the daydream fund challenge thread

alfie_1

CTC.... oh my ! what a fabulous house/mill/farm that is !! just ME !!

p.s. youve JUST got the card ??? quicker to have walked with it !!!

Alexelisey

Hi all, hope you're doing well. It's nice to hear all your updates!

I decided I couldn't help but pitch in on the farmers' market stuff - our nearest FM is Blackheath in London so as you can guess prices are high IMO :eek: I prefer going to Rochester but it's much further. It was where we first tasted guinea fowl though, so we make the effort sometimes.

I'd love to eat more locally and seasonally but I, like LIR, would miss avocados (and pineapples, lemons, oranges...). We do have a way round it but it wouldn't work for everyone: we're moving abroad to where we can grow them. Yes it's pretty drastic, but my fianc! copes better with his condition when there is plenty of sunshine even in the winter months. So when we come back off honeymoon the house will be going on the market and we'll see where we go from there. If it doesn't sell quickly we'll rent it out, so we're not tied to staying in the UK when we'd really rather not. Property prices over there in Southern Spain are within reach, so I expect we'll find something when the time comes.

Has anyone else given much thought to moving abroad to get more for their money?

Davesnave

Alexelisey wrote: »

Has anyone else given much thought to moving abroad to get more for their money?

Yes, but then we thought West Wales was 'abroad!' :rotfl:

Seriously, it was never an option for us, for family reasons, and there are other considerations too. Property in Spain is relatively cheap, but buying into it and then having to sell at the wrong time has already compromised the finances of one person in our family. I'm not poo-poo-ing your plans though, because it's more than likely that particular person didn't do her research too well, and if one never needs to make the return trip, what difference does it make what prices do?

Every location decision is a process of checks & balances. If we'd gone to Wales, we'd have been looking at a fall in the value of our property now, but coming here has meant spending out more if we stay long-term, with all the hassle of re-building still to come. We could've avoided that.

In the end it comes down to very personal preferences. I think I could cope pretty well with the lifestyle/language in parts of France, for example, but my DW couldn't, nor could she give up seeing her folks on a regular basis, so we'll always stay within 2-3 hours of them.

Davesnave

alfie_1 wrote: »

CTC.... oh my ! what a fabulous house/mill/farm that is !! just ME !!!

It's not me! I just see a hellava lot of maintenance and hassle with Cadw.....but I agree it would make a brilliant film set.

Anyway, I would wreck the place by tidying it up! To me, Pete my farmer friend, has the perfect farm: nice modern farmhouse with great views, and the main farmyard just across the lane, where all the muck stays.

But I couldn't afford Pete's place either.

COOLTRIKERCHICK

forget cadw a minute:eek::rotfl: and the maint. etc... i am just looking at those pics. an imagining myself walking round in the sunshine, with my 'Ma larkin' look, :rotfl:

but as you say Davesnave...not only will you have cadw to de3al with, but you will prob need another million plus to renovate/maintain the place..

Hope it finds a nice owner though... places like that need to be kept as oringinal as poss, too many places being modernised within an inch of their lives, and just becuase they have kept an 'original feature' ie the old rusty nail that dates back to when the property was built, they think that is keeping it original...... haaa my butt!!!

lostinrates

Alexelisey wrote: »

Hi all, hope you're doing well. It's nice to hear all your updates!

I decided I couldn't help but pitch in on the farmers' market stuff - our nearest FM is Blackheath in London so as you can guess prices are high IMO :eek: I prefer going to Rochester but it's much further. It was where we first tasted guinea fowl though, so we make the effort sometimes.

I'd love to eat more locally and seasonally but I, like LIR, would miss avocados (and pineapples, lemons, oranges...). We do have a way round it but it wouldn't work for everyone: we're moving abroad to where we can grow them. Yes it's pretty drastic, but my fianc! copes better with his condition when there is plenty of sunshine even in the winter months. So when we come back off honeymoon the house will be going on the market and we'll see where we go from there. If it doesn't sell quickly we'll rent it out, so we're not tied to staying in the UK when we'd really rather not. Property prices over there in Southern Spain are within reach, so I expect we'll find something when the time comes.

Has anyone else given much thought to moving abroad to get more for their money?

well, to dh here is abroad! (and I chose uk as home too, but more easily, most of my education was here). There is a lot to love about living in the UK, as well as a lot to grumble about. We tried very hard to get into a position to make a home here, including a period of living in Italy, but all with our eyes on being in England. We love it here. Sometimes its easier to see why I think when you CHOOSE a place rather than end up here by default.

just after buying here we were offered 2-3 yrs in s. america and to be honest it was a difficult choice, had this been in a condition suitable to let maybe we would have rented somewhere small for me and the animals and then I could have gone between, 2 weeks in every six or something. And also, for the first time in my life, having turned down a US passpart, I now feel maybe I could feel at home in US of A, but DH wants very much to end up in Europe, and moving menageries out of EU zone is a big deal. |We did it a bit when I was a child, and while its easier now its still not something I'd choose to do easily.

FWIW you can grow pineapples, ornages and lemons here.....I had a side hobby in killing citrus trees, but they can do quite well with other gardeners:o I really would miss citrus fruits, and sometimes dream of living somewhere like rome where they grow road side like we have limes, and by the rail tracks, like we have buddleia.

Davesnave

DW has just had an emergency request to go into work, so that's my second pair of hands gone. Still, as I reminded her on the way out of the door, we'll have another chicken house paid for soon.

Meanwhile, back on the polytunnel, it finally dawned on me over the weekend that the ridge bar doesn't go exactly in the centre, so my attempts to square everything up were doomed to fail.:( Talk about a waste of time! :mad:

I'm starting to process some tomato seeds for those of you who want to try the very early ones next year. I'll let you know when they are done, in a week or two. Also, the Quillquina I got from Real Seeds has been a great coriander substitute, because it doesn't bolt, so when that flowers I'll be collecting seed from it too.

ukmaggie45

Davesnave wrote: »

Also, the Quillquina I got from Real Seeds has been a great coriander substitute, because it doesn't bolt, so when that flowers I'll be collecting seed from it too.

I can't eat coriander because it tastes of soap to me. I believe it's one of those weird things that are genetically controlled. Now I'm curious as to whether the Quillquina would taste that way too... Perhaps we'll give it a whirl next year as an experiment. Dare say there'll be someone happy to have it even if I can't eat it meself.

Davesnave

ukmaggie45 wrote: »

Perhaps we'll give it a whirl next year as an experiment. Dare say there'll be someone happy to have it even if I can't eat it meself.

Well it's a pretty foliage plant anyway, though I'd no idea what the flowers looked like...until I Googled:

Ah, hmmm, well, 'interesting' just about covers it!

lostinrates

Davesnave wrote: »

Well it's a pretty foliage plant anyway, though I'd no idea what the flowers looked like...until I Googled:

Ah, hmmm, well, 'interesting' just about covers it!

I think that's rather lovely actually. As does that bee


So hot we're melting. I see no sweeping being done this week at all, there are better and more important things to do in the heat.

Fuming about the blight. Such a viscious thing. And have had an sos call from a friend who wants to strangle her husband so we're meeting tomorrow night for a drink while I talk her back from the ledge on that front.