Want the truth - the real truth.It is very hard work - all hours, every day. Some months your income will be very low, some very high.
You have to have a business head, work hard, and forward plan - cash flow a major area to be aware of.
Any capital you have, will dissapear very quickly, eventually you will go to the bank and it has all gone - now
you have to earn a living from the land, and feed yourself and your animals. Your partnership will have to be very strong to survive the ups and downs of a smallholders goings on - if you get bad luck, it doesn't rain it pours.
You get out what you put in. Its not 9 - 5 with a regular paycheck - most people have both - Job and Smallholding.
Only a very hardy few pack in work - and work hard on their smallholding as their "only income".
Want the Fantasy, the dream, the idyllic illusionYou will enjoy the fresh air, flowers, looking after the animals, not have to sit in traffic jams, attend meetings with obnoxious staff that dont know what there doing, but are more senior so get away with it, will not have to
get out of bed if you really dont want to, can take a vacation whenever you want - but you won't want.
No office politics, no having to suffer fools gladly, and yes it is great to see what you can achieve with a lot of hard work, fencing, building, planting, nurturing, rearing animals and plants.
The rest of what you need to know, good, and bad, are in all the postings on here.
Good luck with your decisions. I packed in a job in England 16 years ago that paid me 68,000 sterling in my last year - 1993.
Just to let you know that I have the experience of both sides of the coin too.
Suffered Much - Learned Lots
Enjoy the experience no matter where it leads
Widsom comes from change and mistakes - make many
(This is what we have)