54 replies to this topic

[Tom Bombadil]

Diary.....diary.......diary!

.

 

 

 

.

 

 

Screws up the proverbial sheet of computer paper.  Tosses to bin. 

 

 

[Tom Bombadil]

HAH!...No, wait!     er!

 

Hah!  Ok.  Here we go...PTO

 

 

 

My intention of these posts are to be at some level a boost to my headonistic self, and to other levels will be a reveal of my wife's and my own endevours to make a new life away from this sh!tty rat race we find ourselves in.

 

To aid the new reader to these posts that probably started a few years ago as the newest reader looks in it starts way behind this present (if read in the future this statment will make perfect sense) at a point where we have just gone and with 40K we purchased 13.5 acres of out of the way grassy grassness on a North facing slopey slope, with flat bits for added housey-ness action and barn-tastic adventures.  No leccy.  No fresh water apart from a spring in the top medow (lets call it a medow for now) that then dissapears down into a rockface of a quarry and into a stream that runs to our left of the place we will be calling our home.  No structures of any sort, unless three long gates and the posts, and either fully fenced or headged count as structures!

 

I wanted to include the ins and outs of how things happened before the purchase.  The purchase of the F2F book after we decided we wanted out of 'normal'...but that might manifest in my blog elsewhere...why not?

 

We live in London.  The land is in Wales some 5hrs west of us.  I know (shut up)!  I have a good job.  We have been planing on escaping the rat wheel (?) for a loooong time.  It was Wales or Eastern Europe.  I like Wales more

 

The land is typical for Wales in that it was a former larger farm that had to sell off its fields to those willing to do something with them or to just raise funds because...

 

We 'snapped-up' this bargin after a long search.  It had everything we needed that the F2F book recommends apart from a roadside frontage.  We also wanted to include aspects of living off grid the way that the folk of the Lammas village have, so we were not after much in reality.

 

 

Cutting it a bit short for you we are at the stage of planning what to do with the space and situation we now have.  We didnt realy plan too much before the purchase as we had had sooooo many upsets and dissapointments along the way.  So many failed attempts to buy 'the dream'. 

Lesson one; Dont put your heart and soul (too much) in to the buying of a slice of land that you just might spend the rest of your working life at!!!!!  Boo hoo!

 

We are very happy with our land.  Its ours now.  Get orf moi laaaaand.  Ha.  My land.  I love it!

 

 

 

The next post will be us looking at it only the second time with a report on whether we was sold a pup.  We are visiting it this weekend with the sole purpose of planing planing planing.

 

 

 

[Tom Bombadil]

Before I plonk part 2 of my adventure in landerownery...40k is a little amount by comparison to a place closer to my London home town. There IS something to be said about being close to the plot. I wonder how much more I can do if I were closer. I wonder how sooner things get done. I REALLY do have to live there, no questions.

I know it's a jest when one might mention the Welsh,, but in truth I am a happier man for thinking of Wales as a place to stay. The country is wonderfully welsh. Small and hilly, oldy worldy, happy, and serious. Its all I need.

Welsh land is going up a little bit as folk are being permitted to go all Goode Life on a smaller acreage. Land close to The Lammas site has doubled in price.

For those reading this in the future, land in Wales that is for ag purposes. is half that closer to London. And if you go to Kent it is even cheaper by comparison. But Wales as a place has all that you need.

[Tom Bombadil]

...

 

 

The next post will be us looking at it only the second time with a report on whether we was sold a pup.  We are visiting it this weekend with the sole purpose of planing planing planing.

 

 

 

 

 

There is a bit of emotion within this post so be fare warned!  My later posts should be less feeling and more action!  But I think that it might all be of intrest.  I will try and upload pics after this post if I can.

 

Right.  We have just recently got back from our place of space, and we are on cloud nine. We have had time to think on all we saw there and It really is everything that we could ask for, short of being more flat, with water already serverd, not so far up a flippin' slog of a hilly road/track, and containing a diamond mine

 

Lilly, the wife-o-mine, is less sure, but I think its just nerves.  We are afterall attempting what we have dreamed of for years now, and there is little chance of 'going back'.  We do still work in the big smelly, but that is just one more stepping stone, thats all.

 

Let me tell you what we found there!..  We arived on a sunny day.  Things look better in the sun.  With our car we attempted to surmount the road up to the gate way in, and failed again, even when we all got out!  We need a larger engined car is all.  Our Toyota Yaris just dont cut the mustard.

We walked up to the gate.  On the way our boy (15) discovered that the boundry wall on the way up has a dip in it thats just right for a climb in.  I saw that it just needs a style of sorts.  The rest of us went on up to our gate.  Its a goodly kept metal jobby of 14ft long.  The padlock is now off.  Yay, it is truly ours.  The wife did not want to have to climb into our place ever, as it is now ours so we asked the estate agent to contact the prievious owner for us to keep it simple.

 

Walked past the for sale sign, I took it off and intended to keep it somewhere, but she said it was not necessary!  Ha!  I secreted it away for later..I DEFY YOU WOMAN!

 

Loverly.  As we looked in on our plot it was just wonderfull owning something of your own.  Something that we had never experienced before.  Our house would not have been ours untill the mortgage had been settled, so we felt we did not own that either!  But this bit of country is ours.  It felt good.  [Insert image of smugness here]

 

I knew where we were heading when we entered!  Off to the vally bit.  The land has two fields, and a wooded steep vally bit.  Down there there might be some intresting things to find.  From the gate, on our way to the vally bit, now forever called 'Shadey Loogey' (dont ask) I was looking at the ground with a bit more vigor than before, stamping and digging with my heel.  Was it as good and as deep as I would have liked?  Well guess who forgot the spade?  Not me!  I DEFY YOU WOMAN TO SUGGEST IT WAS ME!

 

Ok!  It was me.  But I did some digging with my billhook that leeds me to think that we have no worries on that count.  We do not intend to grow crops so the land will be all that we require short of a bit of 'grooming'.

 

We went through a second gate way into the top field.  This gate way has a damaged 14ft long gate (like the first) but has left the hinges and is collecting grass to one side.  The piers are of building blocks (like the first) but they need repairing.  In this instance I dont intend to fix them as this gate will not be used like before.  An opening is fine for us here.

The same sheep that were there on the first visit were still grazzing away in the top field (just seven or eight) and we both agreed that it was fine as we had not given permision so if they came a cropper it was not down to us, and it will keep the grasses down a bit .  We headed for Shadey Loogey expecting different things.  Lilly was just hoping that it was not as wet as before as she had not got her wellys with her.  I was hoping that my expectations on what we owned was correct as I found our first visit blocked by a fence that at first we thought was the end of our bit.  I was sure it was not at the time but could not provide proof to the wife.  So I was looking for more land.

 

Shadey Loogey is serviced by a long track that gets you to the bottom.  Think quad bike width and add a few feet and you have it!  It is a well maintained slope.  But it is wet to the left as we go down indicating that we need to drain to the bottom and into the stream.  No problems.  On the way down I noticed wood blocks and cut limbs on the path.  I at first thought that we had had someone come down and pinch some wood and cut down a few trees.  But jumping forward a bit I realised that the trees were dead and the owner had every right to do it.  It made the area a bit more safe.  There is a lot of standing dead trees there.  Looking forward to cutting them down and 'airing' the place.

 

This vally bottom is the start of a river/stream and is damp and very green with mosses and climbers.  When we thin it out a bit, it will open up to be 10 times better, and it is loverly as it is!  Just damp.

 

I got to the bottom and headed for the fence that stopped us before.  (insert choral music here)  It is beyond anything that I or we could have dreamed of.

 

In simple terms it is a disused quarrey.  Thats all.  But it is old and over grown, and twee, and pixy-like and all that stuff that kids dream of.  and to me it will be a place to end my days if I could, its that nice. (insert note to add that I am not talking of anything more than retirement...duh!)

 

I shot off to its outer boundries to see if I was still correct, and shot up the hill in a straight line to see if it joined our plot where the map and plans said it should.  It did!  YAY!  I called the wife and she did not answer.  I called again.  Bugger!

I used my billhook to mark the top of the post that stopped me from going out that way into the field and nearly cut the thing in two in my exitement.  I went back down more slowly, noticing some natural steps in the hill to get me to the bottom.  These will need to be made better for use.  No problem there.

 

I went to the bottom.  Looked around for the wife, no sign.  Asked the others where she was, and was told that she had gone back up to the top field.  I chased her like a loon.  And met her halfway coming BACK from my damaged post.  I asked her if she realised what we were in possesion of.  Not a clue there!!!  I told her of my find as we walked back to the corner post (the one at the top of the quarrey) and asked here if she saw the damaged post?  No she said !!!!???!!!  Was I wrong?  I was sure that i was not.  We got to the post.  It WAS the same post.

 

We looked more at the fields.  I walked the perimeter and saw that it was all tight and well maintained.  On the way back to the car I explained what we had for ourselves and that we could be happy bunnies.  We left after closing the gate and me securing it with the latch.  No padlock.  Not bothered.

 

Things to do so far; 

Install a style at the post in the top field for eisier access.

Install a style to the lower field in the boundry wall.

Install drainage in Shadey Loogy to make it less boggy.

Make the slope down to Shadey Loogey more rugged.

Define the natural path down to the quarry a bit more.

Cut and store the standing deadwood and re-asses the area by Shadey Loogey.

 

These things can be done under the radar...mostly.

 

 

Next post might be a few pics, and after that I will tell you of the plans that I have for the infrastructure of the place as yet un-named.

 

nelly.

[Tom Bombadil]

Some pictures I hope...  Bear with me...GRRRR;

 

 

Attached Files

•  The wife at the gate entrance-1.jpg   106.27KB   3 downloads

[Tom Bombadil]

Thanks.  There is lots of grass!

 

Trying to upload more pics but hitting a wall...

 

 

 

Nope...not working.

[Tom Bombadil]

Nope cant put up the pics.

Moving on.

Has anyone noticed just how more interested in your plot you are compared to, say, your uncle or aunt?

I am still away from work and am visiting folk and from time to time i might let slip that we have gone and purchased a small bit of Wales. I harp on with more vigor than a fox with a tin on its head, but lo' the rest of the family just dont show enough interest in my project! What is all THAT about?

Now later in the day we walked into THEIR back garden and remarked on the flowers and the quality of their lawn (flipping good lawn I will add) but we were at a loss as to why they didnt bring up our grass again that afternoon. And we have a hundred, nay a THOUSAND times more than they do! But do they ask us more? NOOOOOO they dont.

It was not just them. Others too are giving our topic of grass and fencing a real miss if you ask me! I would say that they were going out of their way to not talk of sheep on our plot or slopeyness that we might sled down next winter! WTF!

So. A new leaf turned (a leaf we found on OUR land I might add) I have decided to just do the do and plod on. And when they get wind of our twee place in Wales we might just invite them there and NOT be in, thereby forcing them to have a good look around and take it all in before going home.


Or have I missed something?


Nelly.

[Tom Bombadil]

Yeah, I know, but I am just mr grumpy today.

[Tom Bombadil]

I am a true optimist in honesty . This time tomorrow i will be back on track.

I just thought that i would put it all to the thread as it might be important to someone to see the good and the ugly.

Nelly

[Tom Bombadil]

Today, after work, I pieced together some of the doodles that I have been doing over the past weeks.

 

Went on to Bing Maps in the end and placed a sheet of paper over the screen and traced the outline of our land in pencil.

 

This was to find exact (as near as I can from London) shape of the plot and tie it all in with the drawings.  I also went to the documents that were sent by the solicitor of the Land Reg maps of our bits.

 

On putting it to the drawing board again I found something cool.  An extra three quarter of an acre of woodland, bought and paid for by us at the same time as the rest.  When we were on the plot, looking and figuring it out, we missed this bit.  We saw it, but to us it was not ours.

 

At home in the light of day, I worked out that we had this extra bit too.

 

Cool

 

 

Moving on.  I now have a good idea of what we are doing in the upper field areas and down by the quarry.  My drawings are simple, but colour coded to show flat areas that I need to er, flatten horizontal and re-seed with grasses.  And then some plans on some french drains to catch the water run-off before it get to those same flat bits.

 

I want to hire the gear just once and when I am there for two weeks.  By forward planning, I will save money.

 

I have planned a few hard standings, and paths/roads.  Some fencing and gates and styles and lastly, where all those trees are going.

 

I  will try and show the plans but putting photos up have been an issue of late.

 

Before I buy anything though, I need to visit the site for at least one whole day to make sure that I dont waste time in the doing, and I need to measure with long tapes and string.

 

Ahh the pleasures of living 250miles away

[Tom Bombadil]

I love the challenge!

[Tom Bombadil]

Thanks. Does it run on pc?

I am managing though. I like drawing.

[Tom Bombadil]

Well I have pretty much nothing else to do here in the big smelly, so I draw to conclude.

and I get your point.

For example, I have used the paths tool on google earth to measure the distance between point a and point b. This gives an aproximation of the posts required to run a fence. Having that data will save measuring on site until I get there with the posts etc delivered on the same day.

I have done that with the drains too. And that indicates how long the pipes can be.

Getting the basics done from home saves leg work. If I buy in more than I need (knowing that it can be used later) by a small percentage then time is not wasted popping out to buy this and that.

[Tom Bombadil]

Last night I had a text response from a firm from Amazon. So with that answer I bought a Lifesaver water jerry can. It was half price so i jumped at the chance. Credit card...ta much.

With a spring on site but not knowing where it is at the moment, we need drinkable water. To guarantee this supply we have a unit that will last a good two years of use in these intrium times.

We need a shower/toilet booth, so I got that at the same time. I lastly brought a sit-down toilet. We will not be using chemicals so I am experimenting with a composting toilet. The unit i have is double lidded to stop animals from eating it or the contents...those foxes and bears!

That will do for two intrepid adventurers for the moment. Me and my eldest son have a little work to do there and we need to poo and stay watered for some time...and a wash too i suppose!

[bramblebasher]

" great spirit laughs at nothing more than human plans"

 

Great quote. When I find myself taking my plans too seriously I imagine the next ice age scouring the earth bare where I have been caring for the soil and planting my permaculture system, like an ice age could give a fxck!

 

But still I plough on..... why not!

[Tom Bombadil]

I like this quote! He that keeps on the subject will find the answer!

I just wish I can start now and not tomorrow.

[Tom Bombadil]

This week I have been getting together all the nick knacks and paraphernalia that we need to start on the plot. Concentrating on the tools rather than the timber etc, I have been looking at tents and tools and logistics etc.

The wife has not helped one jot. This is my world apparently! I am not bothered so far!!!

It has been tough. Not knowing for sure which tool is best. Reading the reviews, re -reading all of my books etc. Which is right with the cost/usefulness/quality to consider.

Spent a small fortune on seemingly nothing much.

[Tom Bombadil]

Moving on...

 

Slowly bringing the first 'drop off' to a head.  Lots of junk gathered together for the first camp-out.  A bit peaved at the moment as we are having landlord troubles here at home.  Having to move to a new London base is taxing on the noggin.  I just remember that we have our dream place...that will do it.

 

Thinking that I need to 'mow' the lawn...all ten acres of it.  I am letting it grow a bit to let it re-seed a little, though it does not need this.  Also I am letting the top field get a little wild so that I can find that spring (evidence in greener areas).  I now know how to do it.  Looked on you-toob and found this man; https://www.youtube....gvvOeZFpw4ewycA  He is full of practical things about water and such.

 

Wondering how to get a 'shed' up to the plot.  Actualy read '8ft by 20ft shipping container' for its truer definition.

I do need this shed to store my small tools and junk from home as we down-size.  I might need two.  But one for now.

 

Been fiddling with a site called www.sketchmap.co.uk  It is full to the brim with maps of my areas (and others).  My site is high, and a little hilly and steep to one side.  It helps to know topography and contours when planing.

This site alows you to over-lay different maps on top of each other to aid your progess.

I have a contour map, overlaid with a sat map, a waters and streams map, a faults map, place names map, shaded map.  Not all on one page, but relevent maps are with their relevent others.

The contours are 5m incriments so I add from memory the lines at 1m increments using a pencil.  I then photocopy and scan to keep the maps flowing.

 

I am a model maker.  Always have been.  That is why I am hands on rather than waiting.  I intend to make a card model of the site using the contour lines (like a model one might find in a planners office) and bushes and trees from a model train suppliers.  Then I will make over-lays of improvements or just a 'how it will look' model.

Its what I do while I am here in the big smelly.

 

I diss london a lot as the big smelly, but in truth it is a wonderfull place to visit and be at times.  Richmond park is MY park.  I used to go there as a child and love the park and the ares in the high summer and snowy winters.  I live in Shirley at the moment.  It too is very open and free feeling.  And you cant knoc the flee-markets of Camden.

 

Moving on...

 

I am strugling with greenfly and other pests on my potted trees.  They are doing fine otherwise and I have three apples from one tree that we will savour later.

 

Patroling the you-toob at present to find a 'green' killer for these insects.  Found one or two.  Will let you know if they are a success.

 

Buying those trees and bushes now, before I move to the site has been a blessing.  I look at their growth and think of good times to come.  But nine cherry trees just might not be enough...

 

Moving on....

[Tom Bombadil]

  Oh my god!  I just found out that to make a scale model of just one of my fields will mean that I am going to need 47in square, in N Guage!!!  N gauge is the smallest convertion one might need to still be able to buy in things like barns and cars etc.  Not such a big deal if the will only be ONE barn or one car, but it is helpfull never the less to stick to a known guage so that I can simply convert anything from plan to model to real measurments.  For a model maker this is a big deal.

 

Bums!  This means that my model will have to wait untill I move from Shirley.  THATS my problem.  And when  do make it, It will be more than 8 ft long and in two halves.  Grrr.

 

Never mind!

 

 

Moving on....

[Tom Bombadil]

Yeah. I know that one, but it needs a hot day for it to work as its the drying out that kills em, and it bloody rained today. Tomorrow then...


Moving on...