Author Topic: Hello from Cairnhill (Read 2400 times)

cairnhill · « **on:** December 17, 2008, 06:17:40 pm »

Hello Everybody,

We are Anna and John Kelly. In August this year we bought a cottage (Cairnhill) just outside the town of Turriff in Aberdeenshire. The cottage came with just over 2 acres of land which we initially marked for Anna's Highland pony

(Rosie) and her friend's Jake the Shetland and Jenny the mule. There was enough land for me to have a decent sized vegetable garden (I have a bit of experience with this) and we hadn't thought about the rest.
Since moving in we have read a lot about small holdings including some of the books mentioned on this site and what you can do with land regardless of the size and we are moving towards the idea of smallholding with plans for chicken's

, pigs

and other things which will come in due time.
It's a complete life change for us as we are both city kids, although in our hearts it's something we have always wanted, so it's going to be a big learning curve and we will need a lot of advice and help as we work through the place.
Anna found your site and we decided to join in and hopefully meet people who will have faced the same issues and problems we will and can help. So looking forward to talking and hopefully one day meeting some of you.

John and Anna

doganjo · « **Reply #1 on:** December 17, 2008, 06:23:39 pm »

Ooh, news from home!!!! I lived just outside Old Rayne till end April - I still miss Aberdeenshire. I wish now I had got myself a pony when my late OH and I first bought the place, we had 21 acres to start with. But somehow time and money for horses were never there at the same time. Maybe I should have made compromises................. too late now! Don't have enough land down here in Central Belt (prices too high)

I look forward to reading all about your adventures up there.
Annie

cairnhill · « **Reply #2 on:** December 17, 2008, 06:35:35 pm »

Hi Annie,

We are going in opposite directions, we started in Newcastle, moved to Stonehaven and finally up here. I'm originally from Glasgow, Anna from Newcastle and can't say I miss the central belt.

The weather is certainly different.

garden cottage · « **Reply #3 on:** December 17, 2008, 07:56:36 pm »

hello john&anna, welcome from gloucestershire! weve just got a lovely 14.3 hands skewbald on loan from the rda kids love her and shes rock solid on the road and traffic, best of luck................neil

Rosemary · « **Reply #4 on:** December 17, 2008, 08:22:13 pm »

You've just been in the wrong parts of the central belt!

Hi and welcome - hope you enjoy the chat.

Tell us a bit about your equines - I have a Highland Pony (Munro of Millfield aka Smokey) but I confess to being more curious about your mule. When my chum and I went to the Parelli event at NEC in August, there was a bloke riding mules. They got the biggest cheer!