We need to get out of our current situation.

[Gottachange]

We are spending loads of money of cars, petrol and nursery fees - it can't go on.Basically, we am considering a life change. I want sell my car, so we go down to one car. Move to somewhere more affordable, stay at hime with the kids and fulfill a lifetimes ambition of (don't laugh) raising free-range chickens. Dh, who is also driving miles and miles to work in traffic, would try and find a job closer to home.
I have a place in mind but do you think this is crazy? Is this possible?
Does nayone on here 'grow' chickens?

Gee thanks -I have joined the forum. I shall keep you posted

Thank you so much Tiptop. Basically, I am a nurse so if we get stuck I hope to fall back into it.
My parents live in the 'big' house and we always talked about me living in the cottage (3 bedrooms) across the yard. My parents renovated the cottage a few years back and it has been rented out recently. When the house went on the market they stopped renting. We could live there but my very real worry is dm and I would fight - both of can be pretty definite about things and I think it is only fair for dh to have his own turf. This is why I was thinking we should live in a the town nearby, close to the railway station for dh to go to work!
I could rent out the cottage as a holiday let. I know you are not patronising me - I do accept it could only be a hobby farm. But I couldn't afford for it not to make anything IYSWIM

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I would agree that you need your own living space. In my family that's proved to be 100% necessary - I'm talking about experience from several generations here. Would your parents want to move? Is the house too big for them? I don't think you could do anything with the place whilst they are still living there. Again...family experience. If the cottage was rented out, would you feel safe and comfortable living in the house with your children playing in the garden and grounds? Could you work part time as a health visitor in the area? Are there nurseries and childminders in the area? Is the primary school a good one? I buy a lot in the local farmers market and I buy a lot of jam/marmalade/chutney from one lady (who actually only lives a few miles away, but I only buy from her when I see her at the fm or at the WI sales). Last Christmas, we made up hampers for family members, using lots of her stuff. Everyone said they liked them (but perhaps they would, anyway!) Are there fruit bushes / apple trees in the garden or on the 2 acres? Is the ground suitable for growing, say, gooseberries, red/blackcurrants, etc? Is there a pick your own nearby so that you can pick the fruit from someone else's place and just do the jam process and marketing yourself? Could you do b&b in the house? Maybe a couple of really nice rooms? Would there be a demand for it in the area, from business men or tourists? But then, I'd have to have it in a quite separate area of the house from the family space, for security and other reasons. A family I know (with about 5 little girls!) do this on their farm. My farming experience is big scale and beef and sheep, but I love things like this! I love coming up with ideas. Perhaps 95% are interesting but totally unuseable (sp?), but the rest might be some good! A farm near me started off a little business making yogurts about 15 or so years ago and recently got bought up by a very big company, so they are now very well off. It can work out sometimes. Does anyone in the family have marketing skills? It would be good if you could draw on skills that are in the family - cheap labour! Too many questions, I'm sure!

Forgot to say that might need childcare for the busy times when you have a week or two or more flat out on something. That's why I mention childcare. Hopefully you can do the childcare yourself most of the time.

Thank you so much Tiptop. You have great ideas!
I need to speak to my parents about this and reiterate the fact that this time it is serious. We always thought the next person in the house would run a business out of it - that's how it is being marketed too. Why can't we?

We could definately live in the house if we needed. As I said, dm and I would fight if it was too long. I am hoping that she would join in to a small extent, she is 60 this year and comes from a farming family - her reasons for being scepticle!

The house itself tends to separate the cottage form the rest of the paddocks and garden. I hope the children would be safe, I would expect them to do all the same kind of stuff we did growing up - usually tear around on go-karts and trikes
What about money for starting up - chicken coops, fencing etc

There was an ex Army guy on Rick Stein last night who had done exactly that. He overheard a lady saying she couldn't get anyone to supply free-range chickens for her restaurant so he volunteered having no knowledge....now has a successful chicken farm where the little chucks eat worms and roam around a field...all have coups etc...looked great.
Rick also did a taste test with the WI and the vast majority guessed the chicken right compared to supermarket cheapest and supermarket organic.
Can't for the life of me remember what the name of the farm was...loads of info on the web but can't find it. I reckon a visit to one of these established farmers and they'll tell you exactly how and where to do it.

Gottachange - If the house is big enough and well laid out, then that sounds great!

As for the safety thing - I think I've heard too many stories about children falling under tractor wheels, etc and now I'm overcautious. Considering the number of near misses I've had - skip the rest of this paragraph if you (reader - not necessarily gottachange) are squeamish. (I snapped an old fence wire on my neck once. I was running from one field to another and I ran up and over an old field boundary with trees on. I was trying to stop a cow from going where she wanted to go and send her to the field we needed her to be in. Unknown to me there was an old single wire strung between the trees on the boundary. It was so old it snapped on my neck as I ran through. Dread to think what would have happened if it wasn't so old it would snap. That was one of my near misses. I've had several life threatening ones, all from my time on the farm.)

Our house has a "no running businesses from here" type clause in the deeds. It's a new house, though.

As for coops and things....you can find them advertised second hand in local papers/farming papers. You can buy chicken wire from your local agri suppliers. You could get someone to fence it for you or you could do a training course on fencing (not as easy as it looks!) and do it yourself. If you need stuff done ie fencing, look on the notice board in your local farmers co-operative or agri suppliers. If noone is advertising, write your own advert.

Sorry, I've just heard from work. I'm now due to start back at work next Monday. Got to get myself organised re working hours, duties, and sort out my wardrobe. Less time on MN for me in the future! You can CAT me if you want to. I'll check that my member profile is set up for it.

Thank you again tiptop, I might do that.
I'll let you know how things go after talking to my parents and airing the idea properly.

I hope everything goes all right for you back at work!

Gottachange - Thanks for your good wishes! I've been away from work for a long time due to ill health, so I'm rather nervous!

I did farm management in college and we once had a project where we had to run a farm on paper for three years. It was a big project and was great experience for putting together a business plan. Are you going to show your parents how you'd be able to afford to manage on one income (initally anyway) and what you'd do with the place? I'd be tempted to do costings and everything to show it was workable. I'd start with the personal finance and household finance and then have some ideas for the rest ie chickens/letting the cottage/running a business from the house. Whichever way you do it, good luck!