Love your videos.. we have just purchased a 1.7acre plot and transforming it.. to keep chickens, few sheep and a veg/fruit plot.. all your videos are a fantastic help. Thank you
Started to build our own small holding in the Scottish borders/ north Northumberland two years ago . This was our dream. A small holding along with building a house and barn on our land all with my beautiful wife on 6 .5 acres we had bought with our pension. unfortunately I lost my sole mate, my best friend and wife , to Cancer just a few weeks ago. So now I have to try to endeavour to make this work on my own. I will complete our dream in time for you Lesley as you watch me from above x
Very helpful, thank you. The only thing I'd add to this video to update it is with the huge improvements of off-grid power, water and Starlink for the internet, self-sufficient life is closer than ever!
Excellent. Really well put over and on a lot of practical issues reflecting my thoughts. My grandparent's property was originally 6+ acres and their growing veg garden was two pitches a bit bigger than the size of a tennis court. One patch was in use growing and the other left fallow. The boundary hedges were hawthorn and wild plant mix like elderberry and sloe at the back of the property. Most of the land was put to orchards and there was a big patch the size of the growing garden for the chicken and chicken run with trees inside the orchard. Your presentation is extremely well thought out and points out the probabilities and options depending on what you are hoping to achieve. I thoroughly enjoyed this . My reason for wanting to return to a country village is I want a simpler life and I feel very throttled by urban life, not that it is a poor community to live in because it is not. It maybe that I may never realise my dream at the moment financially but that does not make me give up; just makes me a little more determined and maybe one day! I am probably at the wrong end of the spectrum but there are a lot of young people out there who want to, and who I think will gain a great deal of insight from your presentation. Not that I will not. As I have said before we all learn off each other and I am still learning. Kind regards to you both for an even handed and well balanced insight. I am looking forward to the next segment. Pattypan aka Tricia
Thanks Tricia! We have planted edible hedges with hazel nut, sloe, walnut, cherry, crab apple , chestnut, hawthorn, elderberry and mire in the mix! We hope you get you dream!
My Wife and I have just found your videos, on some of your videos you ask if there is a demand for content such as rewaxing a Barbour jacket or renewing a axe handle, after seeing you rewax the jacket I rewaxed my Wife's 20 year old Barbour Jacket and it came up like new. I find your Videos on the like verry usefull as I like to repair or addapt old tools and equipment. We are not in a position to own a Smallholding but we do have a large home garden and we have a 20m x 20m Allotment, we have 13 chickens, 4 Bee Hives which I have populated with swarms I collected, we make a lot of preservs and wine aswell as growing a lot of Fruit and Veg. It's nice to see others on our wavelength as we thorght we were in the minority. Please keep up the good work. Thank you
Your simple but immensely effective way of describing land use and size is by far the best example I’ve seen on RU-vid. Many thanks, looking forward to more of the same.
Really great vid and information, thanks. We were lucky enough to have the townhouse in Belgium my husband inherited from his parents to sell. It was enough to buy us this cottage, which is over 100 yrs old, and the acre of land it sits on. For anyone in a similar situation, bear in mind if you are considering moving to Ireland, land is always prized, almost above housing! So you will pay good prices for land but can pick up a cottage that needs renovated for very little money. We felt we're too old (and both disabled) to take on a derelict, so we settled for the wee acre plus the cottage that needed "some" work but not major renovation. I love the way you plan how to fit all you grow in. I've made a few mistakes, largely due to not knowing where to begin..the field was decades untended and was never grown on, always pasture and had been left to run to weeds and brambles, so most of our time is spent clearing those. (I've come to hate brambles. Seriously). But it's hedged by lovely shrubs, bushes and trees. The ground is hard clay and impossible for me to dig. So as I've been clearing the brambles I've been putting raised beds in their spaces, desperate to grow food. So it's a bit haphazard. However, as time goes by I want to become more organised. A house cow's beyond our means but we have plenty hens. I also plan to sow winter barley to help with their winter feed bill and to make barley flour. I've put in raspberry and gooseberry bushes and they're thriving. We're planning to get meat rabbits this year too, and I put a rainwater cachement system though luckily, the cottage comes with the original stone tank that the last owners (who's parents built the cottage) used for all household water, collecting the rainwater from the outbuildings. It needs cleaned out and new guttering but I can do that. We also have three stone outbuildings..one houses the hens overwinter. The other, tools, and the other will house the rabbits. There's also a tin roofed three sided shed, and two heavy stone small outbuildings that were the original outhouse and what looks like a tiny workman's cottage beside it. We need to buy in bedding and food, but are finding it is becoming more expensive as time goes on (I think lockdown etc has something to do with that). Hence growing the barley and green ground cover I can feed both hens and rabbits. What I'm also doing is coppicing the willows we have. This is because the house repairs took the last of our savings so we're having to be creative. :) So I'm making woven willow structures as outdoor moveable hen runs. I'll run the hens on patches of the field until they've essentially "dug over" that ground for us, then move them onto fresh pasture. That will save me trying and failing to dig heavy clay and at the same time, their manure will enrich the soil. We also have to keep them in runs because there are predators here..foxes, pine martens etc and they do take hens and lambs and other small livestock. And, sorry for rambling on so long! It's just so lovely to see folks making such a success of smallholding. We thought we'd bitten off more than we could chew at our age (and both being disabled) but with taking things slowly, we're actually doing ok. Channels like yours are a true inspiration and wealth of knowledge, so I'm very grateful you share what you've learned and what you do with us all.
What a lovely comment - thank you! It sounds like you are doing great! Remember rabbits love eating bramble tips - that's what keeps them in check in woodland.
@@EnglishCountryLife Finally, a use for the evil things. :D (although I've also found that if you strip the thorns from the bramble suckers they can be used like willow to weave with for basketry or wattle style fencing. )
Another really insightful video from you. I really enjoyed how you detailed out the land requirements as we’re currently looking at properties to move back to the countryside from the suburbs (this series couldn’t have come at a better time). Looking forward to more on this series and the continuation of the electric fence series too! Thanks again!
Hi Ash! If you have any specific questions please ask. My current job is winding down do I hope to get back to the electric fence series this Winter! Hugh
Hi Hugh, I’d be really interested in hearing both of your thoughts on the differences (tasks/equipment/surprises!) between running a smallholding vs a home veg garden/ farm! But honestly, I’m yet to watch a video from you both that I didn’t enjoy!
Hugh and Fiona, you are brilliant. Love the considered approach you take when explaining absolutely everything. I'm just watching for any information which might be useful as you'll have to take me out in a box from our current little patch of paradise! We don't have a smallholding but are lucky to have a very good sized garden. My growing area totted up all together is about 225 sq feet made up of raised beds, plus I have a 20 x 9ft poly tunnel, only got that in the Spring this year so that is a big learning curve, my poly house built by my husband, which is the average size of a greenhouse, along with a total of 6 large and 2 huge tyres and three raised planters which next year I hope to use for a selection of herbs. I still don't feel I am making the most of the space and that with the area I have I should be able to grow a lot more produce than I do in the space I am lucky to have so always looking for help and advice form anywhere! Right, you can tel l I'm a rambler so just to say I LOVE your pantry, thanks for what you both do and looking forward to part three.
Brilliant. Thank You. This video really got me thinking about what I really want and what would be involved. Really appreciated looking at pros/cons as some videos glorify the dream and it's too easy to not consider the reality of your choices. Looking forward to more videos
Brilliant. Just stumbled across your vlog. I'm thinking of a smallholding. Nothing grand, just a small venture as I'm working full time. Thank you for the insight to smallholding.
Really enjoying this series, I love the way you both break down the thought that goes into each decision, and I really like the way you went through space needs/possibilities to be relatable at many levels. Also personally just very jealous of your homebrew/canning supplies and storage space!
I am enjoying this series immensely. Your points are well made and the general 'here's what to think about, to consider' provides important insights into living a good life! I'd add emphasis to the consideration of the costs associated with 'kitting up' - which can be done over time etc. however, it does add up! Particularly if you want his and hers whipper snippers! ;-) Looking forward to Part 3!
Great information! I am moving to a new climate so learning about heating with wood, and how to store wood, is new to me. There will definitely be a need for a large shop/storage area for bedding and animal feed, plus all the tools. Thank you so much for this video as I can plan all this before I start to put in my garden, etc. This channel is priceless!
Thanks folks, these never disappoint :) really inspiring - particularly as I mill over sectioning parts of the croft (that is getting incrementally closer)
@@EnglishCountryLife yes it’s different, the practical how to tutorials are brilliant and so helpful, but it’s also lovely to see you both together talking the journey through so naturally because the study, jumping off the corporate cliff and committing to it stage is a terrifying prospect for many! ( for others among us it’s the light at the end of the tunnel! 😆)
@@EnglishCountryLife I am sure it is Hugh. We did it 4 years ago, have 1 1/2 acres on mostly a slope, and have raised and harvested our own pigs and sheep this year, it been amazing and anyone can do it.....I wish more would.. keep encouraging!
@@salidavies1702 If you keep watching, we'll keep making 🙂. I hope we will be able to encourage others to enjoy the type of life that has brought us so much happiness, but its still baby steps for us 😊
Just stumbled access this channel and I’m now trawling through your videos, it’s good stuff. I came to the same conclusion regarding size of land needed to be self sufficient. We were lucky enough to purchase a 13 acre plot of mixed woodland and pasture just three miles from our house and are now on a journey to become self sufficient! I’ll let you know if 13 acres is enough 😉
@@EnglishCountryLife all good here. Coming out of lockdown and cautiously venturing out. Mostly spending our time sowing seeds and getting ready for summer and practicing skills for when we take the plunge in a couple of years! Also got our first couple of chickens - it’s pretty satisfying. Thanks again and take care.
You must be working from daybreak to nightfall! Its exhausting just listening to these videos so what I’m wondering is, is this a 2 person operation or do you have help? What happens if someone’s looking at a 1 person operation or if someone is looking to move into small holding with a partner and family but is realistic enough to realise that eventually they might end up going it alone. What I’m getting at is what advice do you have about buying something that will not become too big and unmanageable in the future whilst still allowing room for expansion in the here and now. This is my dilemma and I hope it makes sense. Thanks for the video by the way. I’m a visual learner and if really helped me make sense of the space requirement. I also loved that the compared it to an allotment in size. Very helpful 😀
Hi Lily - Happy New Year! It's just the two of us, no help but it's not a huge place - people run 1,000 acres with two or three people (plus a lot of machinery and some outside help). The historical norm is of course children taking over - but these days it's an issue for sure!
@@EnglishCountryLife Thanks for your answer. Very useful for those of us doing research. This kind of life is very physically demanding as I know just from running a large allotment and orchard. All that bending, twisting and heaving sacks, muck and wheelbarrows around does your back in and I think more people need to explain and prepare people for that side of things. Also machinery is great but you need fuel to run it and more important the mechanical skills to fiddle around and get it working when it breaks down as these things invariably due. If you have to call in outside paid help for reinforcement and every little repair you have to be able to cover the cost. Sorry if this sounds gloomy but I like to prepare for the worst and all possible eventualities and thinking about these things help when deciding on an suitable property. Thanks for your videos. They really are invaluable.
@@lilymcghee8363 You are quite right! Getting all the skills you can before starting is vital, mechanical, electrical, carpentry, horticultural, food preservation ... there's a huge amount to know!
@@EnglishCountryLife we have a 1/4 acre micro holding. Due to my disability I couldn't handle more. So, we took the option where I work part time 3 days a week to pay the important bills.
Just catching up on what I missed when off grid, interesting, logical and constructive analysis. I would add a free source of water would also be great but not sure of the rules for ground wells/bore holes/rain capture systems etc. in the UK. Spot on about the quantity of wood required for cooking/heating/shower, we are always out collecting it.
You are quite right about water. Thankfully rules here allow for wells, boreholes or rainwater collection. We gave both a well & cistern. How are things with you Trev?
@@EnglishCountryLife Extremely wet and muddy! We now have a bathroom floor and should be able to start laying some tiles in the next few days, the bathroom walls....lets not talk about them but we do now have a working toilet (a small success)! Outside we are still trying to clear an area for planting up next year, the soil is great but clearing the land to access it is a major issue and with winter upon us now its a big challenge.
Fabulous. Let me share what we have. We have 5 cows including this year's meat calf. 1 house cow in milk. 1 in calf, grueling on. 1beef girl about to go in the freezer. 1 bull . All strip grazed on running leads in the ruff pasture. 2 piglets that are used in the permaculture gardens to work and provide our pork. 4 rabbits running freely around to produce meat. Newzealand red's. 50 chickens slowly going in the freezer. 2 ponies. Mom produced foals to sell. Income. And transport. ride/drive . Youngster growing on to ride etc. 3 dogs. Companionship. Guard and ratters 1 cat to get the mice Cow gives 24 litres a day. Helps feed pigs cat chickens land and us Land.. One hectare of woodland. One hectare of production land at the moment it's growing Lucerne. Three hectares of ruff pasture land Two hectares of good grazing land. We have out buildings. Work shop. Summer kitchen. Gardens orchard. We produce fire wood. Lucerne. Hay. Veg. Fruit. Meat .etc Round bales are better than square as can be stored outdoors. Next year we are planting wheat oats. Peas in the Lucerne field. As it's come to an end. (5 yrs lifespan) We feel if we need less. As we produce more. We become less in need of money. So less stress on money making. Joe is a mechanic and mad inventor. I'm a crafter and preserver. A homestead wife. Most important we need each other. We compliment each other's skills. I'm hoping my crafting sales and youtube channel on self Sufficiency will help our income when it grows. It's all a huge learning curve and great fun. I highly recommend the lifestyle. Thanks for your lovely channel. Really enjoy being subscribed.. xx
@@EnglishCountryLife thanks. I must sort out a tour video one day .. we have some exciting news... Remember the farm swap that fell through? We've just heard they are putting the farm in the market for £25000. So we are hoping to raise enough funds to buy it and then we keep both properties.. not getting too excited about it all. But I'm hopeful that this might work out.
@@EnglishCountryLife it's Hungary and it's three hectares. Two hectares of mature woodland ready to harvest. Too. One large family home. One good sized cow abd animal shed. A salt house and smoke house. A food cellar. A garage. And the old smithy with bellows and equipment. Three more hectares of forest. Mature forest available to buy too.
@@scarletpeate Wow! So 5 hectares in total? With a home & outbuildings? That's incredible! If you don't mind I may use that to illustrate that there are still affordable properties in the world!
A question if you don’t mind. If you want a coppiced woodland just for firewood, how much space would you need to allocate to that? It doesn’t snow where I am so I would probably need less than you, but then again with my current wood heater I haven’t mastered the art of controlling the damper, but I’m hoping that’s an issue with this heater and that I’ll do much better with the next one.
Hi Monique. Generally you can fell coppice every seven to ten years. So if you have five acres that's half an acre a year to fell. I think for your needs between two and four acres depending on the land and the tree species. Hugh
@@EnglishCountryLife fabulous. Thank you. I’m not sure if I’m going to be able to manage it with Australian trees, but I’d sure like to give it a go. If I fail, I’ll have a nice bit of bush land to go walking in 😊
We have med a few vegetarians into self sufficiency - but interestingly enough never a Vegan who produces a significant proportion of their food. I would love to discuss techniques with a Vegan who does this - I live in hope of hearing from one 🙂
@@EnglishCountryLife Thank you for your response. I'm vegetarian (32 years) and choose this diet over veganism. The main reason being is to live as toxin free as is humanly possible. This means my husband and I eat a 100% organic diet. Sadly although veganism is more ethical in terms of animal welfare and many positive planetary considerations, 100% organic choices cannot be achieved. I hope the weather is a little drier where you are. Enjoy your week.
@@LivingNaturallyLovingLife Thank you, its certainly damp here! We like to live a local, ethical life and feel differently about the best mechanisms for animal welfare & sustainability, but that's okay, there is room for different views. Have a good day.
@@EnglishCountryLife To us animal welfare means providing the best natural life for animals by not eating them, but yes, we all have different views on the unnecessary and untimely deaths of animals that we don't need to eat in order to thrive.
@@LivingNaturallyLovingLife There's also the problem, taking chickens as an example of what to do with all the cockerels. Keeping too many is a massive welfare issue for the hens with over treading & feather wear & for the cockerels (fighting). Its something that must be thought through to achieve sustainable living.
Hey, great video! Don't forget you can house many animals together if done correctly. We currently have 0.41 acres and have 2 dwarf diary goats (milk, cheese, yougurt etc) ducks and hens housed together. We use large square mesh around the duck and chicken food so that the goats can't get to it. The ducks and hens just stick their heads through! They all get along great and it means we can rotate the land alot easier. We also have a 20 ft by 30 foot poly tunnel. By housing the animals together and by using a poly tunnel for season extension, plus outdoor beds we have achieved a huge amount towards our self sufficient goals for our family of 5. We now want to move to a slightly larger property to have our horses at home so will be selling our first smallholding. www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/73334310 my biggest recommended advise to people starting out is start smaller and build up. By learning with dwarf diary goats we didn't make our newbie mistakes with a full size cow. We actually started out with quail before hens when we lived in a rented property!! Fruit trees around the property take up very little space, especially if you choose smaller varieties. Looking forward to watching more of your videos! New subscriber here, looking for tips for when we move and start over again 😁
hi there is there any possibility for you guys to create a community such as group of people on facebook/instagram etc... who have less money but enough if they join hand with another family to share a 4 acre place by building two medium sized cottages and share the agriculture together as some grow vegies and some chickens and some teaching kids - home school ?? i mean if that is possible than it is more like a community. how is the idea please do tell me . Thanks. =). we need a different way of life. rat race is not the option, and everyone fending for themselves is not the option either. in a forest it all work together as a unit the larger tree supply sugars to trees in under the canopy if it is unable to produce enough... the internet of the natural world is Mycorrhizae fungi. even in the animal kingdom the most successfull survivors are ones that live in colony. unfortunately humans are opposite. sadly
That's an admirable idea but why not set up it up and administrate it yourself? It's clearly something you feel strongly about and driving such a project should be from someone who is both passionate about it and is willing to divert existing hours to such a big project.
