Our Welsh farm
Discussion
Absolutetly no idea if there is any interest in this but....
This year we sold our smallholding in the Midlands and moved 200 miles to West Wales. We didn't know anyone here, wasn't particularly an area we knew but it offered everything we wanted.
We had looked long at hard at Scotland,very far north Scotland but the prospect of indy ref was a concern that I couldn't shake. We knew we wanted rural and near the coast would be a bonus so we started looking everywhere. The place we bought wasn't what we thought we wanted but being here we felt at home and could see a future here, others that were on paper what we wanted didn't offer that.
The move was always planned in so far as we wanted to be more remote and wasn't influenced by anything like covid just the right time. We've watched too many people hold off and die/get too old before doing anything so have jumped and gone. It seems a much nicer environment to raise children and home schooling here is much more mainstream which is what we intend to do.
We have been very much welcomed, have made friends and couldn't ask for anything else from people locally.
The place we've bought needs work but that's all we've ever known so am happy doing that. The first issue was evident on day 1, no hot water. Tank and boiler were/are ancient ,tank replaced and old boiler still chugging away for now.
If there's interest I'll put some more on, here's our pace anyway!
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|https://thumbsnap.com/KEi5TXbd[/url][url]
|https://thumbsnap.com/mUTWrHdP[/url]
This year we sold our smallholding in the Midlands and moved 200 miles to West Wales. We didn't know anyone here, wasn't particularly an area we knew but it offered everything we wanted.
We had looked long at hard at Scotland,very far north Scotland but the prospect of indy ref was a concern that I couldn't shake. We knew we wanted rural and near the coast would be a bonus so we started looking everywhere. The place we bought wasn't what we thought we wanted but being here we felt at home and could see a future here, others that were on paper what we wanted didn't offer that.
The move was always planned in so far as we wanted to be more remote and wasn't influenced by anything like covid just the right time. We've watched too many people hold off and die/get too old before doing anything so have jumped and gone. It seems a much nicer environment to raise children and home schooling here is much more mainstream which is what we intend to do.
We have been very much welcomed, have made friends and couldn't ask for anything else from people locally.
The place we've bought needs work but that's all we've ever known so am happy doing that. The first issue was evident on day 1, no hot water. Tank and boiler were/are ancient ,tank replaced and old boiler still chugging away for now.
If there's interest I'll put some more on, here's our pace anyway!
[url]|https://thumbsnap.com/pWzjcT1y[/url][url]|https://thumbsnap.com/ikB4CgrQ[/url][url]|https://thumbsnap.com/KEi5TXbd[/url][url]|https://thumbsnap.com/mUTWrHdP[/url]Edited by sfella on Friday 8th December 17:23
Keep the updates coming. How do you find settling into West Wales? I've been keen on a move there for about 15 years and do similar - take over a small holding and add some holiday lets. My wife isn't as keen to go back (she was born there but left at 18).
6 miles north of Haverfordwest at the base of Preseli's is the area I know well.
6 miles north of Haverfordwest at the base of Preseli's is the area I know well.
Tom8 said:
Nice where is it in Wales? Are you intending to farm in any way? We bought our place nearly 5 years ago. Absolutely love it, idyllic upbringing for daughter and fun and adventures for us. We moved out of south east corner to Herefordshire/Worcs border.
We are in Ceredigion, about 20 mins inland from New Quay. We bought our flock of sheep with us, about 25 in total Southdowns and Jacobs, a couple of goats the usual poultry chickens, ducks etc. Inherited a shetland and a goose with the house and added a pregnant pig in August. She farrowed not long after arriving. We have kept pigs for a few years but always just bought weaners so a sow is new to us. She's a good mum it seems so can stay and go again next year. Some of this years lambs are booked in for the table and piglets are for same in time.We also inherited a good size poly tunnel, greenhouse and veg beds. All we're in a very weed covered state and some still need attention. The last owners had 'bought the dream' then realised the dream is hard work so let the land out and left it to go wild. Currently clearing dead trees, massive hedges and brambles.
We're here fulltime, the two holiday cottages are our 'jobs' and are all done by us and not cleaners etc so we've always something to do.
We're going for the full on good life,self sufficiency. Tye new Tom and Barbra.
that all sounds cracking! the place looks wonderful. Nice to be doing it at a (presumably) younger age. what a way to grow up for your children.
We shook up our lives a few years back, and now live in a hilltop village in tuscany with grapes, allotment, chickens etc. lots to keep you busy, but if you enjoy it, its the perfect thing. Our daughter seems very happy, and like you, the locals couldn't be more welcoming. all the very best to you.
We shook up our lives a few years back, and now live in a hilltop village in tuscany with grapes, allotment, chickens etc. lots to keep you busy, but if you enjoy it, its the perfect thing. Our daughter seems very happy, and like you, the locals couldn't be more welcoming. all the very best to you.
Evoluzione said:
When we first moved to ours I started moving old dead trees, but then realised it's not a great thing to do. They're teaming with life which the birds need so many have been left.
And where safe, standing dead-wood is also a thriving habit for insects and birds too.Would be interested to see what OP has thoughts on in terms of further enhancing the wildlife on site.
Evanivitch said:
Evoluzione said:
When we first moved to ours I started moving old dead trees, but then realised it's not a great thing to do. They're teaming with life which the birds need so many have been left.
And where safe, standing dead-wood is also a thriving habit for insects and birds too.Would be interested to see what OP has thoughts on in terms of further enhancing the wildlife on site.
Was having a good chat with a mate who just came back from a hiking trip in snowdonia. He used a phrase 'unspoilt wild beauty' when referring to the hills, he couldn't be more wrong. The uplands in the UK are as man-made as lowland cow fields and would be unrecognisable to someone who lived a thousand years ago (possibly fewer). The landscape and variety would be very very than different to what we see today. Problem is with every generation the baseline shifts and we accept more and things to be normal when they aren't (I know normal is tricky to define).
I'm involved in a really interesting bit of research (to me anyway) into the lost rainforest of the UK (temperate/coastal/celtic) rainforest. It wasn't until that long ago that these would have been common, and one of the richest habitats we had. With the advent of intensive sheep farming for wool, a need for wood fuel, and timber for shipbuilding and construction, deforestation was swift and efficient. This has left us with huge areas bare hills, valleys and costal areas that would once have been wooded, a mixture of both dense and open canopy, but we now accept the landscape now to be how it should be. This has had all sorts of negative affects on how we live. Anyway I've gone off on a massive tangent
Silvanus said:
Was having a good chat with a mate who just came back from a hiking trip in snowdonia. He used a phrase 'unspoilt wild beauty' when referring to the hills, he couldn't be more wrong. ...
I'm involved in a really interesting bit of research (to me anyway) into the lost rainforest of the UK (temperate/coastal/celtic) rainforest
Agree entirely. We have a small part near where I live.I'm involved in a really interesting bit of research (to me anyway) into the lost rainforest of the UK (temperate/coastal/celtic) rainforest
sfella said:
We are in Ceredigion, about 20 mins inland from New Quay. We bought our flock of sheep with us, about 25 in total Southdowns and Jacobs, a couple of goats the usual poultry chickens, ducks etc. Inherited a shetland and a goose with the house and added a pregnant pig in August. She farrowed not long after arriving. We have kept pigs for a few years but always just bought weaners so a sow is new to us. She's a good mum it seems so can stay and go again next year. Some of this years lambs are booked in for the table and piglets are for same in time.
We also inherited a good size poly tunnel, greenhouse and veg beds. All we're in a very weed covered state and some still need attention. The last owners had 'bought the dream' then realised the dream is hard work so let the land out and left it to go wild. Currently clearing dead trees, massive hedges and brambles.
We're here fulltime, the two holiday cottages are our 'jobs' and are all done by us and not cleaners etc so we've always something to do.
We're going for the full on good life,self sufficiency. Tye new Tom and Barbra.
Great stuff, looks fantastic! Love the animals. We do sheep, donkeys and chickens. Really satisfying working back land into a good state. We've gone from rutted weed beds to proper meadows now working on woodland to manage that properly too.
We also inherited a good size poly tunnel, greenhouse and veg beds. All we're in a very weed covered state and some still need attention. The last owners had 'bought the dream' then realised the dream is hard work so let the land out and left it to go wild. Currently clearing dead trees, massive hedges and brambles.
We're here fulltime, the two holiday cottages are our 'jobs' and are all done by us and not cleaners etc so we've always something to do.
We're going for the full on good life,self sufficiency. Tye new Tom and Barbra.
Great stuff, looks fantastic! Love the animals. We do sheep, donkeys and chickens. Really satisfying working back land into a good state. We've gone from rutted weed beds to proper meadows now working on woodland to manage that properly too.
Silvanus said:
Evanivitch said:
Evoluzione said:
When we first moved to ours I started moving old dead trees, but then realised it's not a great thing to do. They're teaming with life which the birds need so many have been left.
And where safe, standing dead-wood is also a thriving habit for insects and birds too.Would be interested to see what OP has thoughts on in terms of further enhancing the wildlife on site.
Was having a good chat with a mate who just came back from a hiking trip in snowdonia. He used a phrase 'unspoilt wild beauty' when referring to the hills, he couldn't be more wrong. The uplands in the UK are as man-made as lowland cow fields and would be unrecognisable to someone who lived a thousand years ago (possibly fewer). The landscape and variety would be very very than different to what we see today. Problem is with every generation the baseline shifts and we accept more and things to be normal when they aren't (I know normal is tricky to define).
I'm involved in a really interesting bit of research (to me anyway) into the lost rainforest of the UK (temperate/coastal/celtic) rainforest. It wasn't until that long ago that these would have been common, and one of the richest habitats we had. With the advent of intensive sheep farming for wool, a need for wood fuel, and timber for shipbuilding and construction, deforestation was swift and efficient. This has left us with huge areas bare hills, valleys and costal areas that would once have been wooded, a mixture of both dense and open canopy, but we now accept the landscape now to be how it should be. This has had all sorts of negative affects on how we live. Anyway I've gone off on a massive tangent
We have to be careful not to turn too much back to forest though. As we've created these barren moorland landscapes, animals which like that habitat have moved in so we need to be catering for them too. Butterflies, birds like lapwings, curlews, Oyster catchers and various birds of prey use it for hunting too.
Evoluzione said:
Disafforestation too, which was a new word for me to learn.
We have to be careful not to turn too much back to forest though. As we've created these barren moorland landscapes, animals which like that habitat have moved in so we need to be catering for them too. Butterflies, birds like lapwings, curlews, Oyster catchers and various birds of prey use it for hunting too.
We're also realising is that some of the ground is degraded peatbog, and actually planting trees would have a worse environmental impact. What you need to do in that instance is reverse the land drainage scheme.We have to be careful not to turn too much back to forest though. As we've created these barren moorland landscapes, animals which like that habitat have moved in so we need to be catering for them too. Butterflies, birds like lapwings, curlews, Oyster catchers and various birds of prey use it for hunting too.
mrmistoffelees said:
Have you told the pigs that they need to say soch soch soch yet instead of oink oink oink?
Lol (or CYU (Chwerthin yn uchel)).On this point, may I suggest that if you haven't already done so, you try to learn a few basic phrases of Welsh.
The agricultural community in Wales is one of the strongholds of the language and I expect all efforts will be warmly received.
Your place looks lovely, congrats and looking forward to following this.
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