I have a tractor (80hp Case) and I still get a neighbour in to plough! I would say that having your own tractor for an acre is overkill, but borrowing one and it's driver would be a very good idea. What I also have is a two wheeled tractor. they come in different sizes, they can even plough with a single blade. Mine has a rotovator, a sickle bar mower and a snow mover. but it can also take other attachments, even a trailer with a seat! They do take more muscle to use than a full sized tractor, but they fit in the shed when not in use and don't take much more space than a push mower.
When looking at strimmers try them out! We bought a lovely big petrol one which works wonders on everything up to an 1/2 inch with the brush cutting blade on, BUT I am 5'7" and hubbs is 5'6" the strimmer's length is not adjustable and the shaft is to long for us, meaning the blade goes to the ground at the wrong angle and makes it a real pain to use, you have to carry it rather than letting the harness take the weight.
Get a man, or woman, who can. It will be far quicker and probably cheaper in the long run. Frankly, it's worth paying an expert to come and do it for a day or so and probably cheaper and certainly quicker than buying a machine and keeping it maintained and stored. Once the surface is smoothed you can sow grass and use a regular sit-on mower. In our experience they don't handle lumpy, bumpy at all well.
In 1993 we bought an old wreck of a farmhouse in rural central Belgium with 1.5 acres of land around it which was all rough pasture. There were two pollarded willows which hadn't been done for years and it was all very lump and bumpy and boggy too in one part. We hired a man with a bulldozer to scoop out an unlined pond for drainage in the boggiest bit and then smooth out the bumps on the rest so we had a flat level to teh side, a very gentle slope rising from the back of the house and then a levelled area for our veg plot.
This new house has even more land and just as neglected former pasture and is just as rough and bumpy and we hired a man to come and scrape, level and plough wha was a former small donkey pasture and is now our veg plot. Later on he came back with a medium digger and scooped out all the crud in the pond here as it was full of goat willow, ash sapling, brambles, bull rushes and other horrors. Our not-so-old sit-on lasted 2 years here then gave up the ghost as it wasn't up to the challenge of the long rough grass we inherited.
OH now strims paths thru it in spring and then keeps those trimmed with his stronger electric push mower and then keeps some larger bits short with the new sit-on. We're gradually working in new beds and planting trees and shrubs too so the grassed areas are reducing and we leave whole swathes long all spring and summer as it's more weeds and wildflowers than grass and that's great for insects and thus the birds.
It's good fun doing the planting and planning slowly as ideas change as you get to know your soil and local climate by definitely break the back of it by hiring help would be my advice.
Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast.
"The price good men (and women) pay for indifference to public affairs is to be ruled by evil men (and women)."
Be nice if the OP came back after 14 months and told us how they got on.
Long story short. Our buyer pulled out so we lost the house with the paddock. It took about 8 months but we finally moved to a lovely house but with a much smaller garden, not big enough to accommodate a tractor. Thanks everyone for the advice.
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Is it @the.wincerty9XgQRp9 ? Is it though? Are they paying you plenty for your free adverts?
You've been rumbled - and reported.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
In 1993 we bought an old wreck of a farmhouse in rural central Belgium with 1.5 acres of land around it which was all rough pasture. There were two pollarded willows which hadn't been done for years and it was all very lump and bumpy and boggy too in one part. We hired a man with a bulldozer to scoop out an unlined pond for drainage in the boggiest bit and then smooth out the bumps on the rest so we had a flat level to teh side, a very gentle slope rising from the back of the house and then a levelled area for our veg plot.
This new house has even more land and just as neglected former pasture and is just as rough and bumpy and we hired a man to come and scrape, level and plough wha was a former small donkey pasture and is now our veg plot. Later on he came back with a medium digger and scooped out all the crud in the pond here as it was full of goat willow, ash sapling, brambles, bull rushes and other horrors. Our not-so-old sit-on lasted 2 years here then gave up the ghost as it wasn't up to the challenge of the long rough grass we inherited.
OH now strims paths thru it in spring and then keeps those trimmed with his stronger electric push mower and then keeps some larger bits short with the new sit-on. We're gradually working in new beds and planting trees and shrubs too so the grassed areas are reducing and we leave whole swathes long all spring and summer as it's more weeds and wildflowers than grass and that's great for insects and thus the birds.
It's good fun doing the planting and planning slowly as ideas change as you get to know your soil and local climate by definitely break the back of it by hiring help would be my advice.
Pleased you’re happy with what you found. 🙂