[HappyHippy]

I grew up here, where I am now but my dad stopped farming when I was 12 (he had a 100 head herd of beef cattle and grew arable crops over 300 acres) They converted most of the farm buildings into an old folks home (mum is a registered mental nurse) and sold off half the ground then spent 20 years looking after {what felt like} 19 extra grannies and grandpa's.
I moved to Glasgow to go to uni and ended up working in Aberdeen (aged 21) - I was very much the arty farty type and probably thought of myself as a 'city/town type' rather than as a member of the green welly brigade - until I moved into a housing estate in a village.......it then became really apparent that I was a country girl (only slept in the house for 2 nights before renting it out to move to a tumbledown shack in the woods an hour from my work  )
Once the kids came along working the 60 hour weeks and travelling hours on end wasn't working for us and we were lucky that we could move back to the farm - by now very dilapidated and the one remaining shed was FULL to the rafters with my dad's junk  We've been here 7 years now and are slowly getting through it, but it definately was 'accidental' when we got our first pigs (you've maybe heard the story before, but here it is again) I was doing the 'mum' thing - 2 kids under 3 years old and working full time, no time to do anything with the wilderness that was supposed to be our garden  Inspiration was pig shaped  I did a bit of research, tracked down someone local who bred pigs and we went for a look Yup, you've guessed it  We loaded them into the back of my company car (in a hessian feed bag  ) and drove home. Baptism of fire ensued and we were hooked  Since then it's been a loooooong hard slog to get it all the way we want it, we've almost got about 10 acres in order - but there's another 120 of fencing, draining and 'experimenting' still to go. I reckon if we can get these 10 done by the time I hit 35, we should just about manage the rest by the time I'm 60 
I think farming/smallholding/appreciating the country is just inbuilt in some folk and not in others........my little sister, despite having the same parents and upbringing as me, has said she "doesn't like the country"  She doesn't know what she's missing 

[Sandy]

I have been thinking of this thread all day and it came to me, where I lived it was not trendy to be a farmer, in fact my then boy friend got teased a bit, people used to go Ooe R Ooe R!!! As a teenager I loved animals and my mum and dad had chickens and we had an allotment but the chickens went when I was very young and I was more than happy for them to go as dad bought a nice new shed where the hens had been and I had it for a play house...we always grew veg in our allotment that was behind the house  and  we loved gardens, as I child I loved garden centres etc, my brother grew a keen interest in Bird watching, trees, nature and the florna and forna...he still does and even looks a bit like Bill Oddy....Funny how culture and peer presure changes you!!!!

[Lesley Silvester]

Born in London (Perivale, Russ, so not far from you) but grew up in Hastings (big town).  Ex-OH and I loved the Good Life (he fancied Felicity Kendall) and also fell inlove with the Isle of Arran after a holiday there so decided to up sticks and go for the good life.  We also learned spinning and weaving so we could make a bit of money.  I had learned to milk a goat while staying with friends on their small farm and always wanted one.  Ex-OH said I could until we got there then changed his mind, although we had hens and ducks.  Lived there for 11 years just outside a village with a population of under 200, before moving back down south to be nearer our parents and for him to go to Uni.  By this time I was sick of being a controlled, abused and certainly not appreciated wife, so I walked.

Now married to a lovely, lovely man, who treats me well but is very much a townie and we live in Telford which is a very large town.  But he supports me in my love of goats and now I have the three and a back garden which is more of a micro-holding (who needs a lawn anyway).  I would love a bit more land with space to grow more and keep hens and possibly ducks but, while he is happy to let me do it, he is blind so unable to help me with things.  My health is not brilliant so I'm settling for my garden which, in my imagination, is much bigger and more productive than in real life.  I have my goats and the dogs, fruit trees and berries and my raised beds for the veggies and I'm happy.

[RUSTYME]

Yes not far , my aunt lived in Perivale years ago . Her surname was Perry lol , and strangely she moved to Hastings too , got loads of cousins there but don't know any of them . Only met a few of them at my dads funeral in 04 . Sadly my aunt died a few months ago too . But i used to go to Perivale from Ruislip Gardens as a kid , and to Hausingdon hill (sp?) to fly my glider , till the bloody thing just kept going one day !
 Small world though ;-)

[Mel]

Being raised on a livestock farm I think done it for me though when I left home I moved to the Town and spent years lost within the corrupt system.It is all kind of a blur really,had some very dark moments and eventually moved within this area.at the time I had been dealing in Antiques for many years and went into partnership into a shop with a friend and her husband. This was the worst mistake I had even made and after only 3 years I had every creditor after me for one thing or the other and the stress levels made me very ill.

Lost the house and all and moved to my current location which I rented the "field" behind within the tenancy,it had fallowed for many many years and the first year of moving in,I also did nothing with it.I was still trying to get better,then lost my husband to be whom committed suicide and this was a dark time.

One year later,I decided I wanted chickens and a local gamekeeper friend sold me his 30 hens for £20.00,I then started to manage the land and growing my first veg but it was all very hit an miss except the cabbages done amazingly well,I was really chuffed with them,so i lost myself in my own little bubble and ended up with this smallholding,ok so it is not very large but I have room for some pigs and had six last year,I have 50 odd chickens a few ducks and a couple of geese,three greenhouses and one polytunnel!

I have taken this barren field and landscaped the top end around the pond and you know,it has made me better,for the first time in years I have direction and am loving this new life of smallholding,it is like returning to my childhood without the bad bits and I really am very happy considering!

I have managed to partially drop off of this horrid system though would like to become 100% green and self sufficient but it takes time and I have been doing this very slowly whilst getting better.This is a wonderful way of life and I would not change it for the world,so many stories on here which are very much the same so there must be something in it all

[Rosemary]

I loved animals as a kid - wanted to be a vet, read all the James Herriot books - we lived in a town though and my Mum wasn't an "animal" person. I had an aunt who was married to a shepherd (she died last week aged 92  ) and we used to go there for holidays. I didn't realise at the time the influence it had 

Didn't get good enough grades to do vet, applied for BSc Agriculture, then worked on a dairy farm and pig farm for a year. While at Uni, I met my first husband. He wasn't an "animal" person either, so I worked in catering, then HR and got sucked into the whole suburban thing - dinner parties and so on. We separated in 1996; Dan and I got together and the rest is recorded in the website.

We couldn't do what we do on the smallholding without Dan's web business for income. At the moment, we're ploughing money into the smallholding to set up the infrastructure but it's great to see it develop.

Getting the cows has been wonderful - really looking forward to them calving and getting our own milk.

[MAK]

I find these replies so interesting but at the same time some of you have had sad and very difficult times. I hope that everyone who has or is in the middle of such low times can take some comfort from knowing that we can all empathise and that we all wish everyone good health, happiness and success.
Being an accidental smallholder is like being in a club even though we may never actally meet.
Best wishes to all and keep the thread going please.

[nic99]

Our smallholding was definitely accidental. I have always loved animals and had loads and loads of guinea pigs growing up, as they were all my mum would allow. I took zoology at uni, then a masters in biodiversity and conservation, and now I am doing a PhD in animal behaviour. It is for this reason that I moved up to Fife, to study my PhD at St Andrews, which then lead me to meet my now fiance who grew up in the area on his parents farm. He was property-less when I met him, having just returned from another life in New Zealand and desperate to find somewhere as local as possible. By a massive stroke of luck, our place came on the market as a reposession and we jumped in straight away and offered the asking price before anyone else got a look in! It is absolutely perfect, as it borders his parents farm (and in fact was owned and sold off by them 20 odd years ago). His parents have very kindly given us 40 acres of land to play with as an early inheritance and we have only just started our smallholding adventure. I don't think OH realises quite the dream I have in mind for it. I am starting slowly and building things up so as not to shock him  . We have a lot of work to do on the house before things can really get going though so that will eat up all our money for a while. Most of the land needs refencing and clearing before it can be used for anything. But for now I am gradually building up my chicken and duck collection and will hopefully be breeding from my kune kune gilt next year.

[little blue]

possibly abit of both here...
my great- & grandparents were Lincolnshire farmers / smallholders / chicken keepers (my nana insisted that our ancestors TOOK sheep to New Zealand - and you know how big that industry is now!!)
I've always been mad on animals, only had a cat & two guinea pigs (and a big brother!) growing up.
OH similar, never allowed more than a dog but had a "pet" sheep, duck, hen through grandma's farm as a child.

We are huge fans of the Good Life, and Felicity Kendal!!  And decided we'd have chickens,started with 6.
OH went from working 2 jobs & in special police to being a full time carer. Circumstances meant we had to spend much more time at home, learnt some stuff about families ... OH has had a very difficult time & basically had a mental breakdown, resulting in agrophobia, panic attacks & a kind of manic depression (without the depression)

Being at home more, we decided to let him have his dream of a couple of goats, giving him something to keep him busy whilst looking after his dad through bereavement & dementia.
The first purchase fell through, so looking through ads I found come nearby Kunekune pigs, which I love. So we moved three little pigs into the goat shed & carried on looking!
SO then we needed to build another shed for the pigs - we agreed that these three were "keepers" and the offspring would go in the freeezer, which they have!
We had to hand rear two piglets, which was a hell of an experience (which I would do again!)  and htey've grown up into lovely little girls.

The two goats became three when we needed a billy & a lovely lady nearby-ish said she'd two brothers who were soon to be castrated & she'd let one have some fun first!! After the loan period, she said she'd found a home for the twin & did we want to keep this one?
So we did!


We've now got a huge variety of chickens, eat our own cockerels, have ducks & quail (well, why not!)
We've built all the housing ourselves & developed it where we need to.
We've got an enormous guard dog (currently snoring her head off by my feet!)
4 cats - kind of fell into those too! One full stray, one the last survivor and two farm kittens to rat-catch.

Our goat we had two days old has just said ta-ra to her 6th kid, and gives us beautiful milk, which has "cured" OH of his sensitivity to dairy products.
I've learned to make cheese, yogurt, butter.

We currently have 11 home-bred chicks under the heatlamp, an incubator full of our own bred duck eggs, and a broody sitting on 7 eggs.
And hopefully some pregnant guinea pigs to sell the babies on to all the locals!

I still work full time, don't earn enough to pay the bills, flog eggs to my colleagues to buy the layers pellets

 But in my own time, I'm loving the life I lead & Living the life I love!

[suziequeue]

I was born and brought up in London although we had a cottage in Kent where we used to go at weekends and in the school holidays. Mum kept horses and some ducks and tried to grow veg (although I don't remember huge successes with that). I remember we had a copy of John Seymour's book there and I used to pour over it for horse - fantasising about making butter and threshing corn. Mum had a green thumb and the flat in London was full of big house plants.

I joined the Army and didn't really have any aspirations but looking back I always had a house plant or planting things in the gardens in whatever officers' mess I happened to be billeted in. This evolved into tomatoes and lettuce but never anything more as I moved around a lot and was often away for months at a time.

Then I met my husband and I can't really remember how we got started on the smallholding thing. I think he was complaining about the traffic and lack of parking space/privacy at our little Edgbaston flat. He started talking about moving to the country. We initially looked at Shropshire but started looking in Wales and then totally coincidentally found a ten acre place in Powys. The previous owners were desperate to move and had dropped the price. They hadn't really done anything with the land and had never had livestock or grown veg etc. That was three years ago and we ended up ploughing over the middle field and rebuilding the house (which is still in the process of being built).

I absolutely love it even though I work in the West Midlands during the week and am only home at the weekend. OH  is at home all the time. He gave up work ad now looks after the animals (several hens, sheep and a couple of weaners for bacon plus dog) and me. We are into everything - coppicing, green woodworking, charcoal making, willow, hazel, apples, veg, hatching chicks...... Current projects include making a chicken plucking machine, developing the market garden, building a wind turbine it goes on and on and on..........

[Sylvia]

I'm a farmer's daughter, couldn't imagine a life without animals and countryside.  Rosemary, I've known folk who say that without James Herriot's books, they wouldn't know how to lamb their ewes

[tizaala]

I was destined to have a totally different lifestyle, I'm positive that I was swapped as an infant and there is an impostor living the life I was meant to have, I should be lounging on velvet cushions while nubile young girls peel grapes for me. But allas, I was brought up by poor folk who struggled to provide for my needs.
 So I was dragged up to do a paper round from the age of 7 as well as help out on the farm next door to where we lived, Up at 0500 to go and get the twenty old screws in for hand milking , then the paper round then school, after school was the repeat performance of paper round then milking.
 Old Bert Lewis ( the farmer next door ) used a binder to gather his oats and barley , so I had to stook the sheaths then climb onto the horsedrawn trailer to stack the load before helping to build the rick, then came the long wait till threshing time , when we kids used to be on standby round the base of the stack with big sticks to kill the rats and mice that tried to escape. Autumn brought 2 weeks off school to help with spud picking, teams of locals with hessian sacks picking the spuds off the muddy fields for about £2 a day. I was driving an old Fordson Major before I was 8 years old, health and safety? whats that?
 Then after leaving school I met a girl, got married and went into ' service ' for thirty years. then had my own driving school for 10 years ,got divorced , met Gabi. Then got a job as a thermoplastics prototype engineer .
Gabi  was mad on Arabian horses, so we dabbled with showing ,then came a couple of Goats so we dabbled again, then we found this place to rent , along came the chickens the pigs , more goats , bloody sheep. I'm officially retired but working as hard as ever carried along on Gabi's wave of enthusiasm for animals.