members
« Reply #7 on: December 30, 2015, 03:20:12 am »
yeah, great intro welcome aboard

JackandJill

  • Joined Mar 2015
  • Aberareon, Ceredigion
Re: New Introduction to TAS Members
« Reply #8 on: January 01, 2016, 11:19:55 am »
Hi Bill, welcome!
We are on a similar journey, but without the Greek Island bit, although I think a couple of years behind you on the renovations.

We are in West Wales and while we have almost no skills to share we do have dangerous amounts of enthusiasm,

all the best

kelly58

  • Joined Mar 2013
  • Highlands, Scotland
  • Home is were my animals are.
Re: New Introduction to TAS Members
« Reply #9 on: January 01, 2016, 03:58:57 pm »
Welcome from Caithness  :wave: You will soon learn how to go about things on your land. Enjoy the pleasure of achieving  new  things, its all part of the experience.   :thumbsup:

 

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