I want to give up my day job....

[Mrs Dobby]

We'd both love to go totally self sufficient, GYOing and keeping livestock, but in order to be able to do it you need enough money to buy the land and house or build your own, plus enough income for those bills that cant be avoided (council tax, etc), which isnt something we can currently afford to do!

If planning laws were relaxed and a new class of land use (Permaculture Land - see A Low Impact Woodland Home for more info) was introduced, allowing us to build our own eco homes for a pittance of the price of buying land with planning permission and building a 'normal' house, then we'd jump at it! We could probably just about realise enough from selling our home to set ourselves up, then with PT jobs we culd possibly get by, but without a change to the planning laws, its too big a gamble for us to take!

Other than that, we'll just have to keep playing the lottery and see what happens! Rest assured tho, if we did win the lottery, then building an eco village filled with likeminded folks would be high on our list of priorities!

[Snadger]

We'd both love to go totally self sufficient, GYOing and keeping livestock, but in order to be able to do it you need enough money to buy the land and house or build your own, plus enough income for those bills that cant be avoided (council tax, etc), which isnt something we can currently afford to do!

If planning laws were relaxed and a new class of land use (Permaculture Land - see A Low Impact Woodland Home for more info) was introduced, allowing us to build our own eco homes for a pittance of the price of buying land with planning permission and building a 'normal' house, then we'd jump at it! We could probably just about realise enough from selling our home to set ourselves up, then with PT jobs we culd possibly get by, but without a change to the planning laws, its too big a gamble for us to take!

Other than that, we'll just have to keep playing the lottery and see what happens! Rest assured tho, if we did win the lottery, then building an eco village filled with likeminded folks would be high on our list of priorities!

Just remember Mrs D........if you win your millions, you may require a gardener.............bear me in mind will ya?

[Mrs Dobby]

Lol Snadger, it'd be an eco collective that we'd be setting up, folks would have to build their own home, helping each other to do so, then it would be deffo a case of GYOing and keeping their own chooks n pigs, with communal goats, sheep and cows, a communal orchard, a communal meeting hut (roundhouse) and solar, wind and water power provided in enough quantities that we could all keep our mod cons (tho heating would have to be from coppice wood used in woodburners!

So, if that would be your kind of thing, then you'd be welcome to join us, as would anyone here that had a similar goal in life and got on with those who were already living there!

[miffy]

I think everyone goes through a period in their working lives when they think they would rather be doing something else, question is what. You need enough of the paper tokens to pay the bills, perhaps collage or a weekend/evening course, retraining perhaps if you are really that happy think about it..good luck.

[Glutton4...]

Count me in Mrs D - sounds ideal

[DavidM31]

I really really want to give up my day job and grow fruit and veg

I reckon i would have to grow a lot a fruit a veg to cover my current salary but hey life would be my own.

Getting up for work and feeling like you belong to someone else does kinda get you down, and when your only 35 and "waiting" to retire is a sure sign that a lifestyle change is probably needed!!

I could grow all sorts, i would have massive poly tunnels and greenhouses and a kettle. My back will hurt, my finger nails will never be clean and my jeans will always be dirty but today that sounds like such a plan

Does anyone else want to give up the rat race?

There is a growing number of dissatified people in this country and starting or taking over a smallholding is among the most popular life changing choices. If I had the money to take one on I would definitely do it, even if it meant living a poorer financially but richer family life on the land.

I have been looking into this for some time now and there are many books on the subject, and it would do no harm for you to read up on it.

Try searching on Amazon for "Living on a little Land" by Patrick Rivers,
"Urban Dreams Rural Realities", "21st century smallholder", "Scenes from a smallholding"

The general consensus is that obviously you need some land, the right sort of land, which is not easy to find, and you need to be able to have some other skill that will earn you a living other than from growing crops.
Carpentry or woodworking of some sort may be ideal, Patrick Rivers for example was a writer and did some broadcasting work as well.

Not just you, but your partner and your kids need to all love the idea, it won't work otherwise. if you look on a website called Ruralscene.co.uk they advertise small holdings that are for sale.

You say that you have just finished building your house, and it seems a shame that you did not give this idea some thought before you did, but perhaps after you have done some research and you all agree that this is the direction you want to go, see what you can afford.

Remember when Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall started out at River Cottage, he had the benefit of a second (healthy) income, so he was not totally dependent on growing his own food.

When I have remembered the other books I have read on the subject I will pm you with some more details.

[DavidM31]

Lol Snadger, it'd be an eco collective that we'd be setting up, folks would have to build their own home, helping each other to do so, then it would be deffo a case of GYOing and keeping their own chooks n pigs, with communal goats, sheep and cows, a communal orchard, a communal meeting hut (roundhouse) and solar, wind and water power provided in enough quantities that we could all keep our mod cons (tho heating would have to be from coppice wood used in woodburners!

So, if that would be your kind of thing, then you'd be welcome to join us, as would anyone here that had a similar goal in life and got on with those who were already living there!

Hi Mrs Dobby

The way you describe your idyllic lifestyle sounds a bit like the way The Amish have lived for centuries and how The Anglo Saxons would have lived in England long ago.
There is gathering support for this kind of simpler life, where we grow our own crops and become more or less self sufficient and with solar, wind and water power you could live off grid. If only we could get more people to think along those lines, then pressure could be put on the government of the day to relax the planning laws.

[Mrs Dobby]

Hi David,

Yes, rather like the older Anglo Saxon or Celtic ways of life, living as a community where all work together! I'm not sure it would be particularly an Amish type existance, I can see where you're coming from, but I'd want to keep my mod cons, telly, computer, freezer, PS3 etc, whereas the Amish dont use anything like that at all do they?

Agreed, though, I do see what you mean about the community aspect and agree entirely!

Personally I dont think of anyone who wants to get 'off grid' and live a more sustainable and less impactful or alternative lifestyle as eccentric or freaks, but then that probably cos I'm one of those that others would consider as such! Lol!

Given the chance to exit the rat race and start living a more sustainable lifestyle, I'd jump at the chance, as would Mr D, but until the planners take note of what folks like us want to do and allow it to happen, then there's not much chance without having a serious amount of funds behind you!

Mind you, as climate change bites, the powers that be realise that they cant reduce emissions without radical change, prices of disappearing fossil fuels soar and society finds itself having to contemplate radical change, then perhaps people will be given the chance to live as they see fit rather than having to comply with the norm!