the daydream fund challenge thread

bottleblonde

Davesnave wrote: »

Where's everyone else, I wonder?

I'm here

Had a real week or two of never-ending problems with the kids, so much so I am now wondering if France might be too far if they need me 'on hand' in years to come. So have been having a browse of properties for sale over to the west of me - Devon, Cornwall et al. Maybe up in to Wales? Talk about putting a spanner in the works! What I feel like right now is going completely 'off the grid' but that's another story!

Would welcome any advice on half decent sites to have a look at...

Davesnave

bottleblonde wrote: »

Would welcome any advice on half decent sites to have a look at...

In the Westcountry, youll find just about everyone is on Rightmove, so you can locate the most prolific agents for smallholdings via that site.

In West Wales it's much the same, but The Smallholding Centre is outside Rightmove, as is Phillip Ling, though he usually doesn't have much of interest:

http://thesmallholdingcentre.co.uk/

http://www.philipling.co.uk/

Rural Scene is everywhere:

http://www.ruralscene.co.uk/look/frame.asp

In West Wales, I'd look at the sites of the following first:

http://www.profilehomes.com/

http://www.jjmorris.com/

http://www.bjpco.com/

http://www.johnfrancis.co.uk/index.htm

http://www.evansbros.co.uk/search.asp

http://www.morgananddavies.co.uk/

http://www.ctf-uk.com/

http://www.terrythomas.co.uk/

In the Devon & Cornwall, Stags Webbers, Kivells, Seddons, Phillips Smith & Dunn are a few to look out for, but there are many more.


HTH.

Winged_one

Having been forecast rain pretty much all week except Monday, we only got it overnight!! Which was great for school sports day yesterday, but my butt was already dropping again. Hopefully it will be full again after this morning's rain.

Meanwhile, I got 3 nice candles made yesterday, and my sewing projects sorted out. So while I didn't get any actual sewing done as I ran out of time, I have 20 projects bagged up with all their bits and pieces ready to sew together and finish off (I even found the wadding I needed for tree ornaments and the dried lavendar for those sachets).

It's lovely to hear of plannig applications going in and ground being broken though!! Congratulations and hopefully it will go well!

rhiwfield

Davesnave wrote: »

Where's everyone else, I wonder?

Not where I should be to do the overdue weeding, its just starting to chuck it down again

Blackcurrants are rotting even though they aren't quite ready for jam making with the mix of cool and damp. Blackbirds keep finding ways thru the netting to get any ripening fruit. Still, been eating our spuds for the last two weeks, got some goosegog jam made, and the onions, garlic and parsnips are going great guns, as is the leaf beet. Not picking the toms yet, they've really slowed down!

The chooks have been superconsistent, 3 eggs a day, every day, and they relish fresh fruit treats and greens.

Hopefully got one or two big financial things sorted, including essential paperwork, but DW has got her hands full dealing with a family matter

CTC, can you see the smoke?

bottleblonde

Davesnave wrote: »

HTH.

It most definately does - you are a star! The forecast here at the weekend looks decidedly pants again, so I think I'll lock the doors and do some searching (if I don't stick my head above the parapet, they can't get me, right? :cool:)

Winged One.. hope your 'dropping butt' gets sorted soon :rotfl:

Davesnave

bottleblonde wrote: »

Winged One.. hope your 'dropping butt' gets sorted soon :rotfl:

I was going to say, mines been dropping for years, but it's just an age thing.

bb, I forgot to say that of course there's East and mid Wales too, but West Wales us where the largest concentrations of smallholdings are. Mid-Wales and parts of the Brecon Beacons tend to be a bit on the chilly side, however.

Monmouthshire and Herefordshire are nice, but the former isn't very affordable. The only places we ever saw in Monmouthshire, within budget, were those blighted by the two wonderful roads that carve through it, or odd places perched on the north side of very steep hills!

The Forest Of Dean is cheaper than surrounds. Nice in parts. The sculpture trails are a lot of fun.

lostinrates

Davesnave wrote: »

We had a meeting with the chap who is trying to sort out the problem of crows attacking the barn-dwellers rubbish sacks. He can see that we might not want big wheelie bin things stuck outside our main entrance, but that doesn't mean it won't happen.:( For our part, we're pleased that we have three entrances and the ability to alter things, should we decide to.

In our place in London we had a sort of brick shed. tht all our ''wheelie style'' rubbish went in to (in bins). It looked like an intriguing edwardian garden folly. Perhaps you could offer to provide atractive suitable housing for wheelies.....the road side of which could have an arrow and a sign

''Davesnave's and wife's amazing plant and laughter stand, with eggs.''

An attractive structure could add visual interest. Your own ''folly'' and not losing your own space for it

lostinrates

fwiw I love the forest of dean....so much nicer than twee cotswolds. tbh, I'm getting fonder of it where we are. Its still too ''busy'' for me, but their are huge savings in being able to pop out for stuff, having a choice of places for leisure and supermarkets etc. If I could get them involved in the dark skies movement it would be pretty ace. Having good neighbours is a huge part of that though. Our location with a dodgy/selfish farmer would be very different to our location with our neighbours.

choille

Well LIR hope yo're feeling better. We've had heavy weather, dull & midgy & makes you feel very lethargic.

No purse, so I think someone's off with it.
Just hoping the weather stays good for this Saturday as we are getting the boys back if it isn't tipping down.

Ordered saddles for some of the orps as they're getting a little bare backed especially Mrs Teddy the Buff Orp.
Free listing Weekend on ebay so taken some photos ready for manic listing on Saturday evening.
Just wondering whether to put some more eggs in cooker but OH won't be up for it as it involves building more houses,runs etc.

Sheep out on lower apportionment so clean grass & heather for them. Shearer will come soon.

Lotus-eater

Davesnave wrote: »

Where's everyone else, I wonder?

Not eating tomatoes, that's for sure

We are eating the Oregon sugar pod and the golden sweet mangetout. The GS is a bit of an odd MT, it doesn't matter how big the pods are, they start to swell when they are ready, so it's difficult to pick and the majority of them need stringing. I like the taste and the fact you can see them easily, but I'm not sure about the rest.

Also eating potatoes, courgettes and lettuce, but that's about it. Everything seemed to be doing really well at the start of June, but here we are half way through it already and not much seems to have changed.