Smallholding dreams

[forinborin]

Just a dreamy post.

Anyone else here developed an urge during the last couple of months to move away from the city into the countryside? Now that remote working seems to be with us long term, and the new normal.

Not farming full scale, just a couple of acres of land, poultry, a pig or two, a veg plot, an orchard... A better, and slower, quality of life overall, all while still earning a professional wage remotely.

Where would you move if so? Within the UK, or further away?

[Heyha]

I have a smallholding but if I was to move to a new one (dreams) I'd go to the Welsh borders for all sorts of reasons.

Beware though doing on top of a full time job is HARD and that's me as a teacher with a certain portion of those long holidays. I've got to get straight out of work today to meet the vet (should be marking not mumsnetting on my lunch, oops). It's cold, wet and dark for 6 months of the year and that's big things are going well.

I wouldn't put anyone off getting experience to see if they would really enjoy it but it's not usually the bucolic ideal you see on Escape to the Country. That happens about twenty days a year in between all the hard bits 😂

[Heyha]

Actually I should probably couch that with by saying chickens and a veg plot is generally quite pleasant most of the time (although the extended bird flu lockdown this year was a bit laborious). It's when you add four-legged things into the mix that life tends to get more complicated!

[PersonaNonGarter]

I have one and it is hard work, lots of hours in bad weather and very expensive. Much nicer to earn properly and support the local farm shop. That said it is fun for DC.

[forinborin]

I wouldn't put anyone off getting experience to see if they would really enjoy it but it's not usually the bucolic ideal you see on Escape to the Country. That happens about twenty days a year in between all the hard bits
Ah yes, I grew up (partially) on a smallholding (outside the UK, in an environment where it actually feeds the family, almost sustenance farming). Thought I would never look back, but now getting older and nostalgic, and realising that my childhood was actually quite golden.

[forinborin]

@PersonaNonGarter

I have one and it is hard work, lots of hours in bad weather and very expensive. Much nicer to earn properly and support the local farm shop. That said it is fun for DC.

Yes, I am thinking of it mainly from the DC perspective.

[Dongdingdong]

Now that remote working seems to be with us long term, and the new normal.

Well this isn’t true for starters.

[forinborin]

@Dongdingdong

Now that remote working seems to be with us long term, and the new normal.

Well this isn’t true for starters.

Why not? I am offered 12-18 months fully remote FTC contracts now.

[Wafflewombat]

Yeah, I'd love to have a farm but it's hard, hard work. Even a few chooks is hard enough sometimes, they are good tho. Welsh borders are not cheap...too expensive for me, anyway...

[Dongdingdong]

Why not? I am offered 12-18 months fully remote FTC contracts now.

You may be but that is not the new normal for most people. There will be a lot of people sorely disappointed when it’s time to get back to the office.

[ThursdayWeld]

Not farming full scale, just a couple of acres of land, poultry, a pig or two, a veg plot, an orchard... A better, and slower, quality of life overall, all while still earning a professional wage remotely

You think that working enough to "earn a professional wage" and running a smallholding, is going to producer a slower life???!!!

[ComtesseDeSpair]

I did it - I gave up my job and flat in London to move to rural Scotland. Kept ducks and chickens for eggs and a couple of sheep and goats for meat. Felled my own trees for logs to sell and to heat my house. Agree with Heyha, it’s wonderful when the sun shines to be outdoors in nature and thriving and seeing the fruits of your labour and knowing they’ll feed you. In winter, it’s bloody miserable.

I could as hack it and sold up and moved back to London before five years was up I’m now far, far happier, even though most weeks my only contact with nature is sitting in my little back garden listening to the birds sing. Though I still keep backyard ducks, they were too cute to give up!

[Dongdingdong]

Quite, @ThursdayWeld.

[ThursdayWeld]

Maybe you should start by investigating areas you like, then renting for a while, before making the big leap?

[Pinkdelight3]

Nope. How could you ever have time off/away with livestock to feed? Plus doing all of that while working full-time. Hell no. But it's your dream not mine, so go for it!

[forinborin]

@ThursdayWeld

Not farming full scale, just a couple of acres of land, poultry, a pig or two, a veg plot, an orchard... A better, and slower, quality of life overall, all while still earning a professional wage remotely

You think that working enough to "earn a professional wage" and running a smallholding, is going to producer a slower life???!!!

Yes, why not? I mean a 9 to 5 job, not investment banking hours. And smallholding as a hobby only, even happy if it makes a stable small loss.

[forinborin]

@Pinkdelight3

Nope. How could you ever have time off/away with livestock to feed? Plus doing all of that while working full-time. Hell no. But it's your dream not mine, so go for it!

Well, I don't have time away now anyway... I am in London, two small children, single parent... even a night out with friends was an extra £60-£70 in babysitting fees, so pretty much not leaving the house ever.

[forinborin]

@ThursdayWeld

Maybe you should start by investigating areas you like, then renting for a while, before making the big leap?

Yes, of course - if I decide to do it, that's the way to start.

[forinborin]

Ah @ComtesseDeSpair thank you for the dose of realism. Yes, trying to escape London here too.

[forinborin]

@Dongdingdong

Why not? I am offered 12-18 months fully remote FTC contracts now.

You may be but that is not the new normal for most people. There will be a lot of people sorely disappointed when it’s time to get back to the office.

Sure, probably I phrased it too narrowly. Let's say this - it will become a variant of the norm for many people too.

[ThursdayWeld]

Of course your smallholding is going to make a loss! Just ask someone about vets' fees, for a start!

I think you want to move to the country, which is fine. But once you do, you will need to be available to drive your children around (if you're remote enough to be able to afford a smallholding) and may rethink things on a cold, dark winter's evening - of which there are many.

And no lie-ins, ever - the animals need tending!

[ThursdayWeld]

£60 on an evening's babysitting is nothing on large animal vets fees.

[forinborin]

@ThursdayWeld

£60 on an evening's babysitting is nothing on large animal vets fees.

Oh no, no large animals. Maximum a pig, and then not even sure.

[ThursdayWeld]

Pigs are large animals.

[forinborin]

@ThursdayWeld

Of course your smallholding is going to make a loss! Just ask someone about vets' fees, for a start!

I think you want to move to the country, which is fine. But once you do, you will need to be available to drive your children around (if you're remote enough to be able to afford a smallholding) and may rethink things on a cold, dark winter's evening - of which there are many.

And no lie-ins, ever - the animals need tending!

Yes, all good points. I would be able to absorb a small steady loss, I think... up to £1K/month, or thereabouts. But yes, not a major financial disaster.

[ThursdayWeld]

And the minute you start keeping large animals, like pigs or sheep, you have to register them. And pay large animals vets fees.