The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Community => Coffee Lounge => Topic started by: john and helen on May 13, 2013, 09:07:17 am
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Hi all :wave:
well things are moving in the right direction, the sale of the french property is going through..so thats part one of the money underway....
I am so loving do all my research on animals, holding numbers, fences, soil types and conditions, building regs
smallholding transport.. quads, compact tractor, rotation of paddocks ... :excited: not forgetting location...
we have decided we will move to west wales.... and leave sunny devon behind..we want a fresh start
the wonderful thing is these days...are the forums...isn't it great to share with people who know what you are on about :thumbsup:
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I know what you mean, we are the same, reading as much as we can!
We are seeing a mortgage adviser on wed to try and get a mortgage in principle, then we are planning to go up to anglesey to see a house we found up there, we will put an offer in if all goes well with the bank!
Fingers crosse everything goes smoothly with the sale in france :thumbsup:
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Its exciting...its like a book full of blank pages right now and its up to you how you fill them and you can choose from so many ways!
You'll still be researching even when you think you are settled...nearly 4 years in and we are still changing directions and meeting new challenges - Love it!!
ps really jealous of you getting a quad ;) I'm not deemed grown up enough to have one :innocent:
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Really pleased it is going so well for you. And once you are settled, well a smallholding is hard work sometimes BUT it is never ever dull and you do feel alive all the time, which is so important. Plus it's like going to the gym but without other people and membership fees! :excited:
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:fc: for John and Helen and also Clarebelle
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do you know what lachlandmarcus... you hit the nail right on the head..the last couple of years have had me feeling so bored with everyday life... the flooring world has become a pain..rushing around because customers need their floors laid so quickly..yet when it comes to getting the money.... they seem to loose their cheque books ...
i don't mind hard work... but i need to feel alive again..once you get bored..you start to get bored with everything, it can all wait until tomorrow ......
with a smallholding, you simply can't do that..and that is what i want..i want to be busy for me and H,
I love animals and i love eating them, i want to learn to grow things..and eat them... well!!! not the grass :roflanim:
we are looking at a run down property that needs lots of work..something we can call ours..a caravan will be a must for the 1st year.......but how good will that be.... just this whole idea is bringing a spark back,
good luck to you Clarebelle.. :fc: all goes well,
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Really pleased it is going so well for you. And once you are settled, well a smallholding is hard work sometimes BUT it is never ever dull and you do feel alive all the time, which is so important. Plus it's like going to the gym but without other people and membership fees! :excited:
Not quite sure I would use the term "alive" at 3am in the morning in freezing rain watching a ewe lambing...
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Really pleased it is going so well for you. And once you are settled, well a smallholding is hard work sometimes BUT it is never ever dull and you do feel alive all the time, which is so important. Plus it's like going to the gym but without other people and membership fees! :excited:
Not quite sure I would use the term "alive" at 3am in the morning in freezing rain watching a ewe lambing...
Fair point!! Although I used to end up doing work at 3am for my old job, or flying all night to a different continent to do presentations on the minutae of some project, ok no rain but I prefer what I'm doing now......
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Really pleased it is going so well for you. And once you are settled, well a smallholding is hard work sometimes BUT it is never ever dull and you do feel alive all the time, which is so important. Plus it's like going to the gym but without other people and membership fees! :excited:
Not quite sure I would use the term "alive" at 3am in the morning in freezing rain watching a ewe lambing...
Fair point!! Although I used to end up doing work at 3am for my old job, or flying all night to a different continent to do presentations on the minutae of some project, ok no rain but I prefer what I'm doing now......
Just a different kind of tiredness I guess.... and yes I NEVER want to go back to "project progress meetings" either, and hopefully I won't have to...
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the thing is Anke... even when its raining and blowing a hooey...you are doing it for you... all the benefits are yours ...
I have worked many a night laying floors in places like hospital waiting rooms..only to find the boss (at the time) was making a mint out of me...
most of you will wake up with a field to greet you..maybe the odd rabbit munching on your carrot patch, the sound of the cockerel ... I had this once ..then i joined the dark side....(Town life) i long to hear the sound of animals, church bells and the smell of sh*t being spread ..... putting my trousers on backwards at stupid o'clock..putting on freezing cold wellies..thats feeling alive :)
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I have the feeling John and Helen are going to enjoy smallholding.... :thumbsup: :excited:
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I wouldn't go as far as looking forward to cold wellies though.
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John & Helen roughly where in West Wales are yopu looking to hang your hats?
Have you located possible souces of caravans /static caravans ?
There are plenty of static sites around W . Wales that are selling older ones each year so there might be one fairly close to you so you can keep costs down re getting it onsite.
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Hi plantoid, we are looking at a few one is near Lledrod, Ceredigion also a few in carmarthenshire...
to be honest its not an area i am totally familiar with... we go up to lin clweddog every year and just love the area
yes i have been looking on the used static sites... and for a grand you can get a roof over your head.. as long as we are dry and can cook some scran thats all that matters..we love camping anyway :roflanim: and can clean up a caravan to live in..going back to basics is not a problem
if i could get 1 or 2 days work a week flooring..then that would be perfect,
i just hope the locals can except a couple of yokals from devon ;D
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John and Helen. when we gave up work and told people of our plans to buy a run down old farm house people said "Won't you get bored?"
Accidentally we gained a samllholding and as you say you do all for yourself and can indulge and challenge yourself in so many different ways - LOVE IT.
We never get bored and there are seldom enough hours in the day to do all what we need and want to do.
BUT - as other have said on other threads don't bother making lists of things to do or priorities. Things change by the hour.
also - be prepared for some real challenges and take the ups and downs as being the norm rather than bad luck or your own failing.
Good luck and enjoy the new life to the hilt.
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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 :roflanim:
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
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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
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Best of luck with your search. If I can help at all with advice, just send me a message.
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Thanks Tudful
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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 :excited: .
Good luck John and Helen (and everyone else at this new and exciting stage)
Rgds
Sskye
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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
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i just hope the locals can except a couple of yokals from devon ;D
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.
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i just hope the locals can except a couple of yokals from devon ;D
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 :excited: 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
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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 ;D )
:roflanim: Apparently Welsh drivers taught those in your area how not to drive . :innocent:
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Good luck and you can get warm wellies now you know ;D
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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 :thumbsup:
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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.
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Oh clarebelle, thats such a shame. What do you do now, look for a cheaper property?
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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
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Sorry to hear that, Clarebelle. Can you possibly increase the loan you have.
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There is a big difference between hard work that is a labour of love and hard work that is stressful where you feel out of control of your own destiny and permanently exhausted as a result.
Here's to the first of these for all of us on here. :fc:
Donna
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You are so right there donna,
at work these days i am looking at the clock 5 minutes after arriving...
when we had the farm in france we would work hard during the day..mainly building as we didn't have any animals,
but in the evenings ,if the sun was shinning , we would put a table in the middle of the 9 acre field with a bottle of red and some cheese and bread ..and we would laugh, ..totally knackered but relaxed....we would plan our next day
often our french neighbour would pop in and say ..you bloody english are mad :roflanim:
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Thanks everyone! We are really gutted to have to pass up this house as it was a bargin. We have the cash to pay the loan off now but that would mean we didnt have enough for a deposit! Oh well, I think moving forward we will get rid of the loan then start the saving process again for a deposit. It will come right in the end! :fc:
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it will clarebell... i can see a few problems coming up for us...but we will beat them...having our smallholding is top priority ...we both want it..we both need it, and i am sure you will get what you want....
here is us wishing you good luck :fc:
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Here you go clarebell..this will be the new motto for many of us
(http://i228.photobucket.com/albums/ee62/johningham/943374_516051171764201_597006472_n_zpse2ae2b22.png) (http://s228.photobucket.com/user/johningham/media/943374_516051171764201_597006472_n_zpse2ae2b22.png.html)
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:roflanim:
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:roflanim: Love it.