Page 2 | Smallholding dreams

forinborin · 2021-05-13T11:22:41+00:00

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?

Springersrock · 13/05/2021 13:10

I always thing I’d love one. I’ve watched lots of those farming/lives in the wild type programmes and always think I’d love that kind of life

We have horses and I daydream about having them at home with some chickens, a couple of pigs or something and growing my own veg.

Then reality kicks in and I realise I hate being cold and wet, I hate mud, I hate gardening and pretty much everything to do with having a small holding

Maybe if I win the lottery o could buy a small holding, and then employ a manager or something

SarahAndQuack · 13/05/2021 13:14

My brother is in the process of trying to buy a smallholding. Rather him than me. I wouldn't want more than an acre max.

But I do get the daydream side of it. I don't care about animals, but in my fantasy life I would rent out space to beekeepers and I'd make a huge wildflower meadow and an orchard/nuttery. I'd do loads of eco stuff like nest boxes for owls, and ponds, and I'd encourage the bats and hedgehogs. And I'd grow hazel for poles for the beans and stuff like that, that you could be super-smug about.

Oh and I would have one of those enormous, Victorian-style orangeries, and a massive greenhouse.

I don't think it'd remotely be a slower pace of life but I do think it would be lovely. It's the animals that would put me off smallholdings - I don't enjoy death.

UtterlyUnimaginativeUsername · 13/05/2021 13:14

We moved to a half acre in the country last year. We have about 15 fruit and nut trees of various types, lots of berries, a veg garden and chickens (and one random guinea fowl). We both work full time from home (at the moment, anyway) and it's very doable. I'd have loved to do a couple of feeder pigs a year as well but we'd be a bit tight for space; it's not so much a smallholding as a tinyholding. But it does the job

SarahAndQuack · 13/05/2021 13:18

@UtterlyUnimaginativeUsername, that sounds perfect (aside from the pigs!). We're in the process (fingers crossed) of buying a house with about 1/3 of an acre and one of the other people who wanted to buy it wanted to keep goats! She brought a goat-surveyor friend to assess whether it was a suitable space, too.

What fruit and nut trees do you have? I have tentatively just bought a crab apple and I have a morello cherry. I want to get a quince and a medlar and some eating apples.

BaublesandGlitter · 13/05/2021 13:19

I would definitely do this if I could. I could do it near where I live now (Wales) but have a vague dream of moving to the Highlands or one of the Scottish islands to do it.

DH was brought up on a farm and his mum now owns a sort of hybrid small holding / livery / kennels / animal rescue. We lived there for a few years while it was getting set up and I enjoyed it all, even the freezing cold rainy days, and (pre-Covid) we spent a lot of time there helping / visiting and running it while she goes away to visit family or on holiday.

DH hated it, I think the daily grind and financial pressure was all he'd ever known and now we both have day jobs and a regular house, he thoroughly enjoys the freedom of easily organising a weekend away or having a chilled out day. I don't think he'd do agree to a small holding with me unless we had a lottery win that would allow us to buy with no debt and hire help so he didn't have to deal with it all full time.

But still, I can dream!

Kathers92 · 13/05/2021 13:19

I live on a small holding, i have dogs, chickens, horses, farm cats and goats.
It is hard work although i think most of that is maintaining the grazing for the horses.
It is still possible to go on holiday my chickens are free range with solar powered chicken hatches. The goats and horses all live out with access to shelter and the cats are outdoor cats with a shed and cat boxes.
I usually take my dogs with me move the horses to a paddock covered by CCTV and ask a friends/ neighbour to pop in once a day and I do the same for them.
In the winter the mud is awful. I love living here and am only 15 minutes from the m25. It is possible to have both

ZenNudist · 13/05/2021 13:20

I see some people are determined to miss on your dreams!

ThursdayWeld · 13/05/2021 13:21

Like @UtterlyUnimaginativeUsername has, maybe buy somewhere with a large garden? Then you can have the nice bits, without the hassle.

Also, of course, you are by no means the only person dreaming/planning to do this. Which will affect prices...

Whereabouts do you fancy? The Home Counties would be pricey, ditto the Cotswolds, Somerset prices are rising. I always think that Lincolnshire is an underrated county.

Kathers92 · 13/05/2021 13:22

Oh we also have an orchard and make cider most years

SarahAndQuack · 13/05/2021 13:23

@Kathers92

Oh we also have an orchard and make cider most years

I don't even like cider that much, and I'm still loving the idea of that.

Original poster

forinborin · 13/05/2021 13:23

Oh and I would have one of those enormous, Victorian-style orangeries, and a massive greenhouse.
Oh yeah, me too! I mean - me in my dreams - absolutely!
I probably did not express the sentiment behind the "slower" pace of life appropriately. Not necessarily slower as in the tempo of it, but rather slower as more filled with meaningful content. My working day now spans from 5 - 5
30am to 11pm (sometimes I nap during the lunch), wraparound care costs north of a grand, I have barely time to sit down (today an exception as have to take leave). I'd much rather earn less and have more time with the children and close to the nature, but I simply cannot afford to earn less if I stay in London.

OP posts:

Kathers92 · 13/05/2021 13:25

@SarahAndQuack
Im not even very good at it but we enjoy trying all the same 😂

Original poster

forinborin · 13/05/2021 13:27

@ThursdayWeld

Like *@UtterlyUnimaginativeUsername* has, maybe buy somewhere with a large garden? Then you can have the nice bits, without the hassle.

Also, of course, you are by no means the only person dreaming/planning to do this. Which will affect prices...

Whereabouts do you fancy? The Home Counties would be pricey, ditto the Cotswolds, Somerset prices are rising. I always think that Lincolnshire is an underrated county.

A big garden yes, will do - I don't need acres and acres. Maybe between an acre and two would be OK. I was thinking somewhere in Cornwall, maybe Dorset. Scotland is probably a bit too cold. Also intrigued by Ireland (the Republic of), and cannot understand why rural properties there are so much cheaper.

OP posts:

Crazylikechocolate · 13/05/2021 13:28

I've had a small holding, bloody hard work full time 7 days a week , all weathers , on call all the time to attend animals . I can't imagine doing it again it aged me a lot , it really really isn't the "good life" that some people seem to think it is

WonkyCactus · 13/05/2021 13:31

I daydream about this a lot, especially lately. I have lived in towns and cities all my life, yet I dream of island/country life. I would love to live somewhere I could grow veg and wildflowers, have chickens and beehives and space for a kiln and a workshop (I do pottery as a hobby). In reality I know I wouldn't like feeling so isolated all the time and probably wouldn't last the winter! But it's nice to dream.

ThursdayWeld · 13/05/2021 13:34

There was a recent thread about the realities of living in Cornwall.

Two acres in Dorset is going to be expensive.

There was also a recent thread about moving to Ireland. Plus you would have work issues, there.

RaiseTheBeastie · 13/05/2021 13:35

I'd love a small holding of our own.

Chickens for eggs, a couple of cows for milk, lots of orchards, greenhouses and fruit and veg. Ponies with grazing.

I'm realistic enough to realise though that whilst I'd enjoy the nice bits I wouldn't want the daily grind of the work that comes with it. I think maybe with a lottery win I'd like to have one with a couple of full time staff to work it.

Then I could just go in with the dc a couple of times a week and fanny around collecting the eggs and picking fruit and veg without the grunt work!

Original poster

forinborin · 13/05/2021 13:36

@ZenNudist

I see some people are determined to miss on your dreams!

It was one of objectives of starting this thread, to get a good dose of realism from kind folks

OP posts:

mindutopia · 13/05/2021 13:38

Absolutely freaking everyone has apparently. Dh and I have been planning to buy a smallholding for years (it ties into dh's business and we would use some of it as business premises and for holding workshops - currently using rented space). The property we nearly bought last summer, the vendors decided not to sell with 2 weeks to go before exchange.

Where we live in the south west, everyone and their mother is trying to buy land at the moment. Properties that were once affordable to us are now 100-150K more than they were a year ago (prices they are actually selling for, because we've made very high offers in that range and been told our offer wasn't high enough). One of them went for 50K+ over guide price and it was retroactively refused planning permission for the house that was built years ago without it, meaning it wasn't even mortgageable. But people are going mad for a few acres.

The problem is that farming in itself at that level is not enough to live on and you'll need another stream of income. And managing even a small amount of land takes time and money. I'm hoping we may finally be able to buy when all the Londoners realise they don't have time to trim hedges and manage drainage issues and feed the ponies if they want to still go back to London for the weekends, things will start to come available again. If it's something you do want to do and you have the money to sink into it, I'd wait another year or two until prices return to normal levels.

ThursdayWeld · 13/05/2021 13:41

Yes, give it three to four years for the reality and disillusionment to kick in for all the Londoners who fancied the Good Life, and are then divorcing/selling up

byvirtue · 13/05/2021 13:45

Don’t be put off by these miserable posts. Yes you can have your dream and make it as easy and or complex as you like!

We have land with a large kitchen garden, the start of an orchard, lots of chickens and some bees. I’m very tempted with some pigs maybe later this year. I’ve really got into foraging this year in the hedgerows around our land, amazing the health nutrients of certain weeds cleavers (sticky weed) and dandelions.

It’s all a work in progress, I love pottering about with the chickens and garden after work. Children love it! We don’t make money from it, it’s definitely a hobby we barely do anything in the winter but lots the rest of the year because we want to.

Lots of rural properties come with land. For a pottering about sort of smallholding 3/4 acres ish would probably work (size of a decent field) but you would want more if you really want to go for it. Lots are marketed as “equestrian”.

Original poster

forinborin · 13/05/2021 13:45

Where we live in the south west, everyone and their mother is trying to buy land at the moment. Properties that were once affordable to us are now 100-150K more than they were a year ago (prices they are actually selling for, because we've made very high offers in that range and been told our offer wasn't high enough). One of them went for 50K+ over guide price and it was retroactively refused planning permission for the house that was built years ago without it, meaning it wasn't even mortgageable. But people are going mad for a few acres.
Yes, I did notice that property prices have increased quite significantly in this segment. I won't probably be able to afford something significantly more expensive than £500K, and offers in that region are already looking quite thin.

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CCSS15 · 13/05/2021 13:47

Me! This has been my dream for years - have had an allotment and chickens in the past but would love a couple of acres with a mini orchard, couple of polytunnels and some predictable weather to grow things!

ThursdayWeld · 13/05/2021 13:47

Lots of rural properties come with land. For a pottering about sort of smallholding 3/4 acres ish would probably work (size of a decent field) but you would want more if you really want to go for it. Lots are marketed as “equestrian”

You can't just turn fields into smallholdings, veg plots, etc. You have to get planning permission.

CMOTDibbler · 13/05/2021 13:47

My dad used to have a pretty good business teaching townies who'd had this sort of dream how to care for animals - usually called in by the vet when it was apparent that they hadn't trimmed their feet or done other basic cares. My parents had goats and chickens, and raised lambs/pigs/calves for meat on the excess milk plus grew or traded almost all their veg and fruit.
Dad got up at 4 to milk, mum at 5 to process the milk and then water the greenhouses etc before work, dad having left at 6. In the evening there was milking, animal care, watering, weeding etc etc. And in all the many years they had the animals they had two nights away together, which required a complex exchange with another goat keeper.
So, moving to remote working, perfect. Have some chickens in a nice coop (not an Omelet) with auto closer and they are lovely and low maintenance. Grow some veg. But don't have a smallholding.