[RUSTYME]

I have thought of getting a bike Anke , but  it is up hill all the way to the land plus i have vertigo . There are the running costs to think about , tyres brakes etc. Not that much out of a normal wage , but a lot if you have almost nothing !
 So walking it has to be . Even that isnt free though , 3 pairs of wellies a year, £10 a pair  lol.
 
Cheers Russ

[Lesley Silvester]

Mgom , once i shift everything down the land would be the time to see things . But i am in west wales , till they kick me out !
Once all is up and running, anyone who wanted to visit would be welcome  .     
   Thumb just fell off !

Cheers Russ 

I'll look forward to it.  I'm only in Shropshire so not too far.

[RUSTYME]

It may help , any interested , to get a picture of what i am aiming at setting up , to look at the website for little woodham . It is a  reconstruction of a 17 th century village .
I don't intend to build a village , just that type of house , in a very similar setting .
  I doubt i will be walking around in 17 th century garb , but as that era is an interest of mine , never say never  !   The garb would go well with my much repaired aviator  style specs and ye old mobile phone  lol .     

[Lesley Silvester]

Looks fascinating.

[RUSTYME]

I know that sort of thing isn't everyones cup of tea mgom , but it fascinates me .
I know it can only give a rose tinted view of life then , based on a modern interpretation of history .  But i just like to see a simpler lifestyle , albeit without the grotty side of things back then .
If i visited littie woodham , i would most likely just move into one of the houses !

[Lesley Silvester]

Used to love visiting Fred and Zoe and would have liked to have stayed there but not sure I could have lived there.  Or maybe I could but I do like my home comforts.

[Castle Farm]

Is this Little Woodham anywhere near Cloud Cuckoo Land?

[Slavo]

Hi Russ,

I've been reading your posts and have great admiration for your outlook on life; I wish you every success! I have a desire to follow a similar lifestyle whilst taking advantage of technology and feel more comfortable playing the system as opposed to disregarding it altogether. I do not believe the system is sustainable and agree wholeheartedly that it is corrupt.

I am keen to learn how you plan on dealing with the system with regard to 'permission' for building a dwelling on your land and living in it without the planning officers interfering. Will you still be accepting mail?

Best regards,

John

[RUSTYME]

Near Gosport actually cf !
It is just what is called  a 'living museum' . Not everyones cup of tea , but i am interested in that era of history , as are many others , but not you , it would seem !
That's fine , we can't all be the same .
 As for ' cloud cuckoo land ' is that such a bad place to be ? , or should we all
be good little sheeple ,live in the 'real world ' and pay even more taxes for even less in return ? And submit to even more control by a totally corrupt elite ?
For those who are happy to do the later , fine , i am sure the likes of Cameron and the rest of the crooks in control , will be very grateful.

Hello slavo, i will do as much as i have to , to keep tptb away , enough said !
I will get any mail via relatives .
 As much as i hate the system , i know it can't be avoided completely . But interaction will be kept to the absolute minimum .
Cheers Russ

[Castle Farm]

I'm afraid I don't agree with your idea of non contribution, that's the trouble with the UK today, to many leeches and not enough blood to go around.

I was brought up rough out in the countryside and still remember the gut ripping cold and wet while trying to get to sleep, it's not for normal people.

I'm not a capitalist and have earned my living in the countryside all my 50 years of working life. I'm still not 'retired' and pay my dues to whichever government that is in charge. For that I expect to go about my daily life without fear. I expect roads to drive down and when I'm ill or injured get medical attention. I have my old age pension every month and live well enough.

It's all very well preaching back to basics, but my friend there were thousands of people over the years in the UK putting into place with sacrifices that saw so many die for it.

Fine go live in a tree house somewhere, but when the s**t hits the fan and it surely, will you will be back to benifit the payments made by other people.
 

[chrismahon]

Enjoyed reading all this Russ. Think the difficulty is balancing the ideals with the practicalities. We've looked at this objective in some detail and we always come back to the same problems -Council Tax and age related limitations. You can mechanise for the age related to some extent but you need to be able to buy spares or replacements so you need some income, which should be low enough to avoid the tax threshold. Problem is our Council Tax is more than my private pension. Still got 12 years to get the state pension I paid for when I was a big earner. Self employed and work has dried up. I pity the young people starting out.

I understand Castle Farm's point of view but all our monitary contributions just seems to have encouraged Government waste. We live in a materialistic and extremely wasteful society now and I personnally don't want to help it along. They've had my money and rather than put it aside for my pension they've squandered it. I am happy to contribute in a practical way -were that possible.

[RUSTYME]

I have said it before , the mock ridicule attack brigade just can't see any other way than their own . Fair enough , i couldn't give a toss .
As for being a leech ! , not even going bother answering .
  As with all things there are things you have to do a different way as you get older and all the tools  i need and use are all hand tools that i can both make and repair in the forge myself . 
I grew up working my own 2 90'x30' allotments , that i cleared and worked by hand . The other allotments were all worked by old boys , 60-90 years old , all worked by hand . 
My horses will help with any heavy stuff , once i get 'all' the gear !  They don't need spares and they can give birth to replacements free . Their fuel is also free , oats , barley and hay .
Oh and CF, if i need anything from society , i will do as i do now , pay for it ! ,or go without .  And i grew up in a house with no heat upstairs , so i know the feeling of being cold to , so did everyone else who i knew , and i grew up in London , not for normal people , wtf ?

Cheers Russ

[Castle Farm]

You lucky bast**d you had an upstairs.

[RUSTYME]

Oh yes , an upstairs and glass in the windows too ! lol
I don't expect anything for nothing , i pay my way . But i am free to choose what i want out of life and how i live it . I don't interfere with other peoples lives and don't accept that they can interfere with mine , because i live a different way to theirs . There are other ways to live , and i would have thought  it  blatantly obvious , due to state that  western society is in , that the 'norm' doesn't work !
 I don't invade , bomb and kill , innocent people to gain access to oil , just to keep an unsustainable way of life going or just to make money out of their misery .
 I live a simple life , do no harm to people , make most of what i need , grow most of what i eat ,  do as little harm to the planet as possible , and expect nothing without a reasonable exchange of goods or labour , ie  barter .
I don't say that my way is  the way everyone should live , it is just 'my' way , right or wrong , good or bad .   

Cheers Russ

[Castle Farm]

I have a friend who lives just up the road. Shes 'travelled' all her life and reared 4 kids in a horse drawn and now lives on a 6acre place in a barn that she managed against all odds to get permission to live in.
She is an ispiration to any woman and I don't think there is anything she cannot do for herself, but at 60 she realises things get harder and without some finacial back up things are going to get harder.

She gave up horses in case they a vet needed calling out and lives without electric, but she managed to get a well in. Runs everything off solar panels.