At the beginning of this year, I made a few promises to myself, adjustments, and enhancements if you like, to my daily life and one of those promises to myself along with less caffeine and time spent sucked into Instagram scrolling was to actually start writing and uploading our projects, experiences and day to day life in our new home/life something I had planned to do with much enthusiasm since we first moved to Wales in 2019. I’ll walk through our time and projects so far and the most memorable moments and this way I may remember more of what we have actually been doing with our time.
Well, it’s the 31st December 2021 and I’m finally getting round to writing something in this blog, so I consider that goal achieved. Good enough for me, and quite honestly in world that is so turned on its head from anything most of us are used to, I’d say getting round to achieving anything you have thoughtfully planned out this year should be considered a success. We are all now in a strange world, and without sounding to doom and gloom but instead intrigued I wonder if civilisation as it has been for the last, well quite a long time is coming to its natural end and we are to move on, evolve into a new era. I read a piece from an interesting book (I cannot remember the name of the book but if any of you that read this know of it please do tell me) several years ago on an idea regarding humanity that could well have turned our fate from the one we are in, into something quite different. In a simplified form the theory goes that had humans continued the nomadic tribal path and chosen instead of putting down roots and settling in one place creating farms with fences to contain livestock, fields to grow food etc we would be standing in a vastly different world indeed.
It’s an interesting concept that without any ownership on land there would be no fight to have, what’s yours and what’s mine and so forth, there would be no cause for a safeguarding and protecting our infrastructure from greedy outsiders and most interestingly of all, (I think) that if we had kept moving at regular intervals the article suggested this would have decreased the opportunity for disease to develop, living in one place all the time with all our animals well of course we need good sanitation and it was a long time before we figured that out and in the years before we figured it, bacteria and diseases had an enormous opportunity to grow causing widespread illness’s that we still in many regions of the world continue to battel with. On a more spiritual level we have also over time lost touch with nature, the seasons its gifts and its dangers. Of course, I write this from the comfort of my sofa in my easily and instantly warmed living under the good light of modern electricity. It’s a wonder though.
With the above paragraph in mind, I’d like to point out that, warmth to our new home in wales did not come so easily for the first 9 months and electricity was a commodity in very short supply and as for clean running water, well put it this way for the first few month’s here water from the tap was used for tooth brushing only.
We arrived at our new home on May 5th, 2019, in our small camper and with our youngest daughter, 4 chickens, 4 guinea pigs and one cat, the plan was to live in the camper for the 5 days left until we exchanged on our new home and had solid walls to live within, (little did we realise the camper would be our main residence for a good bit longer than 5 days). We had bought our new home at auction and this meant that a deposit had been paid for the house so it was ours technically, but the remainder of the money would be paid on exchange and until that point the current owner did not have to vacate. The exchange date had been moved back twice already first by us due to not having finances in place (fortunately the seller was very compliant) and then the date was moved by the seller to allow him more time to pack up. As time was going on we had little choice but to get on with the move, our daughters new school had a place ready for her and wanted her in before the summer term ended, in the hope she would have a chance to get to know a few face’s, and her old school had been given notice, house or not we had to go.
It turned out that the reason for the delay by the seller was due to the vast amount of stuff needing to be removed from the house, and the seller was not a young man, trying to move his not insubstantial hoard alone. Now if you can imagine what 25 years of stuff looks like had you never thrown anything away you would be some way to picturing the task in hand. It was an immense project, that would include the removal of over 12 vehicles in various states of disrepair but none of them road worthy, 3 good sized bedrooms full, from floor to ceiling of paint tins, clothes, boxes, magazines, tools and furniture. A box room, 2 bathrooms (one which had never been used there was so much stored in there) a study a living room that was full to the brim with chests of draws, boxes, even piles of rubble was amongst the clutter, I actually thought the living room had a separating wall but indeed it was just piled furniture creating the facade of a wall, a kitchen and large garage, not to mention two small but not insignificant outbuildings plus two home constructed sheds. Some of the items were immense and required months of planning and careful removal such as a laith that sat at the back of the garage and weighed over half a tonne, and a radial arm drill that was wrapped under a tarp in the garden, the removal of the latter item entailed an engineering project that was no mean feat and included the construction of a rig in order to get it onto the removal vehicle.
Well from where we stood, it seemed there was two choices to be had we could beat our fists and demand the seller get on with it himself and move out by the new exchange date of 10th May or we could help the seller get on with it and remain humane and kind in what was quite obviously a very difficult and monumental process. When someone has to leave there home because things have gone wrong not because of a new job, relationship or the desire to go somewhere new it is never going to be easy, and this was a home the seller did not want to give up despite the desperate neglect of the place. So, against the better judgment of friends and family (it was a very unusual arrangement) we decided to offer our help, rolled up our sleeves, donned our rubber gloves and oldest clothes and got to moving the gentleman out. He was to say the least very grateful and after a gruelling 10 days of sifting through piles and piles of stuff, packing it and driving it all to the seller’s new home, we succeeded in getting the inside of the house cleared out. It was several weeks more till the garden was cleared of vehicles and months before all the heavy machinery was gone, but it did eventually all go, and I can say for sure that I am now very familiar with the workings of the local scrapyard and the recycling centre. Of course, during this project (I call it project because there was no other way to look at it) we came to know the seller very well and he has now become a good friend of ours. In exchange for our hard work, he promised he would return the favour on any future projects we had planned for the property, and to be fair he has indeed kept to his word and has singlehandedly restored the 40-year-old swimming pool that had fallen into disrepair. As well as lending a hand on several other projects including, reroofing, and fencing.
There are times in our new home I feel we have well and truly bitten off far more than we can handle, projects and plans seem long and funds short, but it still feels like it is where we are meant to be, and life is now more relaxed than it ever was living in Hampshire. The beauty that first drew us here still takes our breath away and whilst living on a steep hillside in the sometimes damp weather and not a shop for over three miles and the nearest house a good 15 minutes’ walk in any direction, may not be everyone’s cup of tea, it is most definitely ours.
If there is one thing I have learnt, actually let’s make that two things I’ve learnt, since living here it’s the following, patience, and appreciation. Going a winter without central heating was quite tough at times, I don’t think I was ever wearing less than three layers that first winter and I was always doubled socked. Dinner had to be prepared early because once sunset came the kitchen became uncomfortably cold, and chopping is hard work in a thick coat and gloves. Family thought we were crazy, but no one died of hyperthermia and really it wasn’t all that bad, we had a lovely stove in the living room to warm ourselves with and that is still well used now, although it can get too hot with central heating. Dare I say it, but I quite liked not having artificial heat that is intensely drying, something I really noticed when we visited friends in there very modern apartment in London, that winter. In the end however, we did have a new heating system installed and the house was rewired giving us full electricity and lights that would just switch on, amazing. The house does since having heating installed is dryer and mould is less of a problem. It most certainly did make me realise how much we take for granted though and you just don’t consider until it’s not there. There is still a big part of me that is intrigued at pulling away from all this stuff we have become so dependent on and moving instead to life on a simpler level. Watch this space
Well, that’s how we arrived at life in Wales, two and half years ago. The past year has seen projects moving forward on our home but nothing major, there is a continual stream of maintenance required and at times I feel maybe we are losing the battle. Our most recent adventures have been that of the large family or families of mice that moved into the house. It became apparent as increasing scratching noises could be heard around the house and more food was stolen that we were not alone, and good lord do mice breed quick.
Rodents are nothing new to us here, when we first moved in there were rats and fleas everywhere. The rats were big and plentifully and had caused considerable damage to the house, including chomping through wires (a big part of the lack of working electricity) and causing damage to walls, insulation not to mention the smell. The smell was so strong that when we had first been clearing out the house, I had taken to wearing a mask as the smell would catch in your throat and take your breath away.
Alas though with winter upon us small beings had decided once again move in, mice do not bother me as much as rats, but they are not great to share your home with, opening the cupboard to reach in for your morning oats and grabbing a handful of tiny rodent is not generally how I wish to start my day. We have managed ourselves to move them on, but we must forever watch out for new lifeforms trying to move in on us. I do sometimes feel nature is trying to throw us out on our ear. A bigger problem caused by the mice and one we are not quite sure how to stop is to our vehicles, both our camper and 4×4 have this winter been invaded by mice. The car has had the electrics nibbled right through, which has left us in an interesting situation. We can currently exit only from the back of the car and are unable to drive at night as our headlights no longer work. On taking our car to a local garage we have been told that the mice have gotten behind the steering column and have nested, and have been chomping the wires that link everything together, we are informed the car will probably be a right off. Life since moving here is never short of unexpected and odd situations.
Earlier this year saw us dealing with a cow invasion, not quite so drastic as vermin cutting through the car electrics but still something of a nuisance albeit a cute nuisance. Our property is situated on open common land, this common land is used by local farmers to graze their livestock. Mainly sheep but some farmers graze cows, beautiful highland cows. Never more has the term ‘the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence’ been so true, as cows will contest. Said cows decided our grass looked greener than that of the common land and worked hard to find weak spots on our fence line and find a way to get to our lush greener grass. Now as we have not yet done much with the land, we were none to bothered by the cows getting in but the farmer who lives below our property did not want additional livestock getting into her farm. There is currently no boundary between us and the neighbouring farm, there hasn’t been one for over 30 years and it’s been unofficially accepted that its fine for her small flock of sheep to wander in and keep the grass down, well that was all fine until the cows from the common and her sheep were all in together and the cows continued on the venture and wandered down into her fields and then on into another neighbouring field to hers and generally causing havoc. Cows had to be coaxed out and fences fixed, no easy feat to get stubborn and large highland cattle with offspring to move somewhere they don’t fancy going, but it was between with our efforts and those of other locals achieved and the cows were eventually after several weeks of fence fixing back where they belonged on the common land. After this it was time to consider that we had lower boundaries to be reinstated between ourselves and the farm, although at the current time we have no livestock of our own we have plans to at some point keep animals and of course a fence would mean our dog would have a free sheep space to exercise in. The rule is that the boundaries are the responsibility of the livestock keeper, but as there has been no boundary for so long between our plot and the neighbouring one and the fact we are new here we have chosen to do the fences ourselves, and plans are in place to re-establish the fences a project that has been started but not yet finished due to covid which we all came down with during the month of August. Covid was somewhat of a blessing and a curse in our household when it hit. It was unexpected to say the least, we all hope we are one of the lucky ones that are immune, we were not. The girls had it first quickly followed by myself and then a week later the boys in the house, between Phill and myself we managed to hold the fort and provide meals to everyone and keep some as-semblance of normality. However, all of August’s grand plans went out the window, we had taken the whole of August off from our paid jobs to work on outside projects mainly fencing along the afore mentioned fields to keep the dog in and the neighbouring sheep out. We had planned for it to be a month of fun as well as work, friends were visiting to lend a hand, bbq’s and sleeping under the stars was on the agenda and I had even bought and erected a giant trampoline to keep all the young victors happy whilst we worked, (it now lies upside down broken and barely used) in our fields, well the best laid plans and all that. What we did get out of August was a total rest, no one could visit, we couldn’t go anywhere for the best part of the month with the isolation rules and there was little to be done but to rest. Phill took to isolation in our small camper with doors the doors flung wide open. To be fair as unusual a choice as this might sound it’s a very comfy spot with a giant bed and great views from our driveway and totally peaceful, he even hooked up electric so he could have Netflix on tap. I choose my bed and I think I slept and rested more than I have in the two and half years since we arrived in Wales, perhaps not how we would have chosen to get a rest but a least we all got one. Several weeks after recovery one friend said to me, I looked years younger and so much less tired. On a serious note, we did thankfully all make a full recovery from the dreaded lurgy and hope not to endure it again.