Long overdue update (and plans for 2010)
Friday, January 8, 2010
Hello and Happy New Year.
Firstly an apology is due. We have been rather quiet of late mostly because we’ve been doing rather than thinking which has made a refreshing change but as I sit here with the kids gaffer taped up in the corner after a 4th day off school because of the light snow dusting (there’s a whole post on the UK’s lack of resilience going begging there, but I don’t have the motivation) and with nothing else better to do, I felt it high time to put together an update.
I’ll come straight out with it: we’ve decided to leave this little intentional community.
Why?
Well, there’s a long answer to that question and we’re not sure it’s appropriate to be airing everything publicly as it would be other people lives that we’d be commenting on. However saying nothing is probably worse.
The biggest reason is that when we moved here we were wanting to live in a tight-knit community but not a community, the differences are subtle but have stared to add up. We like the economies of scale with shared resources, neighbours that look out for each other (as they do here) and a coming together for community work days and the odd communal meal is really (really) nice. However for a community such as this to thrive the communal side of things is designed for a reason to be more integrated and now that we’ve had experience of it we’ve realised that it’s totally not right for us.
The – mostly self-inflicted – pressure to get involved with the community means that we’re damned either way: on the one hand there can be a feeling of ‘having’ to do something where at that moment it might not feel appropriate and on the other hand guilt for not getting involved and spending ’selfish’ time doing our own thing. Sure,as with most things there’s a balance to be had but whilst we can see that deeper community sharing is essential to long term survival of a community such as this, we feel sure that we’re not right to be a part of it.
Reading that back we sound like intensely private billy-no-mates lazy fecktards which is definitely not the case, but I can’t see how else to put it so it stays.
Another reason is our reliance on car travel. We’re 9 miles from the nearest town and whilst there’s an excellent shop 1/4 a mile away we still do need to head out relatively regularly. Ok there’s a (infrequent) bus and people do share car trips into town and yes there’s a library bus but even so we’re using the car far more than we expected and I really want to live somewhere that I can walk and cycle around.
That’s all I feel comfortable saying. There is nothing ‘wrong’ with this place, it’s just that we don’t feel we’re right for it. There are no large headline reasons, it is lots of small ones.
So, what next?
We’re falling back to plan B which is to get our own smallholding (here we go again). We had previously spent months (years!) looking at them so that market knowledge coupled with what we’ve learned during our extended stay here means that we’ve got a pretty good idea of what we want/need.
Our dream property would include:
- a 3 bed, 2 reception, well insulated house with wood fuelled cooking/heating that doesn’t need a jot of work doing to it
- 1-2 acres of good south facing agricultural land that is well fenced and drained
- an orchard
- 4+ acres of broad leaf woodland
- a natural water supply, ideally with a decent height differential for possible micro-hydro
- a workshop
- a poly-tunnel
- a barn
- being within a (relatively flat) 2 mile radius of a small market town that has a train station and an active Transition group
- being cheap enough that we can afford it without a mortgage
Ok, so back in the real world where we’re not millionaires we’re going to have to compromise. In our favour is that we are lucky enough that we can probably just about afford a tiny stone cottage in Wales without the land and occasionaly one can even get the land and buildings if you’re willing to roll your sleeves up, which we are.
I really want that woodland both for fuel resilience and it’s a place I could possibly work in the longer-term. One idea that might allow us to get one without a mortgage is to transfer our meagre pension funds into – and things start getting hazy now – a self invested pension (SIPP) that owns the wood as an investment and then rents it back to us. The benefit of this approach is that – apparently – the pension can even borrow against itself up to 50% of its original captial. As I say whilst we know it’s technically possible, there are likely to be lots of caveats and a lot of hassle putting something like this together and that’s before we even find the perfect – with whatever compromises based on our budget – house with the perfect wood nearby.
Anyway, it is heartening to know that our aspirations are not totally off the radar.
In terms of location we’ve been looking at Llandeilo and Machynlleth (up where CAT is based) as they tick most of our boxes, most importantly they both have good rail links though places like Lampeter seem to be the best value for money (no rail, though).
It is sure to be an interesting year. We both really hope we can make this our last move as we’re desperate to settle now after approaching 4 years of roving around. If nothing else we have to think of the kids.
Posted in Darren's Blog | Comments (15)
Tags: moving | smallholding
David Goodwin says:
January 8, 2010 at 2:03 pm
Good luck with what ever you decide to do! We’re still interested :)
James Bebbington says:
January 8, 2010 at 2:11 pm
Long time no see… Sorry to hear it didn’t work out for you, I hope 2010 brings more joy.
If you’re ever down in the big smoke would be nice to meet up for a beer, or maybe its time for a well-overdue Ex-ponetic poker night!
Rob... says:
January 8, 2010 at 3:02 pm
Good luck with the upcoming changes! I’d have thought your ideal house would have 4 bedrooms though.
Rob…
RachCrad says:
January 9, 2010 at 5:51 pm
I think you’re totally amazing for giving it a whirl. Sending you all lots of love and positive vibes for the coming year. Looking forward to hearing about your next move soon.
Rach xx
PS we really must try and get you in touch / hooked up with Mike’s mum’s mates in Wales. They could be really helpful.
Carrie says:
January 11, 2010 at 10:59 pm
Been following your blog off and on for a while here in the State. I am glad that you were willing to try the community thing- sounds like it was a good experiance and I am also glad that you are wise enough to move on when you have learned what you needed.
What a great learning experiance for you and your kiddos!
Hope you can find the house and land you are looking for- sounds great!
Good Luck with everything! and keep posting- I love reading about your adventures!
Olly says:
January 13, 2010 at 2:27 pm
Good luck finding a place for your smallholding.
I did a few months work at The National Botanic Garden of Wales, a number of years ago, which is quite near Llandeilo. It’s a really lovely part of the World.
Lax Parenting says:
January 13, 2010 at 6:38 pm
Best of luck, you’re following your heart and will get there eventually all the wiser for all your experiences x
crystal says:
January 21, 2010 at 12:16 pm
Friends in Wales mentioned by Rach are just outside Llanidloes on a (sort of) smallholding. They used to take pigs and things to market but now only do veggies, chickens, goats, that sort of thing. One of their offspring + partner is living there while they’re over in Africa doing doctoring. They say they’re coming back but you never know. If you want contacts up there in Powys, e-mail me! You may not – helpful old people are not always a good thing!?
Another friend, near me, bought a wood some years ago and got half of it planted with quickgrowing trees (fir presumably) then had those harvested to pay for the wood in the first place. I could check up on all this if you want, but I’m sure your knowledge is greater and up to date!
Very best of luck – love reading about it -Crystal
Notes From The Frugal Trenches says:
January 25, 2010 at 1:12 pm
So sorry things didn’t work out for you all! I think, when a variety of different people with different personalities, eccentricities and choices try to live in one place it is certainly more complex than one might think. Do you mind sharing what you think a realistic budget for a small holding would be? It is a dream of mine but I have no clue what the costs would be!
Bealers says:
January 25, 2010 at 4:25 pm
Frugal Trenches: £250K in mid-wales will definitely pick you one up with a house and land
Amy K. says:
February 1, 2010 at 2:40 am
Thanks for the update! I am actually relieved that the community is not for you – the issues you raised above are all the ones I think I would have. I love the idea of living in an intentional community, but the real or perceived demands just aren’t for me. I’m glad to see I’m not an oddity.
Best wishes as you search for your new home!
Nate says:
February 2, 2010 at 11:11 pm
I finally got to read this tonight after having it bookmarked for ages. All very interesting indeed. I wish you the best of luck in your continuing search. I did Transition Training with a load of Worcestershirarians this past weekend at Bishops Wood. Great stuff! Take care all!
roobard says:
February 5, 2010 at 11:58 am
I admire you for what you’re doing but, as a teacher felt somewhat stung by your implied criticism of and resentment of the fact that the schools were shut due to snow. On Monday it took me four hours to get into work(I set off at 7.25 am and got in at 11.25 am), not because I am feckless but because it is genuinely difficult for me to get in. If you are able to work from home then you are fortunate and should show some generosity to those of us (schools, bus companies etc) who are reliant on less than adequate gritting to ensure that children get into school and are educated.
Bealers says:
February 8, 2010 at 3:53 pm
@roobard Eh? There was no criticism of teachers, implied or otherwise.
My point – had I bothered to expand on it – was that the UK as a whole closed down because of the snow and it concerns me how we’re so dependent on the just-in-time supply chains. Any real disaster and we’d be screwed.
Apologies if you read anything into my comments but they were certainly not directed at the kids’ school. It’s quite rural here and the roads were lethal. There’s no-way I’d have been driving around on them.
Moving to Wales | Becoming Self Sufficient. Towards self sufficiency says:
February 27, 2010 at 9:11 am
[...] February 27, 2010 Since deciding to leave our current home we’ve been under some pressure to find somewhere to live that is affordable, [...]