Dear TAS members,
Earlier in my present career, I made plans to retire to an idyllic Greek island once my employment as a petroleum Engineer came to its inevitable end. In preparation I bought a plot of land overlooking a turquoise bay and constructed a large villa with swimming pool. So why am I lamenting to a group of strangers with little to do with the oil industry or perhaps Greek islands. Here is the connection.
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The title of this forum appears to me most appropriate as I indeed became a small holder quite by accident when my wife, bless her, informed me that she had purchased a derelict barn while on a shopping trip to the UK. The barn is located in Anglesey, North Wales and on my first trip to view her new purchase, I discovered that Anglesey has a different type of rain. It rains horizontally as opposed to the more conventional vertical type I have observed elsewhere in the world. Attached to my wifes derelict barn, (which she told me to make her dream home and had no bearing on Greek islands, villas or swimming pools) was 4 acres of land divided up into four small fields, each separated by blackthorn hedging. So there you have it.
It is now four years since that fateful day and the barn as instructed is now pretty much to my wifes liking and hasn't been burned down yet. I know nothing of hay making, ditch cleaning hedge cutting, or tractors but hope to pick it up as I go along with hints and tips from the more enlightened TAS members. I have made a start, I have planted 100 cider apple trees in the hope that the results of the fermentation process may blunt the sting of the horizontal rain and the fading memory of a Greek villa.
If any TAS members are willing to pass on their knowledge for land husbandry, I would be happy to share the results of my fermentation process as the occasion so dictates.
Bungalow Bill.
P.S. Does anybody want to buy a Greek Villa?