the daydream fund challenge thread

lostinrates

alfie....I haven't shown you friend's son's LR to dh yet....but it makes me think he really has to decide what to do with it.


Your friend's son might try a horse box yet! So few of them are actually laid out well!

COOLTRIKERCHICK

I have deleted my previous message...about a certain bit of land, as i didnt think it was right considering now that the miners are still trapped, and the rescue services are still unable to enter the mine.

after this, I think there should be a preview on drift mines, we all tallk about the terrible conditions our ancestors had to work in down the mines, but in reality it is still going on in the hand full of private drift mines around the welsh valleys

Def getting colder now, noticed it alot more last night...

Davesnave

COOLTRIKERCHICK wrote: »

I have deleted my previous message...about a certain bit of land, as i didnt think it was right considering now that the miners are still trapped, and the rescue services are still unable to enter the mine.

after this, I think there should be a preview on drift mines, we all tallk about the terrible conditions our ancestors had to work in down the mines, but in reality it is still going on in the hand full of private drift mines around the welsh valleys...

I was so tired last night, I didn't catch up with this piece of news, or any other.....but the cover is on the tunnel! It was a bit manic, putting on the hotspot tapes, covering all the exposed bolts & rough bits etc and then going for the big pull in the afternoon, but the makers were adamant that it all had to be done in a day. The work wasn't so bad, it was just the number of ladder shifts and climbs involved.

Anyway, some brilliant friends turned out to lend a hand with the difficult bit, which was actually quite manageable with seven people, especially as one of them was a lot taller and handier than I am! The basic covering took exactly 70 minutes, but the bit around the doors is still ongoing, as that's the tricky part. We have one corner done and three to go today, but they might be easier, now we have worked it out;) ....or they might not!

On drift mines, I once visited one in the Forest of Dean and that was being run by just a couple of guys. It was back in the 1970s, so I'm not sure if they would still be there. I know they were fiercely independent and didn't want their tradition to die.

I also went down a similar clay mine in this part of the world around the same time, but I'd guess the ground would have been be fairly stable, as that clay is very stodgy stuff and there seemed to be few props etc. They mined it with a pneumatic breaker, which must've been hard going. Anyway that kind of mining has gone.

rozeepozee

I'm having a really frustrating time trying to post on here. Slow??? It's amazing. Feels like I've gone back 20 years... This is the downside of the countryside.

Anyway, I'm managing to read most of the posts, in between waiting and being interrupted by babies and small children. I love the animal ones (cute dogs). I'm living the dream by proxy right now.

Wish property prices had gone back 20 years We've been viewing mad.

This property is amazing http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/find.html?searchType=SALE&locationIdentifier=REGION%5E19698&insId=1&radius=0.0&displayPropertyType=&minBedrooms=&maxBedrooms=&minPrice=400000&maxPrice=450000&retirement=&partBuyPartRent=&maxDaysSinceAdded=&_includeSSTC=on&sortByPriceDescending=&primaryDisplayPropertyType=&secondaryDisplayPropertyType=&oldDisplayPropertyType=&oldPrimaryDisplayPropertyType=&newHome=&auction=false I totally fell in love with it. It's quirky - there's no proper double bedroom upstairs, but loads of little interconnecting rooms. It'd really suit a young family like our's and there's very little work that would need doing (the owner is an achitect....) It has everything we want. There is a BUT of course: you can't leave the property by foot really as it's on one of these very narrow windy country roads. No way could you walk from your property with a double buggy without taking your children's lives in your hands... so it's not on sadly. Very sadly....

We also saw this http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-...-30995815.html It is nice and sensible (it looks better on papaer/online - it's appeared a bit drab looking after seeing the one above immediately before in my view) but we cannot work out how they arrived at the asking price. The land is mainly sloping and there is a very difficult access up a private path which is shared with the very friendly farmer, whose farm yard you have to drive through.... It's only been on the market for a few weeks. It'll be interesting to see if there's any real interest in the next few weeks or months... Certainly nearby properties that were as comparable as you're going to get around here have sold in the last year for closer to the £300K mark. It is very nicely finished and there's a lovely view, but lovely views are ten a penny around here at that sort of price range....

We are struggling to work out our end game. Both the above properties would be more suitable for proper smallholding and maybe we'll end up being "accidental smallholders" if we bought properties like these, but I'm not sure we are hardy enough.

Life would be so much easier and less complicated if we'd just stayed, bobbing, in Sheffield

I'm having to satisfy my lust for growing by pouring over Thompson & Morgan brochures for now. If we don't find something soon, I think we will have to think about moving from our rental property. It's soooo small and I don't know how we'll get through a winter in it. We're surviving at the mo by going out all day and having lovely lunches at places like the Ferry Inn - way too expensive for a mid week snack!!!

rozeepozee

COOLTRIKERCHICK wrote: »

I have deleted my previous message...about a certain bit of land, as i didnt think it was right considering now that the miners are still trapped, and the rescue services are still unable to enter the mine.

after this, I think there should be a preview on drift mines, we all tallk about the terrible conditions our ancestors had to work in down the mines, but in reality it is still going on in the hand full of private drift mines around the welsh valleys
...

I was a little confused by this too - what's happened CTC? Sounds bad

lostinrates

rozeepozee wrote: »

There is a BUT of course: you can't leave the property by foot really as it's on one of these very narrow windy country roads. No way could you walk from your property with a double buggy without taking your children's lives in your hands... so it's not on sadly. Very sadly....

!!!

tbh, when you go properly rural this will almost always be an issue....in fact some of us prefer it...hating straight roads, pavements and kerbs and seeing hem as the apporaching signs of eschewed''civilsation'';) You get used to balancing on verges and training kids/dogs/horses to step sideways of the road NOW. On horses its a bit easier as you are higher to hear an approach and also we are more used to wearing reflectives...so I do feel for you, but...the kids won't be in a double buggy for ever! if the house and the postiion is right perhaps keep it in a maybe pile?

Davesnave

lostinrates wrote: »

tbh, when you go properly rural this will almost always be an issue....

Certainly is here. I wouldn't walk to the village on a regular basis; it's hairy enough in the car!

I wouldn't pay for land I wouldn't use, rozee. I'm glad we paid under the odds for this place, because although the small 'income' the land generates is useful, we could get just as much in the way of meat & logs by buying those and spending less money & time on maintenance.

We know now (hindsight is a marvellous thing) that 1.5 acres would be way adequate, and I'd be happy with less than that tbh. The sort of house I'd be looking for now would either be one with less valuable land (rough woodland scrub etc) or just a very productive garden/orchard.:)

Here's a piccie of the polytunnel cover going on. (Marilyn, that's Barry! :))

rhiwfield

CTC, been following the unfolding story, having gone to the coalface of a working mine, I have every admiration for the miners who work there day in day out, never knowing if they'll hit a pocket of gas or underground stream or suffer a roof collapse. Very sad.

Rozeepozee, enjoy the window shopping, when you decide whats best then the real work starts!!

Davesnave, that polytunnel is huge!

Feeling a bit sorry for myself as I've got a dose of man flu. Picked most of remaining apples and pears for storage yesterday, and belatedly realised that the gh has a midwinter role for helping to dry clothes

ukmaggie45

Spent some time at the house yesterday afternoon. Managed to dead head most of the roses, though did notice afterwards I'd missed a couple of hips. Also planted the first few sweet pea seeds, have more to go in when have time to go through my seed box.

Tried to do some quince pruning and weeding in the front garden, but it was so hot had to give up on it! :rotfl: The quince is suckering into my lavender hedge. Any advice on how to get rid of the suckers? We found a few small fruits under the bush, suspect there will be more when we manage to prune and weed a bit more!

The Virginia creeper is starting to turn, and the holly has lots of berries.


Virginia creeper amongst ivy by ukmaggie45, on Flickr


Holly berries by ukmaggie45, on Flickr

Our kale looks like it's doing really well, must try and harvest some this weekend. OH has taken most of the apples off the apple tree now, annoyed to find most of them have been pecked. I think it's the magpies. :mad: He's stewed up what was fit to use and it's now in the freezer (I think - was so exhausted when got home had to come straight to bed).


Apple tree and covered kale by ukmaggie45, on Flickr

Spent a while just watching the birds. Lots of long tail tits, blue tits, the woodpecker running up the trees across our boundary, sparrows and of course the horrid feral pigeons that have learnt how to get food from the feeder that is only supposed to be for the birds that hang from it. They grab the feeder lip and flap like crazy while gobbling the seed, plus lots of it lands on the ground for them to come back to at their leisure later. :eek: Can you tell I'm not fond of pigeons? Strangely didn't see any great tits, wonder why. Also watched a sparrow hawk looping through the air high over the gardens and then stooping into a garden about 6 or 7 houses away.

Our lawn needs mowing, maybe next week!


Garden from kitchen door by ukmaggie45, on Flickr

lostinrates

maggie I always enjoy your pictures. The light on those trees is wonderful. What I would do for the problem of a suckering quince!

re virginia creeper ours started to turn weeks ago and is all blazing red now. Very beautiful. Its very near the colour of the brickwork of the house, so it looks as if the house is a live and breathing or shivering. I adore it.