The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Community => Introduce yourself => Topic started by: Gabardine Angus on February 18, 2016, 04:43:35 pm
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Hi everyone, I've been a long time lurker, mainly due to the fact that we didn't have any land so would have felt like a fraud posting on a smallholders website. We have lived in a farmhouse for over 15 years but only had enough adjacent land for a small vegetable plot and some small fruit trees.
Well all that has changed. The farmer who owned the land that surrounds our house, a very eccentric old lady in her late seventies, sadly died about four years ago and the land passed to her only surviving relative who really had no interest in keeping it. Cut a VERY long and complicated story short, after three years and a couple of failed attempts to buy the small cottage and a 3 acre field next to our house, we gave up all hope of ever having a smallholding. Early last year we found out that a developer was trying to buy the steading to build houses on it. Couldn't let that happen, so we resurrected our attempt to buy the small cottage and the field.
The sellers refused to sell the land in lots, so before we knew where we were, we somehow found ourselves agreeing to buy the whole blooming lot. So, waking up this morning, we find ourselves the proud (terrified and significantly poorer) owners of some (mostly derelict and collapsing) steadings, a (properly collapsed) piggery, a stockman's cottage, a Dutch barn and 41 acres of land. Just typing that sends shivers down my spine.
Just so you get the full picture, when I say 41 acres of land, what we currently have is approximately 5 acres of actual grass, 15 acres of thistles, 10 acres of ragwort and associated weedery, and 11 acres of nettles. Someone we met a few weeks ago pointed out that nettles only grow in really fertile soul. That cheered us up no end :roflanim:
Add into that mix a collapsed culvert which, given the recent weather, has resulted in a build up of standing water of biblical proportions, we appear to have an interesting few weeks and months ahead. On the upside, we are providing free meals to about eight deer each day, loads of wild ducks, a few buzzards, a couple of sparrow hawks and one beautiful barn owl.
This is probably a good point to mention that we have absolutely no experience whatsoever of matters agricultural. It's not all bad news though as both of us do reasonably well on little or no sleep, don't mind being cold and wet, quite enjoy hard work and don't mind being perpetually poor ;)
Sorry for the long first post.
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Hi folks, great news about the land, and great to see you on here. :thumbsup:
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:wave: and welcome from Shropshire. Well done for saving that land from building. What an adventure to go from a garden to 41 acres. Any ideas as to what you are going to do with it all?
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:wave: welcome to the site! Lots of people here from Angus and nearby!
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:wave:from north Lincolnshire. Sounds fantastic. I too have a barn owl, that's where the similarity ends :). Have great fun with it
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:wave: I'm near arbroath,
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Thanks everyone. We have some ideas Goatwoman but nothing firmed up yet. The fields are in such bad condition at the moment it'll take us at least the whole of this year to work out what's underneath the shoulder high weeds !
We'll start slowly with a few chickens and plan to extend the veg plot but as we get ourselves sorted, sheep and cattle and maybe a pig or two are in the plan.
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Hello from Devon. A pig or six might help with the clearing!
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What an adventure! Well done - and good luck!
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:wave: for the Carse.
It all sounds great if not a little scary but absolutely fantastic :excited:
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Great to see you on here "officially" at last!
What a challenge but how rewarding it will be :thumbsup:
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Sounds incredible!!!! Well done you!
I totally second the pigs idea... they'll have it looking much more manageable in no time.
Living in Angus too (but work in the Carse)- so shout if you ever need a hand :)