Choosing the right smallholding for you (From Smallholder)

Choosing the right smallholding for you

8:20am Tuesday 31st August 2010 in

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It’s a lovely summer’s day, the birds are singing and the sounds of sheep lazily bleating to their lambs can be heard in the hills. It’s idyllic but should you buy it?

Before looking at a smallholding, just be sure to identify exactly what you want from it.

It’s more than number of bedrooms and amount of land, it is also about location.

If you want total peace and quiet, are worried about your cats getting run over and want somewhere to ride your horse or pony then living next to a road, even if it is a B road, probably won’t work for you. You need to be rurally situated, maybe even down a track.

But if you want to start a plant nursery selling to the public, envisage doing farm gate sales or running a retail business then you need to be easy to find and probably on a through route where cars can see you.

Look carefully at the land. If you are of a certain age do you really want to manage very steep land or would you be better trying to find a place with more level pasture? It’s also harder to manage steep land as using machinery can be dangerous and require considerable skill to stay safe. Is the land “poached” anywhere – eg the animals have created holes and ruts when it has been wet. It could be that the smallholder had overstocked but it could be that the land runs very wet in winter. Look out too for reeds – usually an indication that the land lies wet. This will effectively mean that all year grazing is out and that haymaking may be tricky plus it could be difficult to improve the grass quality. Buildings are an essential. Never ever assume that a Council will be happy for you to erect stables, goat sheds or implement stores. It’s best if the smallholding already has buildings that can be used for these and if not, then you need to carefully check out the planning likelihood before you buy.

Rights of Way are another thing to check. These are not all bad, they can offer passing trade for your produce or direct access to bridleways for you and your horse. What you must understand is that they cannot be changed or moved or closed so you have to make up your mind whether you are happy to live on a property with them or not.

There are a range of properties for sale through the specialist estate agents such as those advertising in Smallholder. Tell them exactly what you are looking for, what the most important factors are and they will do their best to match you with the dream smallholding for you and your family.