The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Community => Introduce yourself => Topic started by: Ghdp on August 03, 2014, 08:42:17 pm
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We are negotiating the purchase of a hillside farmhouse in Snowdonia with a garden and veggie plot, a steep area broadleaf woodland (45 degrees+ steep in part!) and around two acres of rough grazing. This web site has prompted me to think of all sorts of questions i had not considered (and I shall raise additional questions of the vendors having read about the satellite broadband issues others have discussed) but for now i want to raise three matters
1. Does anyone have experience of borehole water supplies as we want to do this in place of a less than reliable spring supply in place and , if so, any recommended contractors in North Wales??
2. Behind the house ( some 12-15 feet away max) is a 30 -40 foot sheer rock face with dense woodland and bracken growing on it high above the roof of the house. Access to cut and clear this back would require a head for heights and strong ropes!! Does anyone know reliable (if i dare, inexpensive) tree surgeon/ gymnast who is within striking distance of Penmachno/Betws y coed.
3. What would others recommend us to do with 2 acres of rough grazing. Our thoughts are to offer its use to our sheep farming neighbour for no rent but fence maintenance. Any other suggestions.
G
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Can't answer your questions but wanted to welcome you to TAS. :wave:
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Thank you Mad Goat Woman!
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In Scotland so can't help but welcome to TAS from :sunshine: Carnoustie :wave:
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:wave:
Hi Rosemary.
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Welcome to TAS. We have a very similar setting in Powys - steep wooded hills and a couple of acres of steep rough grazing. We got a Welsh hill breed sheep and they do well. I would be cautious about bartering grazing for fencing as the latter is considerably more costly so you may need to compromise.
Try Phil Dunford at Corwen (http://www.chainsawtraining.com (http://www.chainsawtraining.com)) for a local recommendation. He will know who has the ariel qualifications to do the job but that's likely to cost more.
Tim Tyne has a very good flock of welsh mountain sheep on the Lleyn peninsula.
Personally if I was looking for water I would get a local water diviner. There's a good one round here but we are mid-Wales but I am sure if you ask around you'll get recommendations. Might be worth getting and opinion from more than one source if you can.
Good luck.
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Thanks suziequeue. That is really helpful.
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Sorry Susiequeue - posted too soon. I have no experience of sheep can you recommend a book to start with.....complete newbie you see. How many sheep do you have on 2 acres? Greg
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:wave: from Caithness, much too far away to offer specific help or information but......know someone who decided to go for a borehole for water.......who had almost mature forestry nearby and uphill......and would still have been left high and dry as the compaction of the ground lowered the water table so much that her neighbours were left with dry wells. Moral of the story is to get expert advice taking local situation into account. It can be very tempting when keeping costs as low as possible to do without such costly expertise but it could prove more expensive in the long run. Speaks the voice of experience in property matters generally !
But on the very positive side.....this is a great place for help and advice and support. Welcome to a life like no other. :)
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:wave: and welcome.
can't add to other comments on your questions but
On the subject of fencing .... the quality of boundary and internal fencing is also a price bartering area.......... stock proof fencing is very expensive if it needs replacing.
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If you are in the National Park area you will need to check the 'can and can't do's' before you plan on anything.
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All extremely helpful stuff. Thanks everyone. I have commissioned a proper survey as a consequence. It will cost me £300 plus vat but in the light of the advice it is money well spent. I have asked the national park planning authority for its view. Initial response is positive. Planning permission is needed if drilled outside the curtillage but i think may not be if within it. Either way I feel it is prudent to let them express a clear view. Natural Resources Wales say I will not need a licence due to the expected consumption.
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In case this is of interest I thought I would post. Snowdonia National Park have responded helpfully and quickly confirming that our domestic well ( if constructed within the curtillage) does not require planning permission. The prognosis report I commissioned has identified the nature and extent of the work far more comprehensively than I ever could and has identified the likely output from the new well. This in turn has helped me get a much more realistic view of the costs involved ( more than we originally budgeted for but early enough for us to be able to address it) and so I really do think the money it cost (£350) has been money well spent - before finding we had an unexpected additional cost further down the line.
Thank you to all who made suggestions. If anything else is worthy of posting as we go we shall do so.
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Hello & Welcome
I'm in Scotland and can't help but wanted to say high and I form part of the wannabee group :) I have a wheel barrow ;)
But as a paperwork freak (the day job) I would recomend if you haven't already done it. Putting a folder together with insets labeled up national park, well, sheep etc. Who you spoke to, the name, the date, a brief note of what was said. Print any email correspondence off and file in said folder. As this stuff as a habit of coming back up to bite you. :)
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Hi. Thanks fir greeting.
Fellow paperwork freak here too! All duly logged. I have not bought my wheelbarrow yet tho :excited:
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I wanted a pink one but OH said no way! :roflanim:
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Sorry Susiequeue - posted too soon. I have no experience of sheep can you recommend a book to start with.....complete newbie you see. How many sheep do you have on 2 acres? Greg
Tim Tyne's book (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sheep-Book-Smallholders-Tim-Tyne/dp/190487164X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1408217695&sr=1-1&keywords=tim+tyne+sheep) which is Great but quite expensive.
Hi. Thanks fir greeting.
Fellow paperwork freak here too! All duly logged. I have not bought my wheelbarrow yet tho :excited:
Top tip - make sure that your wheelbarrow is facing in the direction you want to travel before you start filling it ;D ;D
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Good advice. ( on both counts) :thumbsup: I will buy the book. :)
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OH has good taste! Pink wheelbarrow, really!
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mine is purple :innocent:
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Purple - i was thinking of investing in something classic like 'green' but yet again this forum has opened my eyes to a world of possibilities!!!.
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I would choose a purple wheelbarrow every time BUT the only use for it here would be as a decorative planter outside the back door, in a very sheltered corner. We have been here 10 months so far and OH is on his 3rd wheelbarrow, and I don't give it long. The others while not actually expired are not long for this world! So the moral of this story is to wait and get the best and most robust quality possible.
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Then i shall wait!! We hope to hear from our 'buyers' tomorrow, which means we can plan / confirm our offer tomorrow on what we want to buy. Purple, pink, green. I. Just want to get a wheelbarrow out there. ( as long as it is green) :farmer: :farmer: