Daydream fund challenge part 4

lostinrates

I'm ok fK, because I was hoping to dig out more beds this year, and remove a lawn and replace with chamomile and moss andgravel path, and now I simply won't. ( might start the moss end).

I'll grow less exciting annuals in the herb garden and hope to stock the more exciting things another year.

Ma77hew

COOLTRIKERCHICK wrote: »

even if you ream is to have a plot of land, or a house with a nice garden.. join in, all are welcome..

Davesnave wrote: »

Can I echo the bit about joining in? There's no need to commit to post regularly, but if you're out there, reading, it would be great to hear from you, especially in parts of the country we don't cover.

I had a quick look to see why this thread keeps bouncing to the top of this forum and thought I might join in.

The wife and I would love anything between a large garden and small holding. Though currently seems out of reach.

I’d like the garden so that there is enough space for us/our daughter and a nice allotment garden. I had an allotment for a while but struggled with it due to work during busy periods I couldn’t get there till the weekend so wasn’t able to keep on top of it especially when things started cropping, I’d get down there to find I was too late lol.

The wife would like a bit more space as she would love to have a kennels/cattery.

We live in near Buckingham, price and availability seem to keep us out. Slightly restricted due to schools/work/family, so can’t really look too far afield.

We saw a great opportunity last week but it went off the market, was a bit slow, It was the cost of not just purchasing but developing that caused me to stop and think. Kicking myself now though lol, but I think the reality is we would have struggled to compete for it as our house isn’t even up for sale, and I suspect a developer would have been really interested as 2 properties have been built on the land previously and we only really were thinking on it for a couple of days. Here’s a link while its still online. here

There is also a bungalow that would be ideal, it has maybe 1 acre but that would be plenty space for our child and to go a bit more greenfingered. But feels a bit like chasing ambulances lol, its 100 metres from my parents house and in the right catchment area, they keep suggesting we should just go and ask if they would be interested in selling/would let us have first refusal, but its an elderly widow so that seems a bit off to me. Maybe we should.
A lot of house with decent size plots seem to get knocked down in this area and split into 2/3 plots which is a shame, though I can understand why.

How did you guys manage to acquire your properties was it a similar situation?

Anyway for the time being it’s a case of saving and searching.

COOLTRIKERCHICK

Hi Ma77hew. that place had loads of potential, fingers crossed you will find something..


FK, is this about the retrospective planning on the outbuildings?? hope you local councillor is better than ours here lol fingers crossed things go ok..


LIR.. could your OH go freelance/self employed, start his own business working from home some/part of the time??


Absolutely horrible weather really pithing down here..


been stuck in the office in work most of the day catching up on paperwork etc... filing all the crap etc lol.


need a cuppa to unwind from all that


davesnave, what is that weed suppressant stuff you use again??


going to need quite a bit of it, was thinking of putting it down in between the raised beds I am going to do, and put bark chip etc on top, to make it look nice


just messing round at mo lol


https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1155815974444827&l=b033289532

lostinrates

COOLTRIKERCHICK wrote: »

LIR.. could your OH go freelance/self employed, start his own business working from home some/part of the time??

Not yet.

Don't worry. In about four / five months maybe you can start to worry, if nothing great is showing but we have options even then.

There is an opportunity O/s that might still be open for him, but would involve living apart for a few years. It would be so much easier if I could get on planes and fly, because then we could see each other more often. O/s puts a lot on him because I cannot travel. Its all up I. The air and I won't give regular updates, we'll see what what happens, huh?

ferretkeeper

Cor, freezing here, it's stopped raining for 5 minutes at last!

Well... have chatted to DH and he's pretty much got that job so he's taking the plunge. It will be a pay cut, significant but not life threatening, from around end of April. However I didn't realise there's a real chance he'd get the same cut if he stayed put (some of his pay is danger money and it is getting less dangerous there!) and he'd have the same stress and more people to look after than if he goes, so it's a no brainer really.

I have some good motivation now!

Yes I'm still battling over the retrospective permission. There's more than one way to skin a cat, I have plans b and c on standby but I just want it to go away, got better things to get on with!

Ma77hew welcome! Our situation was that we had a fixed budget when we were looking to buy, which limited our possible locations to around here, parts of East anglia and then further north. We looked specifically on small holding/land websites. It's not easy finding areas where larger blocks of land are split into nice manageable chunks. Then hubby's job was the final decider, we needed to be near the M4 so here we are, a bit north of swansea, with 5.5 acres. For some reason there's a lot of small holdings in our village and around, must be a reason!

Not everyone here would be the same but DH and I would not buy a smallholding, given the chance again, we'd buy land and go for permission to build an Ag dwelling on it, having done the obligatory years in a static first while building the business. Or go somewhere like Lammas!

Well I'm going to dash out and do the animals while its dry, although I think that's maybe it for the rain til Wednesday? Hope so!

Better_Days

Welcome Ma77hew

It really is a challenge when you are selling to try and find somewhere suitable to buy. We tried selling and then going into rented, but that didn't work out either, especially as prices started to rise alarmingly. Found an ideal property - bungalow with a big garden - but the property turned out to be of non standard construction.

We're now in a house that isn't really what we wanted, but we do have enough space for some chickens which I very much enjoy keeping. The plan is to move on again in the next few years. In the meantime I can enjoy the smallholding tales on here :cool::cool::cool:

I'd ask about the bungalow, you never know, as long as you are courteous I can't see any harm.

Hope the infection isn't too painful alfie sounds most unpleasant. That sort of thing can really drag you down, not so much the level of pain, but when it's unrelenting it's not nice.

Started off pleasant here today, but then clouded over and rained. Forecast is changable. A little bit of sun lulls me into a false sense of security then bam, in an eyeblink it clouds over, the wind gets up and it tiddles down with rain. Still nothing like the west of Scotland if the forecasts are anything to go by.

Old dog is going back to the vets on Wednesday. I'd like the vet to check over her leg which she fractured. The foot is turning out more as it heals. She doesn't seem to be in any pain, but as well to get it checked I think.

I_have_spoken

Back home tonight, after seeing the first day of the carer package for elderly parents come to fruition. Looks promising and dad is improving, his illness being the catalyst for mum to admit she couldn't cope without help.

I was "blown home", the wind at the coast being very strong and it's now whistling in the trees in Glasgow. Must be bad in north of Scotland indeed!

Had a worrying moment to find a letter on the mat from the Scottish Sheriff's Office, turned out it was check on availability for jury service not a summons - my guilty conscience!

alfie_1

Hi ma77. Hope old dog is ok at checkup. Antibiotics I'm on seem nuclear and wiping out my brains ! LIR..... anyone employing your Oh will have a gem, would you like a bag of my wedding mix seeds ? ... ctc...did you get the miffletoe and seeds? I wanted to tackle my rose beds this last weekend but not a chance.. right I'm off to bed, work tomorow...... hopefully.

Davesnave

COOLTRIKERCHICK wrote: »

davesnave, what is that weed suppressant stuff you use again?

The best ones are Phormisol and Mypex, but the cheaper alternatives like this are probably OK :

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2m-x-100M-Heavy-Duty-Woven-Weed-Control-Landscape-Fabric-Driveway-Ground-Cover/290680039071?_trksid=p2054897.c100204.m3164&_trkparms=aid%3D222007%26algo%3DSIC.MBE%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20140407115239%26meid%3Dc335b86ea27946b4bc2fed08a6ab7d41%26pid%3D100204%26rk%3D9%26rkt%3D30%26sd%3D221455738376

COOLTRIKERCHICK

Thanks davesnave will check it out.

Nope haven't received anything, where did you send it? Pm what Addy you sent it to, and when, and I will chase it up in our local post depot