Self-Sufficiency in Style
moving away
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Self-Sufficiency in Style moving away |
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Where should we look for our house and land?
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If you have read The Locality and taken on board the dire warnings about how hostile the natives may be and are still determined to try pastures new - this is the place for you. |
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The writer and his wife spent five years from 1993 to 1998 constantly
travelling, searching for a smallholding that took their fancy.
Although, ironically, they finished up back where they started, they did have one very unsuccessful purchase which was soon resold. They learned a lot that they did not know, much of which came as a surprise. |
Circular Trip. |
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They went everywhere - from the offshore islands of England and Scotland to Portugal. |
They were already
well-travelled throughout the UK and Europe, but viewed hundreds of
smallholdings and spoke to nearly as many Estate Agents and Auctioneers.
The biggest source of information was their own eyes and the vendors. Many sellers were disenchanted with the locality, but still determined to find their ideal home. |
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England, Wales, Scotland, France and Ireland that attracted smallholders
and others that did not. They learned why this should be so.
Many of the people we met had travelled extensively and moved within this grouping of disparate countrysides. Let's call it the "A" list |
Travelling Circus. |
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The "A" List ENGLAND - Devon, especially North Devon. WALES Mid Wales, especially Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire. SCOTLAND Aberdeenshire IRELAND Most of the west, from Sligo and Donegal in the North to West Cork in the South. FRANCE Large areas of rural France, especially Normandy, Brittany and Gascony. |
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The people selling smallholdings were selling in one area and looking to
buy in another.
That stuck us as quite extraordinary. One couple, Londoners, had moved from Sligo to Normandy and were then off to Aberdeenshire. Time after time, the same areas were mentioned. It became clear that there was a pattern. |
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Money played a part, obviously. As did the fact that some of the men were
inclined to renovate, sell at a profit and move on, but the main reason
was simple:
Many areas do not have many smallholdings with a few acres of land. Huge areas of Britain, in particular, are almost devoid of possibilities, irrespective of how much cash was available. Some of the areas that did have smallholdings failed to keep the owners happy and they moved on. |
A desert for smallholdings. |
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Sun seekers were a different group.
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It was clear that the British formed most of the buyers followed by quite
a number of Dutch people.
Climate was important. Few Britons looked north of France on the Continent, or south of it either. Spanish sales were mainly to sun seekers. Few Irish people were interested in self-sufficient living, similarly the French. Both nationalities seemed to be relieved to have left the farms behind a generation or two before and saw their futures in the cities. |
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A lot had obviously made a mistake when buying their first smallholding,
but had not lost the drive to becoming self-sufficient.
Far from being dreamers, they were obviously feeling their way to eventual success. They knew what their mistakes were and were selling to put them behind them. |
Mistaken choices.
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Awkward neighbours. |
The reasons did differ, from couple to couple, but the most common reason
was that they fell out with the local community.
Their aspirations of what constituted appropriate rules of living in a rural landscape, were at odds with their neighbours. |
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So, although still we advise you to stay as close as you can to your existing home, it is clear that many would-be smallholders will move away from the native heath and make a new life in another area or country. Each country will be examined in turn, identifying the nature of the market, the price levels and the type of property available. The good points and the bad points of each area will be examined. This will be done from the perspective of someone from the south-east of England thus giving a bench mark to compare price levels on a changing market. |
Land and houses from an English viewpoint. |
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Money talks, but cannot create smallholdings where none exist. |
At the time of writing (May 2002), house prices in England have reached a
new high and smallholdings have more than kept pace.
However, grain prices are low, and for the first time farmers are disposing of arable land in small parcels. The swine fever cull has also released quite a number of former barns for renovation in East Anglia, and, of course, foot and mouth has devastated the farming communities of Devon, Cumbria and the North East, in England, Dumfries and Galloway, plus the Borders in Scotland. Wales also had severe problems in Mid Wales and the North. Many farmers in all these areas are looking to sell, so land prices look set to fall in these localities. |
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It could be a good time to start thinking of buying. It takes time to find
a suitable place.
Fortunately everyone's idea of suitable is different. We kick-off the series with a look around England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales and France Background material and maps, unnecessary to most British and Irish readers, has been included to help North Americans and Australasians. |
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"searching Europe" from the study at the unfashionably named Hangman's Cottage, just to the south of Misery Corner. |
