Ways to earn from a one-acre property while staying afloat

[marmite123456]

I'm a bit stuck. I have a large (ish) property but no income. I don't live in the UK. Does anyone have any ideas for earning some money to keep things afloat until my youngest leaves school , in 3 and a half years. We have to stay here until then due to schooling, plus aged parents. I am getting disabilty , my DP is unemployed. I severely stuffed up. I had a rental property but sold it as it had doubled in value. All that money is gone . I'm thinking of growing veg but that isn't going to make much more than the cost of the seeds, same with flowers and their bulbs. I have one acre. There must be something I can do. Any ideas? For reference we are about 10 minutes from the nearest town .

Only used marmite as I know it is a uk thing😃

This surely depends on about a million variables, not the least of which is where you live, what the demand for land is etc? For example, if land is scarce you could let out a chunk for people to keep chickens (although be aware his will also draw rats to the area), or even a few sheep or goats. But if there is plenty of that sort of land nearby that isn't going to work. And regardless, it's never going to make you a lot of money.

Yes, you could grow veggies, but in order to sell them locally you'll need to grow a lot - and a wide variety...which presumably you can't do if you're disabled?

The logical thing to do is rent our this property and move to somewhere small/cheap? Either way, your husband needs to get a job so that you have an income.

Lodgers/ bed and breakfast/
Retreat of some sort - tech free? Gardening/art/pottery
Dog or cat sitting
Letting people camp

Fostering/mother and baby placements/ care leaver placements/ "shared lives" adults with learning disability placements if these paid roles exist in your country.

Tried fostering but even though we put down short teerm only they were ringing us to keep the children for longer from day one. We are registered foster carers.

If the land is fully secured you could rent it by the hour to dog walkers. Owners with reactive dogs are always looking for secure places to let their dog run off-lead.

Going to ask the obvious question as to why your DP can’t work? Is this through ill health or local opportunities?

How many bathrooms do you have? Would you be willing to have people using a bathroom and toilet facility? The cheapest way would be to allow people to camp on your land. Or, if you can afford it put a caravan / shepherds hut/ tiny house on the land. Obviously they all cost money to install but would give you a reasonable, passive income.

Would your property work as a filming location? There’s no harm in putting it on the books of a film location agency.

A lodger? Depending on how much industry you have in the nearest town to you, you may be able to find someone, like my mum did, who lodges Monday-Thursday doing compressed hours in his job and then goes back to Cornwall and his family Thursday night.

*no local opportunities that should say

He is older and an electrician and struggled to get through cramped roof spaces anymore. He is constantly applying for jobs. If he gets one he is gone before the probation period as they say he is "slow". He is actually precise but I'm not sure that is what is wanted in massive builds now.

It's hard to say without knowing what the local area is like, but 1 acre is basically a big garden (that's not meant to sound sniffy but it's less than a football field so it's not going to be commercially viable for ag/horticulture without massive investment). It's hard to think of any low investment business idea that isnt much harder/riskier than your DH getting a job- i.e. if the economy is so bad that he cant get any job, then most business ideas wouldn't work anyway.

I did think of a tiny house. We have a gorgeous pool. And a few animals. We are 40 minutes from a tourist hotspot. I really regret blowing all my money. I'm very stupid.

Could your DH put himself out there as a self-employed handyman / small jobs electrician?

Do you work?

What was your plan when you moved there and sold the rental?

Childminding? If you are approved foster carers your property must be pretty suitable.

You could advertise holiday stays invluding the pool and animals suitable for family stay?

There is actually an air bnb place about 1 km up our street. I don't know how they do, but I should have looked into this.

Animals are a pony and 2 sheep. Other animals are indoors, although one of the dogs would be fine with new people and one of the cats roams so may or may not turn up.

That's funny as I had a production company desperate to use my old house in the city and turned them down as I was ashamed of how messy it was. Turns out they were only going to film outside!

Another vote for secure dog walking field

It is! But we have a dog park 5 minutes drive away fully fenced. Though I guess if it was just their dog if they were here. Maybe. Thanks

We have stock fencing but could add electric just shy of the boundary maybe? Our fencing will not keep in a dog the size of a corgi .

Yes he could.
No , I explained I am on disability for a tragic amount of reasons.
None
Because I'm a dimwit obviously. Regularly want to smack myself on the head.

If you have a pool then I would put a couple of bell tents on the land. Put proper furniture, a fridge, microwave and chopping board, plates etc in them. Get husband to connect them to your electric so that they’ve got electric lights, plugs and Wi-Fi. Fire pit and fairy lights outside. Bbq.
Rent them for slightly less per person than the Airbnb up the road, list them on Airbnb. Let people add on firewood, charcoal, linen, a first night dinner package and a s’mores package.
Make sure that even though they are tents they are spotlessly clean for each new visitor. So choose linen, furniture etc which is easy to clean.
If you don’t have the money to get set up, do one tent first using Facebook marketplace or similar for all the things that you need, and save half the income until you can afford the second one.

Is your DH applying for other jobs rather than just an electrician?

Roles like a school maintenance worker might be a good for him.
Or even something like working in co-op.

If it was me, I would look into camping/glamping.
Or perhaps a converted horse box or something.

Obviously you will need to pay out initially and need a working toilet, sink and shower so you’ll have to do the math.
But so many people are wanting an affordable holiday in the UK and your home seems lovely so I think you’ll get a lot of customers.

If he could, that would be a good start to build up clients and reputation.

Sorry, I don’t know how I missed you mentioning your disability in your OP. I read it a couple of times but didn’t take that bit in.

Try not to beat yourself up about what has happened.

I’m not sure how feasible/ helpful any of these are but hopefully something might be or spark an idea:

Can aged parents help in any way? Are they in ow home? Could they move in with you and share costs? (If they are in a care home or similar, this won’t apply)

Could you sell your current property and downsize to something cheaper?

Is there space for taking on livery horses?

Camping area?

Dog park, perhaps with agility equipment?

Is there an outbuilding or space that could be rented out?

Kennels / cattery?

Space for a marquee for a wedding venue? Or bouncy castle for children’s party?

Also, if your husband is an electrician and you live near a tourist area, get him to email every single hotel/tour operator/campsite etc with his name, hourly price and an emergency call-out fee. Keep the prices reasonable and he will get tonnes of work - there are always electrical things going wrong in tourism, it’s hard to get a same day electrician, and the guests have an expectation that things are fixed same-day.

He doesn’t need to be quick for this, just available.