Author Topic: Moving in to our new smallholding! (Read 8950 times)

HelenVF · « **Reply #15 on:** June 24, 2013, 01:28:06 pm »

Congratulations

it sounds fab!

Re: buzzards - another one who has plenty of buzzards and never had a problem either.

Helen

SallyintNorth · « **Reply #16 on:** June 24, 2013, 01:41:45 pm »

Buzzards don't take hens. They may have a swipe at a chick, if one were unguarded...

But they will take rats, so are very much a chicken-keeper's friend.

Goshawk, however - now one of them would have a pop at your hens, especially any white ones (they stand out more.)

john and helen · « **Reply #17 on:** June 25, 2013, 05:17:39 pm »

sounds exciting...can't wait..well done and best wishes

Possum · « **Reply #18 on:** June 26, 2013, 10:29:01 am »

How exciting, and what a sense of achievement you must have at the moment!

We moved to our smallholding just over a year ago and I can still remember the excitement of the removal lorry arriving and realising that the adventure had really begun. Mind you, during the year of almost constant rain that followed, we did wonder at times whether we had made a terrible mistake! Still, we got through it and now the sun has made an appearence things are a bit more how we had imagined them!

waddy · « **Reply #19 on:** July 01, 2013, 01:06:08 pm »

Our second weekend lorry trip didn't exactly go to plan. We thought we had done well packing the lorry; heavy stuff tied to the front end, lighter stuff packed round. We also thought with a seven and a half ton truck there was plenty of capacity for the load we were hauling. WRONG! A cautionary tale - get your lorry weighed or your stuff weighed before setting off on a long journey. We found out the hard way we were overloaded. The police were very nice and obviously safety has to be their main concern. I was left sitting on quite literally a ton of our furniture for four hours while OH went back to our rented house and unloaded another ton before coming back to pick me up. We know now to put the heaviest items where the greatest strength is over the rear double wheeled axle. We also know getting a vehicle with a tail lift (essential in our case) straight away takes half a ton off the amount you can carry. We got to our new place safely although alas too late for our local pub and the nice meal we had planned. Instead it was a burger from the services. After all the loading, unloading (and extra loading/unloading) and a total of about 620 miles driven over the weekend (plus about another 70 when including taking the truck back) we are both absolutely knackered! We were both also up early for me to drop OH at the station to catch the 5.30 am train to london. At least I could then go back to bed! We have a week to recover before doing the final two lorry trips next week. We would still however prefer to move the stuff ourselves. We have found it stressful having removal people in the past. We have so much stuff to move over such a long way. We couldn't possibly do it in one go and a larger lorry wouldn't fit up the drive.

We had a hare in the garden this time and house martins flying busily in and out of a nest on the house. Can't wait until our final move!

spandit · « **Reply #20 on:** July 01, 2013, 01:54:31 pm »

I'm dreading our move... mortgages have been approved so just waiting for exchange now...

lachlanandmarcus · « **Reply #21 on:** July 01, 2013, 02:15:50 pm »

I'm glad the polic exercised discretion for you, your heart must have sunk until they did; interesting about the tail lift weight thing!

But im afraid we require more pics now otherwise we will sulk :- ))))

john and helen · « **Reply #22 on:** July 01, 2013, 03:53:09 pm »

Once you're in you will be able to look back and have a good laugh, i don't think its ever easy moving...
i have just found out that we can only have a 10ft static as a 12 is to wide for the lane

agh well , its not the end of the world

we do need pics though.

waddy · « **Reply #23 on:** July 01, 2013, 04:03:49 pm »

Quote from: lachlanandmarcus on July 01, 2013, 02:15:50 pm

I'm glad the polic exercised discretion for you, your heart must have sunk until they did; interesting about the tail lift weight thing!

But im afraid we require more pics now otherwise we will sulk :- ))))

We still got a £60 fine but it could have been £180 (plus of course extra fuel for the extra trip) but as said they were very nice. I still can't find the charger for the camera and my phone camera is rubbish! After next weekend we will have moved nearly everything and I will have time to hunt for it although it may take a while there is so much stuff.

Helen

waddy · « **Reply #24 on:** July 01, 2013, 04:24:23 pm »

Quote from: john and helen on July 01, 2013, 03:53:09 pm

Once you're in you will be able to look back and have a good laugh, i don't think its ever easy moving...
i have just found out that we can only have a 10ft static as a 12 is to wide for the lane agh well , its not the end of the world

we do need pics though.

In spite of the sheer exhaustion (not to mention unexpected stops in laybys!) we are so happy! We have our smallholding!!!

We would love a log cabin style static where at present we have an old pole barn just inside some woodland next to a large lawn and pond. We anticipate lots of visitors and at present we only have three bedrooms. We thought in future we may also be able to do a holiday let in it. The struggle with the lorry and the drive have made us wonder how (if we ever got permission for one) we would be able to get it in place. We may have to make a wider gate in the bottom field and find a vehicle that could go off road and up the slope of the valley to pull it. I know we wouldn't get permission to build anything that wasn't classed as mobile.

Helen

lachlanandmarcus · « **Reply #25 on:** July 01, 2013, 04:50:53 pm »

If its any help our track is only about 10 foot wide with stone dyke walls but we got a 12 foot static in.

How....well if you get a proper transporter company to do it, the truck bed they lift it onto takes it above the height of the walls - so if walls are the issue they might be able to work round it, altho not if overhanging trees with big boughs across.

We were just going to get 10 ft but the extra 2 feet makes a lot of difference, because it means you can have dining one side, kitchen the other, and a big wide seating area with a good size coffee table, whereas the 10 foot ones (the ones we saw anyway) had its different living zones along the length , which made them seem a lot smaller.

We did the drainage first, even before the static arrived, so it could be plumbed into the new septic tank, which makes life a lot easier if you can do this.

shygirl · « **Reply #26 on:** July 02, 2013, 10:16:16 am »

ahh, a bit stressful, but you will get there.

WhiteHorses · « **Reply #27 on:** July 02, 2013, 11:54:10 am »

Congratulations!

Moving is always a nightmare. We moved to ours mid-May and are far from sorted, but it is all exciiting.
Looking forward to your updates