The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Community => Introduce yourself => Topic started by: landylovers5 on June 20, 2015, 06:41:34 pm
-
Hi everyone, so glad I've come across this forum! We are a family of 5 currently living on the hamster wheel of life. Desperately hoping that one day we can buy some land or a smallholding and live our dream. My husband restores old cars and we'd love to have somewhere where he could work from home instead of forking out rent on a workshop. We'd also like to have space to keep our pony at home :horse: and room for the dogs :dog:.
At the moment none of the above seems achievable! We have a mortgage with only about £60k equity and literally no way of raising any more cash. I would love to hear any stories from people who have been successful in getting their dream lifestyle, any tips/advice etc. There has to be more to life than the ratrace we are living in now!! ??? ???
-
I sympathise with your frustrations. Access to land for average people in this country is really difficult and, I would argue, needs significant reform.
We spent a decade in good jobs saving. Few holidays, few luxuries, no horses (or children!), cheap car etc. etc. we will both still be working full time for a few years yet to pay back the bank.
-
We are in the same boat and too would like to hear stories of making it possible. But for us it's on the rental side.
Hope your dreams come true.. :sunshine:
-
Well, for us it took a long time. We were in our early 50's before we had enough equity to buy our own smallholding. But.....................
Start small and work your way up. Get an allotment and start growing your own fruit and veg. Great for the children and very therapeutic when you are still on the hamster wheel. :)
Some allotments will let you keep chickens. If not, perhaps your next house move can be to somewhere with a big enough garden for chickens? Once you have been keeping chickens and doing lots of growing for a few years you have taken a large step towards being a smallholder.
Good luck!
-
Start small and work your way up. Get an allotment and start growing your own fruit and veg
Absolutely! :thumbsup: The self-sufficientish bible (http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-self-sufficient-ish-bible-andy-hamilton/1110779117?ean=9780340951026) (and associated website) are full of really good tips and inspiration on what you can do in a small space or suburban setting. Just get on with what is possible for you, and don't worry about what isn't! :)
-
I started with growing in my own garden and had bees and chickens. I am fortunate to have a good job, but my partner works from home. We had to move 30 miles away to find somewhere affordable, and so now I have a 2hr daily commute but it means I have the lifestyle I wanted to 3.5 acres.
-
It is a difficult and frustrating position to be in. However 60 k is a lot of money and you could buy abroad and be mortgage free. The problem would be paying your bills and keeping your family of 5. I know of Brits who moved here with children and they are now in French schools and parents are either self employed or work in hospitals or cafes etc. Most have small holdings and will sell livestock etc on UK forums to expats.
Oh - if you sell up all the material that goes with being on the hamster wheel then you will be amazed how much cash will have.
-
We took the drastic step of moving to Bulgaria to do our thing. We could never have done it in the UK. But we are older and have taken early retirement (but still work damned hard) and have no kids either. Our three bed two shower house on half an acre cost us 15k, the cost of utilities is a fraction of the UK. Half an acre doesn't sound a lot, but it is very productive growing land and we have plenty of outbuildings. Sheep, goats and cows do not need fields as they go out with a shepherd every day and roam the hills. Winters are short but harsh so they are happier in their warm stables then.
It's a very poor country with amazing nature, great people and massive culture, but takes a bit of getting used to. And the language....well, the kids do better at learning it, my little grey cells are struggling but we laugh a lot and get by
-
Same problem... our solution.
We had £30000 in cash and £60000 in my personal pension. No house or anything to sell to raise money.
We bought 3 fields - 13 acres almost... for £80000 my wife owns the first field, with the cash... my pension owns the next 2 fields and we pay £50pm to rent it off my pension.
Now it's a just question of building a smallholding from scratch on 3 fields with just my income...