The Accidental Smallholder Forum

Community => Introduce yourself => Topic started by: mapahutchins on July 05, 2017, 10:49:45 am

Title: Hello from West Cornwall
Post by: mapahutchins on July 05, 2017, 10:49:45 am: Recently moved to West Cornwall where we have a couple of acres on a windy hilltop.

We are a family of 6 - Granny and Granddad are of farming background and moved to Cornwall from Devon. The rest of us (Me, Wife and 2 kids) moved to Kernow from the SE where we were living in the urban sprawl west of London.

Now the 2 parts of the family have 'come together' we hope to make the most of our 2 acres and set up a small holding to support us all.

Only 1 old cat at the moment :cat:... oh and a few hundred thousand Devonshire bees! We have already found some great homes for some of our bees but are looking for any other sites you may know of..!

Already tapped into some of the great resources and people locally but hope to make more contacts here. So much to do and so little time....

Thanks for reading.

BTW did I mention our site is very windy? Well it is!
Title: Re: Hello from West Cornwall
Post by: TheGirlsMum on July 06, 2017, 11:02:13 am: Welcome, we have 3 acres at Black Rock and windy is an under statement!
Title: Re: Hello from West Cornwall
Post by: Fleecewife on July 06, 2017, 11:47:58 am: Ah yes, windy hilltops ::) . Plant hedges all round (native, mixed) and get the strongest polytunnel you can :garden:
What a lovely mixed family you have to work your new holding. Have fun :thumbsup:
Title: Re: Hello from West Cornwall
Post by: Lesley Silvester on July 06, 2017, 10:59:30 pm: :wave: and welcome from sunny Shropshire.
Title: Re: Hello from West Cornwall
Post by: arobwk on July 07, 2017, 08:17:45 pm: And welcome from mid Cornwall.
It's the easterlies I dread - they always seem more destructive, on my patch!
Title: Re: Hello from West Cornwall
Post by: mapahutchins on July 11, 2017, 11:21:25 am: Many thanks for all the replies and comments.

Today we are mostly trying not to get washed away in the rains!

Hedge and tree planting are very much on our minds...as is that strong poly. Further strategic planting will be necessary as will a good regime to keep the rabbits at bay.

Seems like a lot to do right now and really wish I had my IBC's in place so I could catch all this lovely rain water!!
Title: Re: Hello from West Cornwall
Post by: arobwk on July 11, 2017, 03:00:01 pm: Likewise on the "lot to do" and the IBCs, but I'm welcoming the bit of rain!
Title: Re: Hello from West Cornwall
Post by: TheGirlsMum on July 12, 2017, 11:29:02 am: If you can get black IBC helps stop the algae growth. Ours are all full again plus the troughs
Title: Re: Hello from West Cornwall
Post by: arobwk on July 13, 2017, 08:54:21 pm: Wish I'd thought of that (i.e. black IBCs), but don't suppose it will matter much. From my experience, easier to find the "white" ones 2nd-hand.
Title: Re: Hello from West Cornwall
Post by: mapahutchins on July 14, 2017, 10:08:03 am: Hurrah, just had the field cut! Local farmer is going to make use of it.

My supplier of IBC's is proving rather unreliable...white version... I did think about black ones and now that I am looking again I will keep an eye out for them. Maybe I should post a request for recommendations ... in fact I will. Thanks for the suggestions. Off to find the appropriate board!
Title: Re: Hello from West Cornwall
Post by: mapahutchins on July 14, 2017, 10:14:28 am: New post on this forum...(hope this works)

http://www.accidentalsmallholder.net/forum/index.php?topic=84767.0 (http://www.accidentalsmallholder.net/forum/index.php?topic=84767.0)
Title: Re: Hello from West Cornwall
Post by: BobTheFarmer on July 16, 2017, 10:16:17 pm: Hi!

I'm just a few miles east of you, good luck with it all. We're still looking for land in the area, how did you get yours?
Title: Re: Hello from West Cornwall
Post by: mapahutchins on July 17, 2017, 01:23:44 pm: Hello Bob,

We only have a couple of acres that we acquired with the property (we are on a redeveloped farm complex that has been split into a number of small holdings/properties).

My neighbour has been here for 3 or 4 years and has managed to pick up some small parcels of grazing land by keeping his ear to the ground but I have no contacts in that dept. If you are after a serious acreage I wouldn't know where to look?

Good luck.
Title: Re: Hello from West Cornwall
Post by: BobTheFarmer on July 26, 2017, 09:38:43 pm: I've been looking on the net mostly, Lodge & Thomas are the local agricultural experts. I need to get saving them pennies as 30-50 acre plots are in the region of £200k!
Title: Re: Hello from West Cornwall
Post by: Part time dabbler on July 31, 2017, 01:17:40 pm: Hi from East Cornwall (and London but dont mention that).

Regarding your bees, are you looking to move a swarm on or just place a hive somewhere?
Title: Re: Hello from West Cornwall
Post by: Sudanpan on July 31, 2017, 07:15:21 pm: Welcome to you all from us :wave:
We've also relocated from the SE(the Smoke), we've ended up between Helston and Hayle on 4 acres - we've been here 10 years now :)
Re your bees - the West Cornwall Beekeepers Assoc is a very friendly group and is a useful resource for finding apiary sites. We have monthly meets over the winter.
Title: Re: Hello from West Cornwall
Post by: mapahutchins on September 20, 2017, 02:28:35 pm: Hi Sudanpan,

Apologies for tardiness in replying...!

Will keep an eye out for the monthly meetings. Maybe bump into you there sometime.

Thanks.
Title: Re: Hello from West Cornwall
Post by: mapahutchins on September 20, 2017, 02:36:49 pm: Hi Part time Dabbler,

Apologies in equal measure for tardiness of reply!!

We are looking for sites to locate an apiary or two - a frame where we can place several hives. We don't have loads of bees and we only really recover our costs but the honey is good!!
Title: Re: Hello from West Cornwall
Post by: BobTheFarmer on September 26, 2017, 09:17:49 pm: If you are on FB search for "Cornish black bees" and variations thereof, they are looking for sites for native black bees and are very friendly etc.