[egglady]

yes it can be done and the longer you put it off, the more expensive everything will be - so the sooner the better in my view.

we have 6 acres, 2 children, had up to 6 horses, 12 sheep, 2 pigs, lost count of how many ducks and chickens we have at any one time and grow our own veg.  hubby works full time and i run my own business.  so,yes, it is very hectic and needs lots and lots of juggling.

holidays are, as mentioned, pretty challenging - both financially and time constraint wise.  but to be honest, if this is the life you want, then you dont really miss holidays.

being at home makes it much easier for the children and we saved a packet on child care fees when we moved here.  they are older now so we wouldnt be paying out for that now anyway.

if someone can be around all, or even part of the day, it will definately make life easier for you.

why not try and work on one salary for a few months, saving the other, and see if it's do-able?  it would give yu a few quid savings if nothing else.

[landrovermanuk]

Remember that technicaly you need to check on the animals at least once every 24 hours to stop you falling foul of the law...Only found that out today...

[ballingall]

Hi Womble,

It is hard, and I think the key is to maybe get your land and very slowly increase the animals and see how it goes. I do agree with the other comments, it is easier having someone around- I have my mum here so she can potter about during the day and see to things, but I do have to do all the heavy work, gardening, mucking out, feet trimming, repairs etc and fit all of it into the weekends and summer evenings.

Ducks are not great at putting themselves to bed! But you could keep on with the poultry, veg, and a 2/3 sheep don't take up too much time. You should be able to rent out any spare land- even to people who are thinking of doing what you want to do!

I say you should bite the bullet sooner rather than later.


Beth

[Sandy]

 

[Womble]

Thankyou all for your helpful replies!  I'm in awe of anybody who can work full time AND look after horses / children / sheep / chickens etc at the same time, but incredibly some of you seem to be managing to do just that!

The issue is not so much commitment, but how we get to the point where we can give a smallholding the commitment it needs (i.e. can we go for it now and build up, or must we wait until we have saved enough cash to 'downshift' immediately).

Egglady - that's a very good suggestion to try to live off one salary, and in fact we've been doing that for some time whilst we save up for a house deposit. The issue is that one salary alone is unlikely to both sustain us AND pay the mortgage.

Let's take Longcarse as an example (apologies to Rosemary and Dan - hope you don't mind me using your home as an example!). If we were able to buy for say £300K, plus £9K stamp duty, plus £4K moving / legal costs, that's £313K in total. Let's also say that we had been saving for long enough to put up a 25% deposit ( ). That leaves a mortgage of £235K, which would cost around £1200 per month (25yr repayment, 3.75%). Unfortunately, that's just not going to happen with only one wage, even if we were able to produce all our own food for free!!  

So, that's where we're left. Do we buy a 3 bed semi and save and dream for ten years, or do we go for the smallholding now and aim to build it up slowly. My hope is that even if we ended up playing host to somebody else's sheep for a few years to keep the grass down, we should be able to transition to the life we want eventually.  

I say you should bite the bullet sooner rather than later.

Yes Beth, I think you could be right!    Thanks again for all the encouragement folks!

[pottsie]

Hi Womble,

I think the positive note is that you are thinking hard about it, my wife and i bought ours two years ago, we both work full time me three shifts (nights,lates,earlies) she isn't interested in the outside but loves cooking, so i manage the plants and animals by myself. Although it is hard i started doing a bit and have built up stock and plants whilst working out what i was capable of doing. I would say though that it is worth doing all jobs right first time as i bodged a few things and then spent more time than i would have the first time doing it right. Have a go and enjoy.

Rob. 

[ballingall]

The issue is not so much commitment, but how we get to the point where we can give a smallholding the commitment it needs (i.e. can we go for it now and build up, or must we wait until we have saved enough cash to 'downshift' immediately).

Egglady - that's a very good suggestion to try to live off one salary, and in fact we've been doing that for some time whilst we save up for a house deposit. The issue is that one salary alone is unlikely to both sustain us AND pay the mortgage.

Let's take Longcarse as an example (apologies to Rosemary and Dan - hope you don't mind me using your home as an example!). If we were able to buy for say £300K, plus £9K stamp duty, plus £4K moving / legal costs, that's £313K in total. Let's also say that we had been saving for long enough to put up a 25% deposit ( ). That leaves a mortgage of £235K, which would cost around £1200 per month (25yr repayment, 3.75%). Unfortunately, that's just not going to happen with only one wage, even if we were able to produce all our own food for free!!  

So, that's where we're left. Do we buy a 3 bed semi and save and dream for ten years, or do we go for the smallholding now and aim to build it up slowly. My hope is that even if we ended up playing host to somebody else's sheep for a few years to keep the grass down, we should be able to transition to the life we want eventually.  

So, in that case you look at what alternatives are there. Longcarse is in the central belt, within commuting distance to Edinburgh and Glasgow. Do you need to live within commuting distance to those cities? Or could you look at properties either down on the west coast of Scotland, or look further up in Scotland, where prices may be more reasonable?

I do know how difficult it is- my mother and I bought this house together- its similar size (both house and land wise) to Longcarse. There is no way I could afford it on my salary alone, which would mean I wouldn't be able to keep my animals. Equally my mother's health is such that living on her own, she couldn't keep the animals she would want to. A lot of people couldn't bear to live with their mother, but it gives both of us convenience.

Then there are other options for you- I know everyone wants to live on their land, but its not always possible. What about buying a field, and then buying a house in the nearest village etc? People do manage to do that- even people on here who have now managed to get planning permission for houses eventually.


Beth

[HappyHippy]

I'd agree with Beth - Longcarse is a prime example of a smallholding, you could take over and start straight away. But, that's why it's expensive. Look to other areas and look for properties that need a bit of work doing to improve them. That way you can work away slowly and build up to your dream.
http://www-x.aspc.co.uk/cgi-bin/public/LiveProperty/283362?ID=FMBHOJBO#picture
Here's one in Turriff, Aberdeenshire, with 8 acres and outbuildings for £120,000
There's ALWAYS a way 

[Sonia in Cornwall]

You've got to just go for it.  That's what we're in the process of doing.  We've been lucky enough to have a relative of Big T's who lives 3 miles away that we're renting 4 acres from.  Not living on site is a challenge, but it's do-able.  I work full time, and he's self employed so can either have nothing on or is out working a very long day depending on what comes in.  Obviously we'd love to own our own smallholding with house, but at the moment that's just not going to happen so this is the next best thing to get us started. 

I think from what people have told me it's best to build up slowly.  In the next couple of weeks we're going to be digging over part of the land that we want to put veg in next year (not the full 1/2 acre we're aiming for eventually - just large veg plot size to start with).  Then I think the chickens and pigs will come ideally in the spring.  I prefer the idea of getting used to getting there every day when it's started getting lighter in the mornings - that way we'll be used to it by the time next winter comes round! 

We wanted to do it all now but practicality rears its head (and cost!).  I think if we just prepare the ground and do the fencing etc ready for spring this winter then we'll build ourselves up to it gradually - meaning we're less likely to fail. 

I've waffled on about our situation, but we're in a similar boat to you Womble.  I think we just realised that we can't achieve the full dream situation for some years yet, but that doesn't mean we can't live part of it now.   

Just go for it.  You'll find a way to make it work.  Good luck!

[landrovermanuk]

We wanted to do it all now but practicality rears its head (and cost!).  I think if we just prepare the ground and do the fencing etc ready for spring this winter then we'll build ourselves up to it gradually - meaning we're less likely to fail. 

That is something I really agree with. I've got pigs and spend a lot of time fixing their fencing.  It would have saved so much time in the long run if I'd replaced the old fencing at the start...Plus the veg plot would not have been trashed...lol
 BUT if you try and get everything perfect you would never get round to getting any animals and you would be spending out without getting any return...
I would say it's better to try and fail than never try at all.... Good luck!!!

[jonkil]

Talking about mortgages in the 100's of thousands is madness !
Have you thought about Ireland?
Land..... good land here at approx €5000 per acre, poorer land much cheaper.... housing a lot cheaper than UK.
Lets look at 10 acres cica. 5k per acre plus a contingency fund of 10k = 60K
so for 60K you have the land...... real good land at that, ready to go.
Housing, well renting from about €70 per week for small 2 bed property, no rates in Ireland ...YET.
Buy a property from 70k upwards, or put prefabricated log cabin up for about 25k upwards..... and take time to pick the right area and you will have neighbours willing to barter their skills for some of yours, (eg) ploughing/fertilizer sowing for some of your time around harvest.
If you can release equity from your current property then Ireland is very appealing from a financial point of view.
Travelling to and from the UK is simple as anything, many flights to mainland UK/Scotland/Welsh airports daily from small regional Irish airports.
Take a look outside the box and maybe this sort of proposal makes sense, Ireland is moving away from the small farm into more intensive farming, many farmers sons are not interested anymore and land is available here in the north west at reasonable prices since the madness of the property boom has gone by the wayside.
I do not know what your field of employment is, but work and jobs can still be had here in this country for the right people.... but if your outgoings are less (small or no mortgage and self sufficient type lifestyle) then your earnings need not be as large as you would think.
I myself have 30+ acres of prime agricultural land but dont run it as a smallholding, I sell hay from it each year and use the rest for leisure. I am however in the process of selling my business after 30 years at the helm and will definitely be adopting a much more sustainable lifestyle when I achieve this in the next 12 to 18 months.

Jon

[gavo]

Well if you are going to consider places off mainland Britain may i suggset Northern Ireland; many of the advantages of Ireland ie cheaper land / house prices; many small farms and friendly helpful neighbours and all the benefits of staying wthin the UK.Rates here are very low there are decent road links several regional airports and depending on your line of work there is a good deal of employment. It is still generally a rural way of life with farming still at the centre of most communities;but if you want the convenience of living near a very large town or city it is still possible to have a farm but it may cost a little more.

[marigold]

Well womble - I haven't posted here all summer because we've been so busy, planting, harvesting and any number of jobs. We both work. I work full time 45 minutes away from home and OH works from home which is very helpful for looking after animals etc but time is still a pressure. We moved onto our 10 acre field 16 months ago into temporary accommodation whilst we build a house. For the first year we have channeled all of our available cash into developing the smallholding although we have had some great luck with friends and neighbours wanting to help out.

So far we have more chickens than we would like - 8 went into the freezer last weekend. We have reared 2 pigs which we are now eating. We have 6 shetland sheep who are lovely and i have hatched 3 turkeys one of whom will feed us at Christmas.
We haven't bought any veg since about June but we are buying about £8 worth of animal feed per week. Our neighbours lent us a pig ark. We got the weaners at new year and sent them off in August. In retrospect we got them at the wrong time of year and kept them too long. Next year we shall try and get some in March and keep them until October which will minimise the winter water / ice problems and also we can feed them the left overs in the veg garden at the right time. The sheep are amazingly self sufficient. The turkeys only take minutes to put to bed at night and we have built a system of runs which mean that if we are both out late the stock is relatively safe until we get back.
The last year has been exciting and exhausting and i wouldn't swap it for the world. The children are a little sick of me exclaiming about how we have grown everything on our plates every time we sit down for a meal but they are loving the pork and are secretly prous of our endeavours.
We will not be going on a proper holiday anytime soon, but we have found people who offer to feed our stock in return for eggs a ham joint etc.
If we eve manage to build a house and pay for it i will be delighted but generally we feel as though we are living the dream already.
PS the ducks are the only flaw in the plan. They are messy and lead us a dance at bedtime and so far we are too fond of them to chop their heads off/

[egglady]

LOL!  Kirsty ready your post and could have written it myself!  loved the commentd about kids being sick of you exclaiming about the food on their plates....a regular announcement at our house too!

[Helencus]

Lol I have to admit to saying that once or twice to the kids too!! Fantastic feeling though providing for yourselves.