[john and helen]

thats us all over MAK..we gave up ages ago with plans..what will be will be ... we don't need the big house, we just need a little two bedroom place... the most important thing for us is rearing the animals with affection and then eating them.... learning to grow are own veg... and eating them...as you guessed i like eating 

the building will hopefully be my real challenge..i have done a bit..but no expert..so its a new learning curve..and it will take as longs as it takes

[john and helen]

the one thing i forgot to add was..a few years ago..everyone would have done this alone..now we all have forums etc etc and can get help with the odd problem in no time

forums like this create an extended family/friend type thing.... and everyone will ride the ups and downs together

some of the offers of help and tuition from members on here have been fantastic..long may that live

[Tudful Tamworths]

Best of luck with your search. If I can help at all with advice, just send me a message.

[john and helen]

Thanks Tudful

[southernskye]

Agree with all the above, especially the references to forums...although there are so many it can get confusing but, when you find a good one, such as here, you tend to stick around.
 
I am presently in the wind-down stages of current work life. As others have mentioned project meetings I thought I would let you all know I have one in 2 hours time, then some solaris upgrades and, well, "stuff I willnae bore you with". But The Wife and home and cats and wee dram o land await me on Skye. 2 Months to go then pack the car, head back over the channel and home ad infinitum .
 
Good luck John and Helen (and everyone else at this new and exciting stage)
Rgds
Sskye
 
 

[lachlanandmarcus]

The best bit is after the exhausting packing up etc when you either get in a car (or in my case on a sleeper train) and realise that you are really going and you never have to go back! It's an amazing feeling that you never ever forget

[Bionic]

i just hope the locals can except a couple of yokals from devon 

We moved to Carmarthenshire from Hampshire a bit over a year ago now and we have found the local farmers very helpful. In fact everyone seems to be nice.  There are also lots of English people around too.

[john and helen]

i just hope the locals can except a couple of yokals from devon 

We moved to Carmarthenshire from Hampshire a bit over a year ago now and we have found the local farmers very helpful. In fact everyone seems to be nice.  There are also lots of English people around too.

we use to live in hampshire before moving back to Devon , i have no worries about the locals ..we have so many friends over there  i often fish with the south wales kayak fishing club... either at towyn or oxwich..

and next month we are up in clewdeddog (spelling) doing out annual disability day..love the place

[Plantoid]

We used google maps  to get a visual lie of the land both as an OS map and a colour picture when we purchased this place
 It didn't take me long to realize that some sites I'd become interested in were going to get ripped to bits in bad weather from the Southwest.or North
 It too a while using them and the estate agents etc to find the place we liked that has some protective  hills to the west north and east and gives us a decent level of sunshine on the gardens etc.
 Google Earth is also useful for looking around your proposed locality as it's cheaper & safer than running a car all over the place ( lets you find the pub as well  )
   Apparently Welsh drivers  taught those in your area how not to drive . 

[Pedwardine]

Good luck and you can get warm wellies now you know 

[sabrina]

When we bought our place OH had never even put in a fence post ! Now he can turn his hand to just about everything we need doing. Even put a new roof on the hay barn, fixed our old tractor, made a sprayer , done a bit of lambing, butchered the pigs. he loves our life and he was a townie ! Best of luck to you 

[Clarebelle]

bad news for us I'm afraid. The bank wont lend us as much as we need which is very frustrating as it apparently purely due to us having a personal loan (our only financial commitment). if we didnt have our 6k loan they would lend us 40k more! so frustrating but we have learnt alot.

[Bionic]

Oh clarebelle, thats such a shame. What do you do now, look for a cheaper property?

[john and helen]

Banks Grrrrr..so sorry to hear that clarebell..yet another hurdle..but its only a hurdle.... don't let them beat you...

thats the one thing i will do when the french money arrives..pay off every debt... the house can take as long as it takes..we can caravan it for a while

keep thinking..something will come to mind

[Lesley Silvester]

Sorry to hear that, Clarebelle. Can you possibly increase the loan you have.