Great Rural MoneySaving Hunt

I like the bartering idea, but it's a bit confusing trying to factor them into the accounts when calculating the hard cash side of things. (I'm not talking a dozen eggs for a bag of potatoes, I'm talking business transactions - I'll fix your car if you'll top my paddock type thing.) :rotfl:

I was going to compile a list of things that rural life doesn't provide have but decided it's far easier to say that urban cannot be compared with rural. If you are planning on moving to the country, remember that there is no hurry once you get there. If you can't live a slow pace without takeaways, shopping and nightlife, you will hate it. If you expect digital signals, mains gas, mains sewage and online supermarket shopping, forget it.

Country roads for drivers - you ALWAYS need to have an idea of what's around the next bend and it is CRUCIAL that you know milking times, as herds are often walked from field to farm and the regular mode of farm transport is a tractor or a quad bike with a collie dog sat at the back. Once you get going, there are still the milk tankers and logging lorries. And worst of all, if there are youngsters with cars, open roads are race tracks. I prefer not to own a car (because I don't own a paddock?) :rotfl:

PS: I have never lived in or near the city, but I don't live out in the sticks at the moment either. We are very civilised here - we have mains sewage, a post office/newsagent, a part time bank and a Co-op.

Back to correct this old post - We are now back in the sticks, single track road, no buses, no street lighting, wheelie bin 1.2miles away from the house, no mains sewage, private water supply, no shops, an open fire, no gas or oil and still no paddock! :rotfl:

Ta. I've bounced around their site before but not found what I was looking for. Have to allocate some spare time to investigate it further.

Ditto what many others have said on here already.

Local farms are a great source of good quality food. Our local egg farm charges £1.60 for a dozen MASSIVE eggs, many of them double yolkers during the first few months of the laying year. I don't think I could beat that by keeping my own. We have a farm that offers a veggie box scheme no more than a mile from our house.

We chop up wood from felled or storm-damaged trees during the year for our fire during the winter and a local gardener occassionally drops large tree prunings off to us as well. It all gets stocked in a big coal bunker (which we were given by my father, a previous 'city dweller' who found the reality of having an open fire in the country didn't match the dream and quickly got a gas fire fitted instead:rotfl: ).The wood ash goes on the garden.

There's a lot of produce changing hands over back garden fences, the odd brace of pheasant and rabbit hanging up in garages, and bartering of jobs (with me I'll do hanging baskets and large cakes for lawn mowing).

By the way, all those who buy meat direct from farmers, how much are you paying for lambs, pigs and cows? I've recently been offerred half a young lamb for £35 and I've no idea what the going rate is?

Steel wrote: »

By the way, all those who buy meat direct from farmers, how much are you paying for lambs, pigs and cows? I've recently been offerred half a young lamb for £35 and I've no idea what the going rate is?

We sell lambs and pigs to friends, family and neighbours and last year we charged £35-40 for half a lamb and £90-100 for half a pig, however costs have risen alot especially for pigs and that price will rise this year.

Viks