the daydream fund challenge thread

rozeepozee

It's dry but cold here, LIR. I put an extra layer on the babies before Dad took them out for their morning walk/the school run. Everyone's in hats for the first time. Crazy as I was walking in the Wildlife Park, sweating in my tshirt on Monday (and I am known as The Lizard, I'm so cold blooded).

Davesnave

lostinrates wrote: »

How does that work with RPA? I had a random inspection in summer to check I was applying appropriately.

Err....I'm not sure really. In fact I need some advice.

When we bought this place, I was under the impression that the previous 'farmer' kept the SFP, even though he was in jail.

I contacted the RPA, so I have a personal number from them, but I didn't really understand where that took me. Then I started to think, " Gulp! I don't want anyone looking around yet!" because we were thinking of altering the field boundaries etc, which we've now done.

So, what can the RPA do for us, and is it safe to contact them again or should I leavee it for a bit?

lostinrates

Davesnave wrote: »

So, what can the RPA do for us, and is it safe to contact them again or should I leavee it for a bit?

Its always safe to contact them, unless you are trying to commit fraud. They aren't going to mind if you do not claim your full allowance, but will want to confirm you are not overclaiming. IME they are all really nice, and the people on the end of the phone talk through things clearly and kindly.

The first thing you need is to get your field numbers, which is a weird process I don't get, even having done it recently here...it is a grid number, IIRC, of roughly the middle of the field....they'll talk you through this on the phone if you plead ineptitude, the finding a number, then tell you the number they have is slightly different and to use that, having determined via maps you and the telephone person are both looking at) then, what you want to do is point out that the previous owner has obviously changed the boundaries because your garden is different to the map you are looking at , so you want to claim for a little less please I'd be utterly clear with them about this before a boundary inspection (done at random) because otherwise it could cause issues down the line. If you get an inspection you'll get brownie points for the work you've done on fencing and the hedges, I was gently reminded to sort out some stuff here.....although had started and was clearing up previous owners stuff.....e.g. I cut hedges here, and they pt on a lot of bases growth which is effectively stealing from the acrage of grass growth...so need to make sure thats tackled at some point (have already done enough for that, but will be doing more for our own sakes in any case. )

I am allergic to fraud. although, increasingly regretfully!

In fact, at our boundary inspection I discovered what I thought was a few square metres of LA nomansland is actually ours.....plenty of room for half a dozen trees to coppice from, for example. And we have one hedge between fields that is a double hedge line with ditch, and one of those hedges is superflous and of poor quality (pure bramble) so its going to come out (leaving a hedgeline that at one point is a bout 14 feet wide, so nature will be fine!!) and be replaces with line of trees for windbreak and coppicing, releaseing more acreage of grass....although from a strict grass land management point of view more grass in the next field will be shaded by these trees, so its robbing peter to pay paul in grass terms.

rozeepozee

The daydream fund challenge thread - very educational

lostinrates

rozeepozee wrote: »

It's dry but cold here, LIR. I put an extra layer on the babies before Dad took them out for their morning walk/the school run. Everyone's in hats for the first time. Crazy as I was walking in the Wildlife Park, sweating in my tshirt on Monday (and I am known as The Lizard, I'm so cold blooded).

I've been wearing a hat for some time now, as I get Trigeminal nueralgia and the pain is often triggered or worsened by wind blowing in or on my ears and face....weirdly. so I always do mornings and dog walks hatted apart from summer, with really fetching hats that come down over my ears.

rozeepozee

lostinrates wrote: »

I've been wearing a hat for some time now, as I get Trigeminal nueralgia and the pain is often triggered or worsened by wind blowing in or on my ears and face....weirdly. so I always do mornings and dog walks hatted apart from summer, with really fetching hats that come down over my ears.

There's nothing quite like a great hat collection, except, maybe, shoes.

splodger_seedswapper

lostinrates wrote: »

OS recently linked to us, so I'd just like to say hello to any new daydreamers, hope you all join in.

:wave: hi guys - i thought i would pop my head in the door - as i seem to be in OS more than greenfingers these days - but i would like to join in with this thread if i may (please)

my dad owns a small patch of woodland - which i will take over when he can't manage any more

it's just under 6 acres of chestnut copse - we have a veggie garden there too, mains water and electricity. dad loves his chickens - i think we have about 40 birds at the mo - plus 3 really mad guinea fowl

dad does lots of green woodworking and has just started giving tuition sessions to people who want to learn more about working with chestnut etc. he has made some lovely things over the years, from gates and fencing to summer houses and arbors - all with hand cut chestnut from the copse

anyway our little patch of woodland is lovely and peaceful and i just love spending all my spare time there

lostinrates

splodger_seedswapper wrote: »

:wave: hi guys - i thought i would pop my head in the door - as i seem to be in OS more than greenfingers these days - but i would like to join in with this thread if i may (please)

my dad owns a small patch of woodland - which i will take over when he can't manage any more

it's just under 6 acres of chestnut copse - we have a veggie garden there too, mains water and electricity. dad loves his chickens - i think we have about 40 birds at the mo - plus 3 really mad guinea fowl

dad does lots of green woodworking and has just started giving tuition sessions to people who want to learn more about working with chestnut etc. he has made some lovely things over the years, from gates and fencing to summer houses and arbors - all with hand cut chestnut from the copse

anyway our little patch of woodland is lovely and peaceful and i just love spending all my spare time there

Its just loevly to have new people join us

One of the saddest things to me is the lack of mature trees here, combined with the trees we're having to get rid of. I love trees and woodland. If we ever leave here my prerequisites are some woodland and running water.:o

I love guineas, and keep saying I'm going to get some. ATM my bloddy chickens are egg eating again....so today I do not much like my bloody chickens :mad:

ukmaggie45

Hi Folks, it's a bit noisy here today as builder is back to board the loft for us so we can bring all our junk from home and store it here instead! Bit grim and grisly here today, not to mention chilly! Have been freezing sitting by kitchen door for a smoke!

Hello Splodger, good to see you here! :j :beer:

We'll prob be off home tomorrow for a few days as we're cat-sitting again. OH can bring some more stuff over here while I try and de-clutter some books. While I hate getting rid of books we have more than we'll ever be able to read again, so intend to lose a load of novels. Odds are if we did want to read any of them again we could pick up a copy at our local charity shop anyway!

Keeping all my gardening books though! :cool:

Well better get off for a quick ciggie before the light goes completely and all the birds go to bed!

ukmaggie45

Yay! Just went out for another cig and saw the fox prancing across the garden.