[shygirl]

i would consider renewable energy seriously as my bills have increased greatly over the last few years. i think with our next place we will look seriously at something or other, if it stops me paying the fat cats. we are v frigal but still spend £2.5k a yr on heat/electric so i would invest if i found my forever home. mind you its usually in the tens of thousands...

we never knew we had mains sewage pipes on our land until our fields were being dug up for the new houses being built in the village. i have nothing in writing about it still.

[Lesley Silvester]

John and Helen, it looks like a massive undertaking but how exciting. I always fancied doing something like it.

[john and helen]

Thanks MGM... i would guess where ever we buy we will come across some sort of issues,
our dream was always to have a blank canvas and put in what we want from the start, and i never seem to do things by half 

i have really taken on board about buying an old jcb type digger after looking at hire rates , and can see lots of advantages with other jobs

the septic tank could cost me a lot less than i 1st thought... 

i need to start talking with the planning people to see all the details.... we really do like this place...if its meant to be, then it will be ...

[stufe35]

I would endorse the jcb thing,  we bought our place in 2007,  an acquaintance had just finished a self build and had a jcb to get rid of, it wasn't something I'd thought of, but I bought it, and it has to be said it has saved us lots, but mainly compared to hiring its just the fact that its always there,  you don't have to do jobs in a big rush , you can pop out and do a bit any time,  in fact I'm off out now to shift a bit of soil, and a 1 ton bag of gravel !  It great stress relief after a day at work too. (Except when you dig through your own water pipe !  But that's another story.)

I've looked at your aerial photo,  and mock ups,  looks great. 

Ps. I did have previous experience of driving a jcb from my youth working on my neighbours farm...

[lachlanandmarcus]

My OH is still finding it a ....shall we say learning curve driving the JCB, he says it makes driving the little John Deere a doddle! But he's doing well, and it is already proving very useful (40 acres means no shortage of jobs for it)

[john and helen]

I can't pretend to know much about driving and operating one..though i did have a big red SAME tractor in france ..loved that old thing..and it had a front bucket...    and many many years ago , i did try to level a small piece of ground with a mini digger..... it looked more like a sand dune in the end 

life is for learning, laughing, and learning a bit more   

[cloddopper]

See if you can get a short operators JCB course in JCB land near Alton towers or somewhere local . Claim & the actual cost of the machine & training  in your business costs as I'm sure you'll also use it for them like laying solid drives etc to the store sheds & the drainage for the same where you store your business equipment .

 We found that angle was good and also approved by the HMR&C  & for VAT purposes .. check it out though just in case things have changed.
 We registered for VAT so we could recover all VAT on the business even though initially we were well under the threshold . It covered things like all our computers printers , phone lines ,  power cables, water for live stock , paths,  drain , machinery to do the job and road way materials as well as VAT ongoing business costs.
It gave us about 24 K back

[john and helen]

now thats an idea...i could move my business to the smallholding... i am VAT registered already with the flooring ,
i guess i would need to get PP for a carpet /vinyl store/shed type building

[ellied]

i would consider renewable energy seriously as my bills have increased greatly over the last few years. i think with our next place we will look seriously at something or other, if it stops me paying the fat cats. we are v frigal but still spend £2.5k a yr on heat/electric so i would invest if i found my forever home. mind you its usually in the tens of thousands...

Really?    You must live in a mansion!  Or have kids that leave the doors open and play incessant music and games consoles I suppose 

Mine is just a 70s 2 bedroom bungalow but I've got my electric down to just over £300 a year and as I can't afford to purchase renewables it's just as well I'm frugal with the old electric!  We had a "reduced" cost scheme if we were prepared to invest £15k into a community plan a couple years ago, but had less than 48 hours to decide and I just about fell over laughing at the idea that would be lying about in my spare cash drawer..

Sorry, diverted from theme there. 

John, if you're already VAT registered it makes sense to put the business on site and get the best from all your building materials and setup costs.  Would presumably save you money wherever you currently base your storage too and make things more secure and easier to "commute"..

Do also recommend a JCB if you can find one at the right price and condition and have plenty work for it, you won't lose even if you sell it on in a couple years.  Wish I had a tractor or JCB here, I'm forever waiting on contractors to come out as they'll always put the big acreages or big paying jobs first.  Can't blame them, but sometimes you only want one ditch dug or one thing moved from A to B and everything has to stop til you a. have the money and b. can get the man to turn up and do that one wee job 

[Fowgill Farm]

also heartly endorse getting a JCB, we self built in 2004 and OH purchased a JCB telescopic handler with front bucket & pallet forks, the plan was to sell it after the build but we've still got it as we use it for all sorts of jobs around the holding from shifting pallets of feed, knocking in fence posts, lifting pig houses and the list goes on.
mandy

[henchard]

now thats an idea...i could move my business to the smallholding... i am VAT registered already with the flooring ,
i guess i would need to get PP for a carpet /vinyl store/shed type building

Good idea, but you may need to think about other implications in that you may need Planning Permission for change of use, that part may become rateable for business use and subject to Capital Gains Tax if sold in the future.

[john and helen]

now thats an idea...i could move my business to the smallholding... i am VAT registered already with the flooring ,
i guess i would need to get PP for a carpet /vinyl store/shed type building

Good idea, but you may need to think about other implications in that you may need Planning Permission for change of use, that part may become rateable for business use and subject to Capital Gains Tax if sold in the future.

i think that only applies if... you open up to the public..as a sole trader i think i am right in saying , I can have a store for my goods... samples and goods would be taken to the customers house..so the actual smallholding will still be a smallholding...

[shygirl]

Really?    You must live in a mansion!  Or have kids that leave the doors open and play incessant music and games consoles I suppose 

no, we live in a barn conversion but only use the heating in severe weather - as we have 2 woodburners. i think the bills are just from tv/washing/drying/bathing for 4 kids. there have been times when im convinced maybe the neighbours are using our electric as we live so frugally. iv even turned off the electric to check.
in defiance we moved out to a caravan for 4mths but we still used the same electric for washing and drying so it was pointless really. i keep meaning to find a cheaper supplier but we are moving now so dont want to commit to a contract. we are definitely downsizing our next house as fed up with high bills and still being cold. 
will seriously look at renewables for the next house.

[john and helen]

That do sound expensive shy girl . are your walls insulted ? i know barn conversions can have big roof voids where you loose a lot of heat...

our friends in france have a big house , and in winter, they close the down stairs up..they have almost turned the upstairs into a flat as to save money. but they are only a unit of two people

[shygirl]

the walls are either solid granite, or have the addition of partition walls with polystrene inners. the roofs are lagged but have big rooms and high ceilings. the washing machines is on almost 24/7 with  4 dogs, 4 kids etc. im sure its responsible for alot of the bills. not sure how to avoid the bills except to get a "windturbine" for free electric.