One year on . . .

Well, a year has gone by and I have time to make a blog but discover I did this already! Where are we on the farm?
We have achieved a Gold standard accreditation from the Devon Wildlife Trust - we are very proud of that and it shows we are not only managing the farm well for wildlife, but also that we are making this available to our guests, sourcing goods locally and educating visitors in the importance of conservation.
We have also managed to eat - just, but we are not exactly making a fortune from 4 self catering holiday units.
We are making big efforts to improve our carbon impact and that includes the installation of solar hot water in the lodges and a wood boiler in the house.
Our big project is to try and build an eco-lodge. Areally low carbon lodge with passive heating and many other features and all of this using as much recycled material and locally sourced low carbon stuff (like straw bale insulation) as possible. All we need now is planning permission.

Without broadband I only get to use the web on Tuesday nights at the village hall. That's a drag, and BT are not about to releive us it seems.

Enough for tonight - more when I can.

What have we done?

Okay, it's mid-life time but instead of buying a flash car I'm selling it. We've quit our jobs and sold the house, borrowed a wheelbarrow full of money and are buying a smallholding in Devon (UK). All the eggs into this one basket, and although there are 4 holiday lets on the farm, the combined income will barely make the mortgage payments, so life could get frugal!
Oh, and we are expecting a second child in November.
Why are we doing this? Well, I hate working at a desk and we really wanted to own some land and manage it for the local wildlife as best we can. I really wanted some trees, not least because young George (3 and a half) wants a good tree house (and so do I really, but I'll use him as my excuse).
All be need to do now is to make the place pay so that we can do the basics like eat.
We are going to try lots of things, but always adhere to some principles. We want to do well by the land and the local wildlife. We want to do any new developments in a way that minimises the impact on this planet, and we want to get people out into the country to see what it's all about so they can go back and tell others.