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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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
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.
craigthecoupe said:
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.
Tuscany sounds amazing, we did consider Europe for a few weeks but the thought of mid summer temperatures turned us back to the uk, I'm not a 30 degree plus lover!!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.
Really appreciate all the positivity and will continue to post as we take stuff on, there is always something going on here.
Way too many people to quote but regarding the sustainable side, solar (and hopefully wind) generation is high on the list. we have two supplies and several south facing big roof so could sell two lots back to Octopus as well as producing plenty for our own needs. We are effectively powering 3 houses and two hot tubs so will need to invest in some sort of generation.
From a commercial point of view we need to provide things like hot tubs for our cottages to be popular (solely customer use not us) but don't want to be causing more fossil powered power generation as a result. Our ethos is to tread as lightly as possible, one of the big reasons for leaving the midlands was mass development and seeing green fields turned into housing estates. Being here we are more in control, we have more space so can dedicate more to self sufficiency, we are only on mains electricity and water everything else is up to us.
The trees we removed were standing dead, only 2 so not a mass clear-out. The ash was next to a footpath and going soft so was coming down by us or weather in time, the second a sycamore engulfed in ivy was on a boundary with stock fencing to one side (my neighbours side). Either coming down in a winter storm would have been a real pain in the ass so getting them in hand in summer was a much more preferable thing. This has I admit also provided me with years of free heating. We will replace the trees multiple times over as we want to add in some new hedging next year, the woodland trust will subsidise both this and tree planting so we are hoping to take advantage of that.
We have also tried to get more creative with our campsite, the previous owner had it topped every few weeks by the local farmer throughout the summer, this just left a mown field that people drove everywhere on. We have decided to limit the site to 4 pitches and mow just the pitches, a social area and a few paths. This has left large areas to come back naturally and even without our help plenty of wildflowers appeared over the summer months.
The pond in the yard is a great design too, a previous owner has fitted an overflow to a water butt that is piped under the yard into the pond which in turn has an overflow outlet pipe. This means the pond is regularly topped up and stays clear, with the exception of a few plants no one has added anything and it is teaming with newts, dragonflys, pond skaters and sticklebacks. Little one loves trying to fish but doubt much will be in the net teh speed they move at!
Someone asked about machinery, I'll get some pics but we haven't anything exotic like Clarkson i'm afraid, all old but gold!
Evoluzione said:
It looks like you've got loads of buildings, something I wish we had more of. I'm looking forward to seeing more pics and reading more, how much land do you have?
We are lucky with our outbuikding sq footage but they aren't necessarily how I'd have them given the choice, such is life! We are going to remove a timber first floor in one that has had woodworm (treated) to increase headroom and allow a much better usage etc.Most are in decent enough order, just changes to make life easier really/would like to reinstate slate roofs and get rid of the 60s tin.
Currently 9 acres, 20 was the minimum at the outset but this place as I say was just right and wasn't silly money.
We are making any changes here with mindset we will have a 50-60 sheep flock, 5-6 mature pigs at any one time plus weaners and a small of cattle.
Multiple big feeders and a proper handling system look somewhat overkill at the moment but they came up locally at very sensible money so we couldn't say no!
Yesterday was the start of driveway repairs, we knew from our viewing the drive needed some attention so has been on the list from day 1. Yesterday I picked up some type 1 and a few bags of cement, mixed it up in the transport box and whackered it into the holes. Bit wet to carry on today sadly,only did one side as both cottages have guests so needed to leave access free.
We've also been reclaiming the fields from untamed trees, none cut down just tried back and thinned. So long as we can get enough light in for grab and enough height to run the tractor under for baling we're good.
Edited by sfella on Wednesday 12th October 12:47
SunsetZed said:
Looks lovely, we stay in New Quay every year (usually on Rock St) so will be following this with interest.
Absolutely love New Quay, regular fish and chip tea there, in the summer the guy serving steak and chips (proper restaurant standard,in a tray out of an airstream trailer) on Tresaith was also a favourite
Harpoon said:
We have an annual holiday with friends in New Quay as well, but stay up the hill a little towards Maen-y-groes. Francis Street is a steep bugger if you've not had any beer, though run up it by choice as a bit of a tradition on the Sunday morning of our stay.
We used to visit the Penlon Brewery. That has morphed into the Granary Pizza (https://granarypizza.co.uk/) which has super views over the bay to take in whilst enjoying the pizza and beer.
Spent many hours on the coast path between New Quay, Llangrannog, Penbryn (big fans of the Plwmp Tart) & Tresaith
Anyway, following with interest OP.
Was in the Plwmp Tart the other week 🤣We used to visit the Penlon Brewery. That has morphed into the Granary Pizza (https://granarypizza.co.uk/) which has super views over the bay to take in whilst enjoying the pizza and beer.
Spent many hours on the coast path between New Quay, Llangrannog, Penbryn (big fans of the Plwmp Tart) & Tresaith
Anyway, following with interest OP.
wisbech said:
I would think that much of the local community would revolve around the school, and to cut yourself and your kids from off from that seems a shame. Or you don't want your kids picking up local accent 
?
My partner and I aren't academics and hated school so aren't fussed on pushing school. Pre school was tried but wasn't the right fit. Going from feral farm child, outside in all weather's, all day to a regimented classroom day is a big step. Homeschooling doesn't limit future options but gives much more flexibility. We're meeting lots of great people and engage in activities that give us all social interaction so don't feel we are missing out....did hear the other day 'I'll do it now, in a minute' so properly Welsh already haha ? mikees said:
Lovely looking place fella. Might see you in the spring. Is 3 dogs ok? Lab cocker and border terrier?
Thank you, no problem. Think website allows 2 as standard but 3's all good.I was away from the farm today but the 'boss' was here to sort out with fencing contractor. I like doing my own fencing usually but we want 100's of meters running in and their big knocker just makes it easier.
First job has been fencing off the footpath from the 'top field'. This is our main hay crop field but also winter grazing if needed. The hedge/tree line was all trimmed back by us over the last wlfew weeks and a hedge cutting contractor came once we were into October to flail the rest back. Not a fan of hired in help but we simply can't buy every gadget and when hedge cutting came to £60 it's hard to justify a few k on a machine.
Evanivitch said:
More tractor and equipment photos, please.
When are the bee hives arriving?
And where's the solar power going?
As I said no huge gear and what we have is generally old but fixable and no electrics.When are the bee hives arriving?
And where's the solar power going?
Our main tractor is this 70's International, 70 odd horsepower, turns on a sixpence and uses hardly any derv. 1st isn't always there but it's been semi 'restored' so everything works, lights etc. Had this a few years and was brought down on a low loader.
Our old Massey is based on a 135, MF40 loader, not the biggest but lifts 90% of what we need shifted. Dynamo is currently shot but starts first time and mechanically brilliant. Needs some new tyres and tlc but for now a good buy, purchased here in Wales and been local for a very long time.
Not long bought this old girl, a fresh Japanese import JDM spec haha. Starts nicely and digs as needed, tracks and sprockets need changing and on the pallet ready for me to fit. Going from steel to rubber so a bit lighter on the ground and quieter for when guests about. She squeals like a banshee currently! Had this off a guy in Cumbria off Facebook, he deals in older agri and cheap cars. Had something off him before that I went to fetch and meet him and was happy to buy this unseen. Worked out well and delivered here to the door.
Our old tipping trailer, and said tracks for digger. Trailer isn't exciting but so useful for less thana grand spent. Again this came down on the low loader, filled with alsorts of farm rubbish. Brilliant and wouldn't part with it. We find it's not always the most expensive stuff that makes our life easier
Evanivitch said:
Good stuff! And for the most part a patriotic colour scheme too 
Do you foresee any extra equipment? I know you said the hedge management contractor is cheap, hard to justify new equipment.
Someone locally is selling their place,we've agreed of his tractor is to go I'll buy, nice machine and a particular model I've always wanted, had the model as a kid etc This is purely because it's a nice example of what you like rather than required.Do you foresee any extra equipment? I know you said the hedge management contractor is cheap, hard to justify new equipment.
We use a 6ft topper to run over anything we need, and transport box for small jobs etc For our current uses I can't say we need huge amounts more and back in the day they farmed lots of land with what we're using now. We sold our chain harrows when we moved as they were the basic drag type and with price increases we sold for what we paid a few years before, a nice folding set would be handy and a decent roller. We aren't keeping horses really so not as required. There's a local farm sale in a fortnight so who knows what gems will be there!
craigthecoupe said:
Aside from the holiday rentals, do you have a plan with your land? You mentioned coming from a smallholding background. do you sell produce, or aim at self sustainability, or something/nothing else? We have enough space to keep ourselves going i'd have thought. We will unlikely keep animals for meat (wife is veggie) so could grow most of what we would need for a year, but having played at it, its already clear how much time is involved. Do you do what you do for enjoyment, or is it more than that?
The sheep flock Will grow if all goes to plan, between buying in breeding stock and some ram rotation. We then sell on ewe lambs that we don't need for other people to breed with. We keep the boys, castrate and they are for food. We have enough demand from people that know us and that makes its way quite quickly via word of mouth. We're lucky also to be only a few miles from the mart so excess stock can easily be sold. Things like chickens and ducks is a 'nice to have' and the feed is more than the eggs produce in money etc
Likewise with the goats, that's just an interest rather than money spinner.
When we are happy to increase acreage we'll have a few cattle, we don't need many to provide a good amount of beef a year but cattle need a fair amount of ground and I don't want to trash what we have just to have them sooner.
The pigs we keep are basically to provide food,the sow will stay as mother pig and the piglets will be sold at 8 weeks or fattened. This is done 'naturally' in that they live out, eat decent food at a reasonable pace and fatten naturally rather than being force fed to get them to weight.
Why we do it....honestly we love it, that's the first reason
Secondly it's us trying to live by our own terms, more control over what we eat etc, less reliance on society and a supermarket. I'm no eco warrior, I love my cars etc like 99% on here but want to do what we can in our own way to not massively impact the world.
Time as you say is easily taken by this life and there are sacrifices. As a couple we've never had a foreign holiday, we rarely go away anyway but if we do it's a military operation. It's hard being away as you know if there is a 'animal' disaster your too far to do anything and you wonder by knowing our animals could we have spotted it 12 hours earlier etc. Sounds daft but you have to get to know your animals. We know which sheep are likely to try die etc
It's a lot to put on someone, there are people who offer it as a job but that adds to the cost of hols and the cottages would probably need to be closed so a weeks holiday suddenly gets that expensive it looses its appeal.
But 95% of the time it's heaven, just out in a field feretting about with some stupid job laughing at the fact we're pi55 wet through, stood in s
tEvanivitch said:
Good stuff! And for the most part a patriotic colour scheme too
Do you foresee any extra equipment? I know you said the hedge management contractor is cheap, hard to justify new equipment.
Do you foresee any extra equipment? I know you said the hedge management contractor is cheap, hard to justify new equipment.
Had this a few weeks now, best thing we've bought in a long time. Makes every day jobs much easier and lighter on the ground than truck or tractor so all round bonus
joshcowin said:
What a great thread! Fair play to you for doing this, not easy at all!!
What's the most rewarding part of it all?
There's a few things, with the farm side it's eating what we've reared/grown. We haven't timed it yet but next year will be able to do a full roast dinner with meat from livestock born on our farm,veg grown here and Yorkshires made from our eggs.What's the most rewarding part of it all?
The second is with the cottages, going in and reading a good review, that makes all the work and money spent on them seem worthwhile.
Thirdly is watching little one tussle with a Lamb/piglet/chicken!
There is also great satisfaction to be had from standing leaning on a gate just watching the sheep graze, a few minutes of peace just to let everything go.
We've been on with lots recently so saved it all for one post.
Digger got its new shoes so is working well
Some of the ewes have had their pre tupping checkover
The man himself getting the same checks done
He was straight on it, first time we've used him and within 30 seconds he was up and on a ewe!
We've been really wanting to condense the kitchen in one cottage and not only is it dated buy way too many units for a holiday let.
Before:
Excuse the black lines, I sent it someone to show what we planned to remove originally.
So we've taken a couple more wall units off and the built in extractor. We've a new stainless extractor, white tiles to bounce the light, the cabinets being sprayed,new silver fridge freezer coming and new knobs to really lift it.
So far:
The other cottage has the decorator in all week now doing everywhere so that's going to look great, really eased so far and excited to see it done.
At home we've had the plumbers in, finally got a bath in as only showers when we moved in. Pretty happy with my tiling, just need to finish paint etc and get some shutters.
That room was a small dressing room type affair, lots of built in cupboards and not much space etc. Made a good bathroom now though.
The boys have also been replumbing most of what's here as was awful. Pipes everywhere and bodge after bodge. Next week will be the first time we'll have full control over the radiators since moving in.
For now they've re run the oil lines and made it safe/comply etc.
The fencer has finished and we've happy goats and pigs now
Digger got its new shoes so is working well
Some of the ewes have had their pre tupping checkover
The man himself getting the same checks done
He was straight on it, first time we've used him and within 30 seconds he was up and on a ewe!
We've been really wanting to condense the kitchen in one cottage and not only is it dated buy way too many units for a holiday let.
Before:
Excuse the black lines, I sent it someone to show what we planned to remove originally.
So we've taken a couple more wall units off and the built in extractor. We've a new stainless extractor, white tiles to bounce the light, the cabinets being sprayed,new silver fridge freezer coming and new knobs to really lift it.
So far:
The other cottage has the decorator in all week now doing everywhere so that's going to look great, really eased so far and excited to see it done.
At home we've had the plumbers in, finally got a bath in as only showers when we moved in. Pretty happy with my tiling, just need to finish paint etc and get some shutters.
That room was a small dressing room type affair, lots of built in cupboards and not much space etc. Made a good bathroom now though.
The boys have also been replumbing most of what's here as was awful. Pipes everywhere and bodge after bodge. Next week will be the first time we'll have full control over the radiators since moving in.
For now they've re run the oil lines and made it safe/comply etc.
The fencer has finished and we've happy goats and pigs now
Edited by sfella on Wednesday 9th November 17:20
Posted an update about a month ago as we'd been out shopping but then wasn't sure it was the right thing to post but everything has been on our Facebook page multiple times so meh....
We went for a look at newer tractors between Christmas and New year, looking lasted a very short amount of time and we bought this
It's a 95hp Valtra with a Quicke loader that will lift about 1.2 tons. Its much newer machinery than we had and much more suited to what we do. Absolutely love using it, bright led lights and radio make it much more fun!
We've this week taken delivery of some new harrows to improve the grass, level out mole hills etc. Shopped round for ages but local place got the business to save delivery/driving miles to collect
In January we bought a baler so we don't need to rely on contractors and hopefully have a mower and haybob coming from same dealer
It's a 1968 New Holland Square baler, again ideal for us and simple to fix.
We needed a trailer for the quad as the quad is brilliant but we lacked carrying capacity and the trailer limits damage to the fields due to weight when it's wet
That's about all the PH worthy stuff for now but we've also been busy trimming trees/hedges back to regain hr 6ft edge of each field they'd encroached on and have had the fencing contractors back to do another load of fencing, god knows how many 100s of meters were up to but its nice knowing we have secure land.
Livestock wise we've had our first pig go for slaughter since moving, we have missed eating our own produce so that was welcome!
We bought a couple of young ponies at the local sale a few weeks ago, one will hopefully stay and the other will go back to the sale when it has a few more manners
Not the best picture but they'd just arrived
We've also gained a couple more sheep from some friends, they are a mixed purpose dairy sheep, we wont be milking them but will be put to the tup later in the year, the two in the middle facing opposite ways!
|https://thumbsnap.com/beUrM4Z2
On the cottages front we've had all new photos done, both Cottages have been decorated, new carpets in our two bed and some new fencing to give more privacy to guests. Really pleased with how they're looking now
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We went for a look at newer tractors between Christmas and New year, looking lasted a very short amount of time and we bought this
It's a 95hp Valtra with a Quicke loader that will lift about 1.2 tons. Its much newer machinery than we had and much more suited to what we do. Absolutely love using it, bright led lights and radio make it much more fun!
We've this week taken delivery of some new harrows to improve the grass, level out mole hills etc. Shopped round for ages but local place got the business to save delivery/driving miles to collect
In January we bought a baler so we don't need to rely on contractors and hopefully have a mower and haybob coming from same dealer
It's a 1968 New Holland Square baler, again ideal for us and simple to fix.
We needed a trailer for the quad as the quad is brilliant but we lacked carrying capacity and the trailer limits damage to the fields due to weight when it's wet
That's about all the PH worthy stuff for now but we've also been busy trimming trees/hedges back to regain hr 6ft edge of each field they'd encroached on and have had the fencing contractors back to do another load of fencing, god knows how many 100s of meters were up to but its nice knowing we have secure land.
Livestock wise we've had our first pig go for slaughter since moving, we have missed eating our own produce so that was welcome!
We bought a couple of young ponies at the local sale a few weeks ago, one will hopefully stay and the other will go back to the sale when it has a few more manners
Not the best picture but they'd just arrived
We've also gained a couple more sheep from some friends, they are a mixed purpose dairy sheep, we wont be milking them but will be put to the tup later in the year, the two in the middle facing opposite ways!
|https://thumbsnap.com/beUrM4Z2On the cottages front we've had all new photos done, both Cottages have been decorated, new carpets in our two bed and some new fencing to give more privacy to guests. Really pleased with how they're looking now
[url]Edited by sfella on Sunday 12th February 18:02
It's been a busy Spring and summer since I last posted, we've ally settled into life here and absolutely love where we've ended up. We've basically committed to this is where we'll be staying and to that end have added to the farms land. We're now farming 50 acres, 40 acres of grazing and 10 acres of woodland. This has required newer and bigger equipment than we had this time last year so we've added a 2nd 'big' tractor.
A 105hp Claas, absolutely love this thing
Although we moved here with a tiping trailer it was only really suitable for yard use as no lights and unbaked so we've added a multi purpose tipping trailer, can be used for bale carting, general haulage, bit of everything really
We had one 'classic' old tractor left which we traded on for a new Indian built machine for round the yard. It's ideal for harrowing, log splitting, small transport on the farm and is easy to use, cvt gearbox and easy modern controls. Not expensive in tractor terms and so far really pleased with it
Somehow managed to blag an extra farm truck, been wanting a td5 disco for ages and this popped up an hour away so a friend and I went and grabbed it
Annoyingly our mower broke just as we decided to go for hay, weather has been rubbish this year so we were already late and waiting for a fix wasn't an option. A quick run to the local dealer and a px done we came away with a new one which never missed a beat
Livestock wise we've just sold our Jacob tup and have or Jacob ewes in a sale next week. We're going down a bigger meat sheep route so have bought in a new Suffolk tup that we'll pick up some ewes for and a new southdown tup for our existing sothdown ewes. This concentrates us on 2-3 breeds tops on the farm and means all offspring have a good commercial value.....that's the plan anyway.
So a big year all told, lots still going on and to do but will get there
A 105hp Claas, absolutely love this thing
Although we moved here with a tiping trailer it was only really suitable for yard use as no lights and unbaked so we've added a multi purpose tipping trailer, can be used for bale carting, general haulage, bit of everything really
We had one 'classic' old tractor left which we traded on for a new Indian built machine for round the yard. It's ideal for harrowing, log splitting, small transport on the farm and is easy to use, cvt gearbox and easy modern controls. Not expensive in tractor terms and so far really pleased with it
Somehow managed to blag an extra farm truck, been wanting a td5 disco for ages and this popped up an hour away so a friend and I went and grabbed it
Annoyingly our mower broke just as we decided to go for hay, weather has been rubbish this year so we were already late and waiting for a fix wasn't an option. A quick run to the local dealer and a px done we came away with a new one which never missed a beat
Livestock wise we've just sold our Jacob tup and have or Jacob ewes in a sale next week. We're going down a bigger meat sheep route so have bought in a new Suffolk tup that we'll pick up some ewes for and a new southdown tup for our existing sothdown ewes. This concentrates us on 2-3 breeds tops on the farm and means all offspring have a good commercial value.....that's the plan anyway.
So a big year all told, lots still going on and to do but will get there
Edited by sfella on Sunday 24th September 20:16
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