Perhaps we should set up our own house swap arrangements on here. I have to say that an urban or suburban break with shops, theatres and restaurants etc on hand has its attraction when you live in rural isolation all year long, just as urban dwellers have the reverse dream. At least we would have a gardener there to help take care of the plants and might learn something of the reality behind our dreams
Perhaps we should set up our own house swap arrangements on here. I have to say that an urban or suburban break with shops, theatres and restaurants etc on hand has its attraction when you live in rural isolation all year long, just as urban dwellers have the reverse dream. At least we would have a gardener there to help take care of the plants and might learn something of the reality behind our dreams
Think we have the best of both worlds now - a bus stop at the bottom of the road with an hourly service into the city for theatre, shops, restaurants etc. The mobile library stops there too.
10 minutes gentle stroll to the village with a bank, supermarket, opticians, undertakers, church, chemist, hair salon and financial advisor, Laura Ashley, a gastro-pub and a village pub-cum-post office, an off licence, an Indian take away and a fish and chip shop - as my son says, 'What more do you need at your age mum?'.
Yet 100m away we have an SSSI of old chalk caves full of bats, and the other side of the hill we have a nature reserve of grazing marsh, river and oak woodland teeming with wildlife that spills over into our garden. All that coupled with a warm modern easy to run home.
I've been there and done that with the rural smallholding - it was wonderful. Must say, this is pretty wonderful too
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
If you need to work full time to pay the mortgage on a property with a large garden then you do not have the time, normally, to do the work on the garden. Our young neighbours have discovered this and their half acre plot is rapidly going back to weed infested scrub, as they both work long hours to get enough money to live.
We managed with our 1 acre garden purely and simply because I was retired and could work on it full time.
Now we are both getting on and feeling less fit, this garden is beginning to be hard to maintain as well.
Sorry to be a bit negative, but it is something which always strikes me when watching these Move to the Country programmes on TV. Especially with folks who have never owned a large garden before.
Thanks for all of the further posts and advice everyone - it's very much appreciated for both sides of the view.
We found a lovely example house online (although still out of our price range for now) and it had a 0.33 acre garden which looked huge so it does help to visualise. It certainly looked like plenty of space to have a nice garden area plus grow food. The larger land dream would be so that we could have some rescue donkeys. I think you're supposed to have a minimum of an acre of grazing land per pair of donkeys, plus an acre of hard standing land for when the weather is bad. Then stables and whatever else they need etc.
We're currently getting excited with projects for our own house, and finishing the garden. We had some money aside to get our kitchen done at some point this year but we're going to tackle it ourselves. We've fitted a full bathroom before in our flat so we're hoping this'll be a better job, although a longer one. So if we really get in to it we may found ourselves not put off by complete renovation opportunities that might come up.
Thanks pansyface. Yes I think it is very much a dream rather than what we'll be able to do. But if we did have the money to buy such a place, and then had enough excess money each month (not likely I know) then we'd love to have some rescue donkeys.
I think the worst part of having a dream like this is achieving it. I did and my plans used to give me something to mull over before going to sleep. Now I just lie there and worry about how we are going to keep the garden going. Hope you make your dream come true and live to enjoy it too!
We have no regrets about doing what we did here, the last 20 years of making and maintaining a garden have been everything we imagined and more.
Very sensible advice Berghill, me and my husband have to work long hours and now I have a bad back and knees I am finding it hard to maintain my fairly small garden. It's a lot of work.
Posts
https://www.onthemarket.com/for-sale/smallholding/uk/ I couldn't get that to work so try this.
Some of them are gorgeous, but most are in Wales, none on the English south coast.
We moved to NW Devon 4 years ago. We started looking at W Somerset and just kept moving west and north until we found what we wanted.
I'd love a sea view, but they're not only very pricey, but limiting, in these parts 10 miles from atlantic, on what you can grow.
We're about 10 miles inland so cheaper and more sheltered, although we do get salt on the windows after a gale.
It's worth noting that some smallholdings have an 'Agricultural Tie' which will carry planning restrictions - explanation here http://www.smallholder.co.uk/news/927312.revealed_how_to_buy_a_cutprice_smallholding/
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Perhaps we should set up our own house swap arrangements on here. I have to say that an urban or suburban break with shops, theatres and restaurants etc on hand has its attraction when you live in rural isolation all year long, just as urban dwellers have the reverse dream. At least we would have a gardener there to help take care of the plants and might learn something of the reality behind our dreams
Think we have the best of both worlds now - a bus stop at the bottom of the road with an hourly service into the city for theatre, shops, restaurants etc. The mobile library stops there too.
10 minutes gentle stroll to the village with a bank, supermarket, opticians, undertakers, church, chemist, hair salon and financial advisor, Laura Ashley, a gastro-pub and a village pub-cum-post office, an off licence, an Indian take away and a fish and chip shop - as my son says, 'What more do you need at your age mum?'.
Yet 100m away we have an SSSI of old chalk caves full of bats, and the other side of the hill we have a nature reserve of grazing marsh, river and oak woodland teeming with wildlife that spills over into our garden. All that coupled with a warm modern easy to run home.
I've been there and done that with the rural smallholding - it was wonderful.
Must say, this is pretty wonderful too 
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
May one interject a word of warning here?
If you need to work full time to pay the mortgage on a property with a large garden then you do not have the time, normally, to do the work on the garden. Our young neighbours have discovered this and their half acre plot is rapidly going back to weed infested scrub, as they both work long hours to get enough money to live.
We managed with our 1 acre garden purely and simply because I was retired and could work on it full time.
Now we are both getting on and feeling less fit, this garden is beginning to be hard to maintain as well.
Sorry to be a bit negative, but it is something which always strikes me when watching these Move to the Country programmes on TV. Especially with folks who have never owned a large garden before.
Thanks for all of the further posts and advice everyone - it's very much appreciated for both sides of the view.
We found a lovely example house online (although still out of our price range for now) and it had a 0.33 acre garden which looked huge so it does help to visualise. It certainly looked like plenty of space to have a nice garden area plus grow food. The larger land dream would be so that we could have some rescue donkeys. I think you're supposed to have a minimum of an acre of grazing land per pair of donkeys, plus an acre of hard standing land for when the weather is bad. Then stables and whatever else they need etc.
We're currently getting excited with projects for our own house, and finishing the garden. We had some money aside to get our kitchen done at some point this year but we're going to tackle it ourselves. We've fitted a full bathroom before in our flat so we're hoping this'll be a better job, although a longer one. So if we really get in to it we may found ourselves not put off by complete renovation opportunities that might come up.
Lucid
Thanks pansyface. Yes I think it is very much a dream rather than what we'll be able to do. But if we did have the money to buy such a place, and then had enough excess money each month (not likely I know) then we'd love to have some rescue donkeys.
Lucid
I think the worst part of having a dream like this is achieving it. I did and my plans used to give me something to mull over before going to sleep. Now I just lie there and worry about how we are going to keep the garden going. Hope you make your dream come true and live to enjoy it too!
We have no regrets about doing what we did here, the last 20 years of making and maintaining a garden have been everything we imagined and more.
If you can do it then do it.
Very sensible advice Berghill, me and my husband have to work long hours and now I have a bad back and knees I am finding it hard to maintain my fairly small garden. It's a lot of work.