How much land comes with Hangman's Cottage?
A little over 5 acres.
You can get a good view of the "home acre" on Self-sufficiency in Style - Photograph of Walled Garden
The whole can be seen on Self-sufficiency in Style - Hangman's Cottage
What animals can we keep?
There are enough arcs and paddocks for a couple of pigs and their offspring. The farrowing arc comes complete with farrowing rail, curtain and fender. It is insulated.
Enough land for a dozen sheep. All the paddocks have water and all are ring fenced. All the equipment for shearing, dagging, ear tagging and castrating (ouch!) is available. Electric fencing is available, complete with controllers and batteries - useful for strip and creep grazing. There are metal hurdles everywhere, light - for ease of handling and enough to hold lambs, heavy - might deter a pig.
Accommodation and grazing for a milk cow, and/or a couple of goats.
There is a practical chicken house for half a dozen free range hens with cockerel. A "pretty" hen house for raising replacements. There is also a damaged but repairable poultry house. You could use this for geese on an island on the pond or possibly turkeys. There are two "broody pens" which double for transporting lambs.
If you fancy yourself with a gun, there are pheasants and rabbits aplenty.
There is a badly sited field shelter for horses. The Harriers hunt right up to our boundary. As always, in England, young ladies make up many of the riders. The lane is used every day for horse carriages and carts. Without being an expert, there would seem to be space for a ménage.
Bees might be a good idea, not least to fertilise the fruit
What crops can we grow?
You can grow your own hay for any horses, sheep and goats. The hay meadow is clear of poisonous ragwort.
Anyone familiar with Self-Sufficiency in Style will be aware of the enormous range of vegetables produced here. There is not much we don't grow. You can reasonably expect a few bottles of your own wine and beer too. Both can be expanded. Indeed, the garage is equipped as a private production facility.
Fruit tree production on the walls can be doubled. We have only used the interior surfaces; with care the externals walls (slips) can be used too. There are five water taps inside the garden and a couple more outside. There are lights both inside and out, but not enough to obscure the stars.
An old metal shed might well offer possibilities for mushroom production
There is a fresh water reservoir and pump taking lime free rainwater available for blueberries and cranberries. Netting and mini - moveable cages for all the soft fruit beds are available.
Bush fruit production can be expanded almost indefinitely and a real vineyard is quite realistic. There is enough space. There are Kiwi fruit vines and these can be increased.
There are a total of ten small paddocks. We keep a petrol cultivator, which follows the pigs in rotation. The freshly fertilised soil is then used for potatoes and anything else the rabbits won't touch.
What can we do about heating?
There are large windows to the south, making the best of the solar energy generated in the walled garden. There is an open fire in the drawing room, and a large wood burner in the kitchen. Although the house is fully centrally heated with 11 radiators, we have an electric generator specially rigged to circulate the heat from this through the house in the event of a power cut. The holding generates enough wood (Ash) to guarantee self-sufficiency in house heating.
As wood burners are difficult to keep running through the wee small hours, we have a concrete bunker full of an emergency supply of coke in the event of a prolonged power cut. We also keep a mini gas cooker - brand new - as a reserve for cooking.
We have three big freezers, plus a big fridge freezer in the barn for meat, vegetables and milk storage. The generator is used to give these a boost in prolonged power-cuts.
There is an electric thermometer in the comfort of the drawing room, giving the comfort of being able to monitor the temperature in both greenhouses and the conservatory.
Why should we want all your old rubbish?
You should not feel you have to take it, and it may not always be on offer, but it does show the care and thought that has gone into Hangman's Cottage and its unique way of life. When I look back and think about the time and money wasted running about trying to locate and buy some of these items! You would be buying a head start; seven years head start.
What about buildings?
There are two tunnels, if those are considered buildings, both with water.
One is 15' x 30' with single doors either end, split horizontally: a stable door. There are two large wooden stagings used for the overflow of seed trays in the spring and later removed to make way for tomatoes etc. Plastic and pea shingle covered floor
The other is 16 x 30' with double doors either end, water tap and overhead irrigation system. Ground cover material gives two side beds and one central bed. This tunnel is used for over-wintering early strawberries in buckets - a dozen varieties, winter salads, early peas and beans and, in the autumn, melons
A potting shed.
Two greenhouses: one aluminium 8 x 12' one brick and wood also 8 x 12'. The latter with light and water. Both have shading material. There are five heated propagators, a paraffin heater and an electric heater.
The barn, garage and pig sties are, of course, attached to the house. The sties are used for log storage.
There are three identical wooden sheds all 8' x 10' just outside the walled garden, arranged so as to give two 8' x 10' open-fronted bays between. From the south: The first shed is insulated and used for furniture storage. The first bay is used for additional log storage. The second shed was the feed store, now emptied out. The second bay is used for wheelbarrows, hoses and heavy storage. The third shed is the garden store which includes lawn mowers and specialist fencing equipment. Large back pack sprayers for weed control and small sprays for fruit.
Who will be in the market for Hangman's Cottage?
It is quite possible to split the walled garden and use part for a swimming pool. That is a very un self-sufficient possibility that attracts many.
The splendid riding and hunting possibilities are bound to attract equestrian interest. There are liveries in the immediate area and the teaching of carriage driving, together with the hire of horses and carriages for weddings. There is room for ménages and space for additional equestrian accommodation.
It is this latter possibility that we expect to be important and to play a big part in setting the final price.
This can look disappointing for a pure self-sufficiency buff fearing price competition, but it is important that any property, bought for self-sufficiency, should have a ready market for alternative uses. You might have to sell one day too!
The market is falling. I can't buy now!
True, the market in this part of the world is falling and may well continue to do so for quite some time. You may have a long time to wait for the market to bottom out. Life, youth and maybe even health will pass by whilst you wait.
The technical problems associated with buying and selling in a falling market can, with integrity, be solved. Once a deal is done, various forms of index linking can be structured to avoid guzumping or gazundering.
I suppose you are "tarting the place up" until you are ready to sell?
Tut! You have been watching too many of those programmes on British TV telling you how to "prepare a house for sale" "how to show someone around" and "how to negotiate a purchase or sale."
This, of course, is reality TV, which is as far removed from reality as it is possible to get. Most of the rubbish broadcast is actually illegal and anyone that does that much lying and cheating would end up living in a tent.
No, I'm catching up on repairs, arranging some maintenance. If viewers smell fresh bread, it will be because there is the morning loaf being cooked. A fire will be alight because it is cold - or maybe to show you that the chimney works.
There is no more need to lie and cheat when buying and selling houses than in any other walk of life - and honesty works.
You can access some useful information based on hard experience in UNDERSTANDING ESTATE AGENTS
or learning why it is not wise to COMPLICATE THINGS, buy trying to handle extra transactions simultaneously.