My eco rant.....:) The real good life....hehehe..

ecoed

I promise to either make your blood boil or enlighten you with insight into my world of debt free, morgage free, utilities bill free, council tax free, big brother control free life style.
yeah!!! a happy hippie.....:rotfl:
The only bill i have to pay is my telephone and internet....:):):)
So how have i done it......????
3 years ago i sold my house for the modest sum of £225,000. After repaying my morgage i was left with £165.000.
On the day of completion i put all of my furniture into storage and moved into a motorhome. Not a big expensive one i only payed £11,000. And so i hit the road- with my 13 year old daughter. Cor what fun.......
Anyway, after about 5 months of just touring the uk we happened upon a patch of land that was to be auctioned. 12 acres of the most beautiful countryside and the grazing rights on 240 acres of fenced common land. Having a bit of savvie about the countryside I knew that this piece of land had formally been a croft previously farmed for thousands of years. However, for the past 100 years it had been used solely for sheep grazing....There had previously been 2 farm houses on the land but they were now dissapeared from sight and the stone proberly used for farm roads---thats what they used to do.....ummm crazy eh???
And so in auction I bought the land for £62,000......I payed the next day and moved on the in my van.......It was so cheap because the only other people bidding on the land were local farmers wanting it to graze more sheep....lol.....
So are you interested in knowing more??? I'm right up for telling you all....the good the bad and the ugly side of self suffiency.....
Oh and the council won't accept my council tax........:rolleyes:
We produce our own electricity, we have own water surply, compost our toilets, we grow our own food and take the horse and cart to Tesco once a week for other surplies.
I make an income by : horse grazing, selling produce, private eco camping, small music festivals and private retreat for likeminded individuals...

COOLTRIKERCHICK

so basically what you are saying the loophole is because its a 'motor' home not a static caravan etc, so technically its not a perminant building or fixture..

so this is why you dont pay rates either ?

and this is in scotland yes?

sorry for the questions, but it would be an internesting option for us as we could never afford a smallholding

ecoed

The thing is my land is listed as agricultural. Although it had formally had farms on the land after several years on non residential use it resorts to agricultural.
I have had 2 visits by the council. the first time they came I was told we could only stay on my land 28 days of the year......(which I already knew). So plucking up I replied ' if you try to enforce that I'll sell to the hippie gypsies'---- I know you may be thinking 'bloody cheek'!!! and thats what I thought when they told me that..haha.
fortunately I do know lots of travellers who would gladly buy a small patch of my land and so I could make lots of small plots and give the council a real thorn in their side. I must point out the fact that I have no neighbours and live 6 miles from the nearest shop...
Anyway I went on to explain to them that I consider myself an evolving man, working and playing at being self sufficient and when I'm ready to build my dream eco house on the land I'll let them know.........
And so they have left me alone..... oh and the second visit was to see why I'd just moved 850tonnes of stone.... I had of course just re- topped the road..
Any other questions I'll be happy to answer...
oh and i'm not in scotland......but I do wish to remain somewhat annomous for obvious reasons....

bajangal

ecoed wrote: »

...... so I hit the road- with my 13 year old daughter. Cor what fun..........

What about her schooling...5 months out of school.

ecoed

Of couse it's not easy but the advantages are now evident in her social skills...

A_fiend_for_life

12 acres? I'm wondering about opportunities for selling energy back to the grid but you probably need a cordon for a certain distance for turbines eg icing up in winter.

Cost of getting connected?

For anyone considering this route posting tips on what to look out for might be useful.

lesley1960

bajangal wrote: »

What about her schooling...5 months out of school.

What better schooling then travelling around ? Schooling can be done anywhere

Ste_C

Just adding a post so I can keep up with this thread. Very interesting idea, it appeals to me.

Would love to win the lottery and then spend the money on creating an eco house with space to grow my own food etc The irony is that building such an efficient house would cost a lot of money.

ecoed

When I build my eco house it will be a multi construction of straw bail, rammed earth and cob. There is no way its going to cost a fortune...and its going to look like a fairy tale. An organic earthship... lol

aloiseb

It sounds a lovely idea but what if you got ill? Or old?

Also, incidentally we who pay taxes for police, ambulance and fire protection, road maintenance etc etc, are very pleased to hear you are at least going it alone in a eco-friendly way :j............

Why is everyone so determined that taxes are a bad thing? If you want to find out what a tax-free society is like, you should go and read Zola's "Germinal".

Volcano

ecoed wrote: »

When I build my eco house it will be a multi construction of straw bail, rammed earth and cob. There is no way its going to cost a fortune...and its going to look like a fairy tale. An organic earthship... lol

Assuming you are in the UK...

The exact specifications for your house will ultimately depend on the planners and building regs, that is if they do grant you planning as:

The thing is my land is listed as agricultural.......after several years on non residential use it resorts to agricultural.

The council turning a blind eye to a caravan is one thing, but not to a residential development. Do try and get the council onside if you can, there's nothing a bored planner enjoys more than going head-to-head with someone who is deliberately refusing to co-operate. It's an easy fight for them when they have the law on their side.

As far as bills go: If you do build, then the council tax bill will arrive when the house is completed. If you are running a business from home, then they may decide to apply business rates rather than council tax (which is quite a bit more expensive). Obviously you'll be liable to pay tax on your earnings too. And you'll have to comply with local authority Health and Safety regulations if you're running a business, as well as insurance if someone on your land decides to sue you if they're injured.



I do wish you the best of luck though, but as Roussea said ""Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains".