Welcome ,
lots of sensible questions Animals / Smallholdings are money pits to start off with, you will never have exactly what you have in your mind to start off with so then it will cost you to strive to have what you want whether its an Orchard / Bees / Sheep / polytunnel etc they all cost. There are various ways of starting if you are cautious and not in a rush then scan the local adds / eBay / gumtree etc and try and pick up what you need at bargain prices or Free on occasion. You can go to auctions. Instead of buying your Orchard from the reputable garden website you can buy bare rooted trees out of Lidls in Feb for £4 a time instead of £20 takes a little longer for establishment but more affordable on a big scale.
Be miserable its great Animals potentially need expensive vet medicine / treatment on occasion and if you have no or little experience then you are more likely to use a vet more often - If you can find a ( physical) mentor or assist somewhere similar to what your looking to establish then then that would help.
Although i have mentioned bargains always be wary of bargain animals - there will be a true stories, some one having a change in circumstance etc but there is those that will burden you with something that's ill doing / not right also.
As previously suggested, i don't know your circumstance, but i think reality dictates that you need at least one wage if not two to live on at least for the first 5 - 10 years to get things established ( unless you can find an ongoing concern with things ready to crop / slaughter / other produce to give income). This unfortunately then takes time away from getting things established.
Other options are to find a place with a tourist interest, an annex / cottage you could rent out to tourists. A shed that could be easily (and probably expensively) converted or extra rooms for B&B
Assess the potential for other sources of income or reducing out goings - even renewables - wind / water power ( needs initial cash investment).
Also remember thing are seasonal ( especially in Scotland). If you had no money would you fancy a winter of eating Kale and turnips!. - personally i feed them to sheep and eat them
I assume you still have a property to sell, i would start with that then you now exactly what you have to play with and you are also a buyer with a little power. Its nice to shop online and take note of whats available at what price -also you can see what has been sitting on the market
We had two house to sell managed that then got a rental, bought a plot and converted a barn with an acre then bought another 5 acres with the building vat refund etc. Whole process took 3 years, so i wouldn't wait too long if it's what you want to do. My BH tells me to add
"remember it will cost more than you think"As for generating a dependable income, I'm not entirely sure anyone on here does - other will have outside incomes - even writing books / articles for specialist magazines / running courses etc to assist with finances - but you really need to have some experiences to be able to do this.
If anyone has managed to make a dependable income from small holding i think we would all be interested on how they did / do it. ( almost new thread time)!!
Good luck
OH forgot about authorities make sure you read the rules and regs for selling what you are going to produce and can comply with them without spending a fortune
Topic: Hello (Read 6002 times)
