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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To be wildly dreaming of yurts etc?

46 replies

BrittaPerry · 16/11/2012 23:07

Dh is out of work atm. I have three very part time jobs and study with the OU and the dds are 3 and 5 and home educated. Two of my jobs can pretty much be anywhere. We rent our house.

Aibu to be daydreaming about selling almost all our stuff and buying some kind of yurt/boat/shed and going mega frugal?

Sigh. Iabu I know, but humour me. I need cheering up.

What adventure would you do if, you know, you were brave and stuff?

OP posts:
bellabreeze · 16/11/2012 23:16

YANBU!!!!! It really is a lovely life, letting go of a lot of things you don't need and stuff that is dragging you down. I have lived a travelling life, lived in bender tents when I was younger. Id love to just get the kids and go and do something like that again but I compromise by camping and things like that, sometimes I light a fire in the garden and cook on it.. its the small things that give me the feeling again.

Try a self sufficent holiday some time maybe?

yanbu at all, nothing compares to that freedom

bellabreeze · 16/11/2012 23:18

What I daydream about is spending my days foraging for berries and mushrooms in the wild, growing my own vegetables, making willow baskets, cooking on the open fire etc.
SIGH

larks35 · 16/11/2012 23:23

I think it depends upon how up for it you and your DH are really. A yurt is great but it doesn't come with running water. If you and your DH are up for a big family adventure your DDs will love it! If you are likely to snap and moan at each other about all the hardships then they will hate it. If you are in the UK I would say that this time of year is probably not the best time to live outdoors. Sorry to piss on your fire.

jojane · 16/11/2012 23:24

I kind of wouldn't mind surviving some massive event which sends the world to pot (as long as my loved ones survived as well and there weren't mutant zombies everywhere!) just so that life would go back to simplicity - foraging and not worrying about jobs and money and tv etc!

Original poster
BrittaPerry · 16/11/2012 23:30

I bet a yurt would cost loads. Sigh.

DHs parents were talking about buying him some driving lessons, which will increase his employment prospects, but also mean that if, for some reason, we acquired a camper van or something we could actually drive it...

Maybe we could find a rich patron who we could pay in paintings or poetry or something for use of a small cottage in their grounds...or maybe we could join the circus?

(We have no circus, painting or poetry skills...)

OP posts:
WelshMaenad · 16/11/2012 23:31

I want to live on a boat.

Original poster
BrittaPerry · 16/11/2012 23:36

Maybe the bbc will commission a tv programme about us. That would be good. I'm very interesting Grin

OP posts:
thekidsrule · 16/11/2012 23:40

ive stayed in a yurt a few weeks ago

we had bad storms

Original poster
BrittaPerry · 16/11/2012 23:54

DH has only camped at festivals, but I camped loads as a child, including in thunderstorms, snow etc - I loved it :-). I don't like being chilly in flimsy clothes, but I love being under blankets and having cold sticky out bits, and fresh air makes me happy.

We can cook - I bake bread, DH makes excellent cheap stews etc

Maybe we could get a horse and caravan? We woudn't need a driving licence... Grin

OP posts:
bellabreeze · 17/11/2012 00:39

Brittaperry you could! Its cheap and you don't need to be a horse expert, you learn all you need to learn along the way and there's always things to do so you won't be bored, you'll need to go and get wood for fire or your dh will, DCs will have loads of fun things to do, they can learn about nature

I really do think you should give this kind of lifestyle a try 1 day in some way or another, its great!

WineGoggles · 17/11/2012 10:09

YANBU. I was about to sell my home and go off in my truck and wagon to live off grid but my circumstances changed. If you do plan to live an alternative lifestyle be aware that without an address you will come up against a lot of issues - the system we are in revolves around the government keeping tabs on us and they can't do it if you're living in a field, so they don't like it. Plus there are lots of rules about where you can and can't pitch up or park overnight, even on land that you own. It's doable but it's a minefield.Sad

MoreBeta · 17/11/2012 10:15

I have been in a yurt. A proper one for several hours on a cold evening. You need a log burner in the middle and an axe to cut wood with and an earth toilet and spade to dig it with and some horses to drag it around from place to place.

Nice for a few hours but luckily we had a nice warm house to retreat to and sleep when it all got a bit basic and a man with a landrover and trailer to take it all away in the morning. Grin

shockers · 17/11/2012 10:26

I stayed in a yurt at half term and I absolutely loved it! I lay, looking at the stars through the round window in the roof, planning my life in one Grin. My children want to stay in one for Christmas and don't care a jot that there's no TV (or loo!). We spent the evenings playing cards and talking in bed by the light of the logburner.
If DH was up for it, I'd have a go at a self sufficient, back to nature life like a shot.
I suppose our stay was made easier by the loo and shower block just down the hill though.....

5dcsinneedofacleaner · 17/11/2012 10:35

I always wanted to live in a round house you know with an open fire in the middle. No idea why. Dh not so keen as he points it would be really hard to stop the kids roasting themselves every 5 minutes.

thekidsrule · 18/11/2012 18:58

no the yurt we stayed in had a fire guard built in all around it and we had 4 kids with us all ages,no problem what-soever

we did get through alot of wood though

even through a severe storm we couldnt have been more warm and dry

Loveweekends10 · 18/11/2012 20:00

Yurts are not mega bucks. My friend bought one for 2k and put it in her garden.
We are going to stay in one for 5 days at Easter. Can't wait.

Original poster
BrittaPerry · 18/11/2012 21:38

How much are fields to put yurts in?

OP posts:
NettleTea · 18/11/2012 21:52

Tis a lovely idea, but a planning permission nightmare.

You may have thought that the Gymbalow was a monstrosity of planning law, but it would be nothing compared to your attempt to legally be resident in a yurt in a lovely patch somewhere, which would soon turn your idyllic dream into the most stressful thing you ever experienced.

Believe me.

we HAVE 4 yurts/domes/tents which we use for holiday rentals from April - Sept, and even THAT took nearly 3 years, 2 planning applications an appeal and a public hearing, and literally cost my OH his hair, which turned grey and fell out in clumps (luckily 8 months on it has come back)

In order to live the good life you will need to prove that you NEED to live in the nice field/wood, which means buying enough land to qualify for agriculture/forestry, and then proving you have enough farming nous to make a go of it (and there is no where near where you could rent) PLUS earning enough from the business to make it financially viable AND that there are reasons throughout the year why you have to live on site - pigs furrowing and the like. Forestry is your best bet in that respect as they have the agriculture seasons preyy much tied down at the planning dept, and woodland is a little more 'grey area'.

The only small hope on the horizon would be to move to wales as they have new planning guidance regarding low impact dwellings.

Either way you need plenty of commitment to doing it and taking on a bit of a fightfor your right to do it.

Oh, and if you buy a yurt you need it off the ground, so a platform/decking. Dont get a mongolian one - they get damp in our climate - you need to research a decent supplier. Though if you went the wales/eco route Id be tempted to build a strawbale house!!

NettleTea · 18/11/2012 21:53

sorry to be the voice of doom

NettleTea · 18/11/2012 21:53

you could go join a commune though? They're not all hippy free love type places!

Beamur · 18/11/2012 21:57

A colleague of mine lives on a boat. It's a pretty cheap way to live, but it is small and has it's limitations, but it's quite a free sort of lifestyle and he putters about on different waterways in his holidays too - probably more realistic than living in a yurt.

quoteunquote · 18/11/2012 21:59

check them out on FB for a better idea of what they do, they will make you anything you want in any colour, clever design, copied by all other makers, but they use better canvas.

I have lived in benders, and twigloos, it's not easy, having said that it's brilliant fun, and well worth doing, I have quite a few friends who spend the summer in yurts and rent out their houses.

Original poster
BrittaPerry · 18/11/2012 22:18

Nettle - don't worry, I have very little chance of ever getting the kinds of money together I would need :-). Thanks for the info though, adds more detail to my daydreams :-)

OP posts:
Original poster
BrittaPerry · 18/11/2012 22:24

We did live in a big shared house when dd1 was a baby/toddler, but it didn't really work out. I think we were looking for more of a big family commune, the other people wanted a student houseshare.

Most of the communes on diggers and dreamers seem to need investment as opposed to rent, as well as being too far away. We did get very close to setting up a mini housing co op, but it never happened.

DH is very suspicious of the slightest whiff of hippydom. But then just today he has taken various roles in co sleeping, babywearing, home educating, foraging and a lentil soup.... Grin

OP posts:
VisualiseAHorse · 18/11/2012 22:35

I lived in a teepee for a year, and a yurt for a year. Was brilliant, but bloody hard work. No toilet, no shower, gas would freeze if it was too cold etc.

But it was fucking awesome, and I loved almost every minute of it.