How to… get started in smallholding

It all begins with a dream. You listen to 'The Archers', and before you know it you are on the internet checking out cottages with 10 acres for sale. That's as far as most people get, but some take the plunge and six months later find themselves worrying about chickens and wearing wellies - they are now smallholders

And they are not alone: NFU Countryside, which supports those with more than a garden but not quite a farm, has more than 60,000 members. As Tom and Barbara proved in 'The Good Life', even a small back garden can be a mini-smallholding. Some farmers sneer at smallholders or so-called "hobby" farmers, but just because our forefathers were not farming people, it doesn't mean we can't learn how to till the soil, sow seed and make hay.

 

 

 

Seven steps to smallholding heaven:

 

1 Find the right property Ask yourself: do you want a smallholding or a very big garden? Some properties have restrictions that specify agricultural occupancy, which can make them more difficult to sell. If you meet the criteria, it could mean a bargain

2 Read all about it 'The Home Farm' by Paul Heiney (Dorling Kindersley); 'The Complete Book of Self-Sufficiency' by John Seymour (Dorling Kindersley) - known as the smallholder's bible. The Smallholder Bookshop in King's Lynn, Norfolk (01366 500466; www.smallholderbookshop.co.uk) and Country Smallholding Books  (01799 541065; www.countrysmallholding.com) sell a range of titles.

 

3 Join a club Start with your local smallholders' association (try your local NFU office), which will usually offer courses for a small charge. The Holme Lacy Campus of Herefordshire College of Technology, runs a smallholders' club (01432 870316) and feed merchant Allen & Page (01362 822900; www.allenandpage.com) runs a smallholder club with information, feeding guides and tips.

 

4 Start small Take on up to an acre at first. Have a large vegetable plot and choose your animals carefully. Between one and four acres will support two pigs, three or four sheep, a dozen chickens, a quartet of ducks and two goats.

 

5 Don't give up the day job You don't have to do it full-time. Think about making extra money later - selling free-range eggs from 12 good layers at 80p a half-dozen barely breaks even on the pellets, mixed corn and bedding.

 

6 Don't aim for self-sufficiency straight away Can you really do without wine, olive oil or bananas? Or petrol, books, CDs and a million and one other items of modern life bought with hard cash? You want to be a smallholder, not a hermit.

 

7 Keep emergency funds You'll need them. Also get insurance: NFU Mutual specialises in rural insurance (0800 316 4661;  www.nfumutual.co.uk).

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