what would I do with an acre and a quarter?
well, I'd first want to understand a few things - what level of "profit" are we talking about? Enough to pay a mortgage. or will you have "proper" jobs for that? Does the land essentially just need to pay for itself - the feed, fencing, animal outlay, hay making, etc etc?
assuming that we're talking about the latter, rather than the ability to get £20k a year from it.... then another question:
How much capital are you willing to throw at the problem initially?
Of course, whatever capital you have you might be better off putting into some sort of high-interest (are there any anymore?) scheme, but then you wouldn't have the lifestyle that we all love so much.
If I had a spare 20k to throw at an acre and a quarter, then possibly vineyard territory? It takes a long time to get your money back, but I gather they do make a profit (white wine only of course... english red is rubbish). Less investment and lower profits might lead me down the applejuice/cide route - plant half of the plot with an orchard. Serious local market research needed here.
Otherwise - We always found pigs turned a good profit. We used to make the whole pig into sausages and sell the sausages for £6 a kilo (plain) or £8 a kilo (flavoured). Our market stood those prices well back in 2008 ish. We haven't yet got pigs at our new place, so not sure on the market precedence around here. Obviously reducing feed cost is key. I seem to remember that you could become a registered waste handling business and take things like biscuit factory or salad factory waste then... that might cut costs, but you need transport and storage. No doubt someone will have worked out a rotational scheme where you might be able to keep 1/3 acre of pig, 1/3 acre of roots, 1/3 acre of legumes, and rotate them. The veg crops feed the pigs, pigs manure & work the land. don't quote me on that... it's plucked from thin air, but I bet someone has done the maths on that sort of thing. That would make your feed costs very ver (especially once you start storing your own seed).
Excuse that slight brain-fart.
Adam
There are other