[springbok]

Hi

Just beginning to start the long hunt for a small holding! Planning on hubbie giving up work along with my dad and me and my mom carrying on working to fund the whole thing.

I do have a question though - roughly how much are the start up costs? I'd like to have some kind of idea how much I need to beg borrow steal have. We're looking to have a vegetable plot, start an orchard, get pigs and sheep and much later a few cattle. Of course we'll have the obligatory chickens too .

I've tried looking round but everythings so very vague! I'm looking at my bank balance and wondering what's enough! Thanks 

[Lesley Silvester]

    Hi and welcome from Shropshire.  Can't help with your query, I'm afraid, but there's bound to be someone on here who can.  Lovely part of the country you live in.

[Roxy]

  Hello, from me in the Peak District too.
Re start up costs ....well, depends on whether you buy registered stock, and new or secondhand equpment .....whether you need to fence the land etc.  Whichever option you take, it does take money to start up, and then maintain everything.
For me, feed and haylage are a big drain on my resources in winter, and then there are worming, shearing,  the never ending vet bills.
I have to be honest here, and say I have resigned myself to being a hobby farmer, because I cannot make a living out of a smallholding - my outgoings far outweigh my profit on anything I sell.
Good luck with you hunt for a smallholding, and I hope its a success for you!!

[Victorian Farmer]

hi from Aviemore the highlands of Scotland 200 thousand or rent a  croft .I would of tho rt you would get a start on the west coast .

[Roxy]

Victorian Farmer, thats why we are looking at properties up North and into Scotland ......terraced houses here can be £200,000 with no land.  3 bed house to rent with just a garden is £950 per month down the lane from us.

[springbok]

I love it here - we recently moved up from London as we just couldn't take it anymore! We've kind of decided that we won't be able to make money from the smallholding but want to be as self-sufficient as possible (as well as selling what's left to friends in London).

I think we'll probably go for registered stock but everything else will be secondhand. I'm desperate for a flock of sheep - the veggies are my husband's thing and I'm leaving him to it. I'm hoping that once we have the property we can take two years to get fully up and running and so the cost will be spread out more, plus we can see what we need as we go along. I'm hesitant to do any major works/field alterations until we've spent all seasons in the house - I'm imaging flooded fields where we plant veggie plots!

[Roxy]

Very sensible ......just look round at the fields at the moment and see how much mud there is.  Most of our land is sloping, so does not flood which is a blessing.  Thats one thing about this area - being high up the water runs past us ......but the snow gets us instead

[MAK]

How much ? Well I guess everyone will mention all the variables that can suggest a cost. Geography will dictate the cost of land, house and outbuildings. You will note that a lot of members here are in Scotland and Wales. One of the reasons may be price but also becuase small parcels of land are more available there compared to England.
We moved to France to get what you listed above for about £60,000 . We are near an airport so can get back to Stansted in the same time as if we had moved to Scotland or Wales. Some people travel to the UK for bits of work or work here but we can afford not to work and concentrate on the smallholding.
Good luck !

[Fowgill Farm]

Like MAK says how much???... depends what you want and how much work you want to do. The peak district as Roxy will tell you is in demand so prices are higher. Obviously the less you pay the more work there will be to do, take your time would be my advice, make friends with your locals, more often than not you hear about a property coming up before it goes on the market(we found out about ours thro local farmer) and decide what you want out of smallholding, their is now a whole industry of smallholding books and the net is a good source of info. here on TAS EVERYONE has an opinion but only YOU can decide your future.
best of luck
mandy
very grey  still North Yorkshire but pigs are fed, OH has gone shooting and i'm having my breakfast ahhhhhh..........

[MAK]

Good advice from Mandy above.
You must consider latitude (light) the local climate, drainage and soil if you want fruit and veg. It's may not suit you buying somewhere in the far north if you want to grow peaches or tomatoes  .
Just to rub it in - dug a hole in shirt sleeves yesterday ( but snow forecast for every day next week  ).

[springbok]

Wales is becoming more of an attraction. We're looking to grow seasonal veg, nothing exotic. I've been looking more in Wales and Yorkshire. Oddly I quite like rain so long as I'm well wrapped up so I think that's probably a good start! Me and my mom earn reasonably good salaries (and we'll carry on working) so I'm hoping that running costs of a farm are covered by our salaries. I'm thinking of the mortgage as separate as we'd have to pay that anyways so it's just the whole how much a cow costs, vets, insurance etc that I'm in the dark about.

Tbh I think we'll just have to at some point bite the bullet and go for it! I'll just have to rein my dads expensive trait in - he's a buy the best kind of man! At least he's mechanically minded so can fix things

The peaks are beautiful today - just waiting for son to get up from nap and were off!

[little blue]

hello from the middle of the Peak district, no rain today, but bloomin' cold.... snow??!!

[Ina]

Hiya from a still very rainy Aberdeenshire!!! (Annoyed because according to forecast it should be dry and cold by  now...  )


Anyway - you've got me thinking about your name. Any connection to RSA? In which case you might enjoy the weather just as a change!

[goosepimple]

..and hello    from Scottish Borders, we may be more southern in scotland but its still a big challenge to try and get anything to grow.  I'd take advice from MAK, you'll spend a lot less on heating than you will here in Scotland, it's your running costs that will have to make you keep the day job.  Stay warm, grown things, have healthier livestock, be on holiday full time, make hairy cheese, make wine ...... sure MAK will have some more advice there   
 
All the best.

[Rosemary]

Hi and welcome!

If you want to be self sufficient as possible, resolve to avoid free loaders ie animals that don't produce anything useful.