Where in the UK can you buy a piece of land of around 2-3 acres with a house on it, where you can be self-sufficient, i.e. farm the land non- commercially for your own family's needs only (without keeping any livestock), without breaking any regulations or requiring permission?
Is there anywhere where you can get this for less than say 300K?
What do you mean by self-sufficient? As you mention no livestock, do you just mean growing own veggies? What about heating / power / water - do you intend to handle those yourself too?
X-post to uk.rec.gardening who are perhaps more likely to be expert in this subject.
ISTR my self-sufficiency books said that you needed a minimum of 4 acres to fully rotate crops and feed a family. They were keeping a pig, though, for meat and for ploughing up the land. I would have thought you might to keep at least chickens and bees (assuming you regard these as livestock).
AFAIK you can use all your garden to grow food without requiring any permission, so I presume the basic question is 'where can I get a house and two or more acres of land for under £300K'.
If you want a wide range of growing conditions you will need to be fairly well south, which will push the price up. Scotland can be cheaper but you have a restricted growing season.
Highlanmds and islands. But realistically, you wont be able to do that anywhere.
At some level you need to store veggie over the winter. That means pickling or freezing or bottling, all of which require industrial use up the line, as does the very house you will live in. Not to mention the steel tools you will need.
And you need at least 5-10 acres for woodland to heat the house.
Land is not expensive. Agricultural land is 1500-5000 an acre depending on what its good for. Woodland/moorland is a lot less.
And of course after 2 years of crofting, you will probably kill yourself.
No one in the UK lives sustainably or self sufficiently. with a sort of iron age population of around 500,000 it might be possible.
You can get a smallholding with 2 houses and 55 acres for offers over =A3280k between Thurso and Wick.
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some B&B guests and some rare breed pigs/sheep and you'd be set up. Probably wouldn't get much return on your capital of course, but you wouldn't starve.
Or a 3-bed croft and 26 acres for =A3160k
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a smaller scale there are a fair few 15-20 acre crofts with a ruined house for about =A360k.
North of Scotland - done that. Some of the Scottish islands remain on the list, but for family reasons I'd prefer somewhere less than about
400 miles from London.
People have recommended North Devon, and parts of Wales as you say. I haven't looked properly at Wales yet and only know bits of the country which I've always found extremely variegated. Around Carmarthen is favourite out of the bits I know. Other recommendations include parts of Essex, Suffolk, Norfolk, and Lincolnshire as has also been mentioned here. I wonder whether Shropshire or Staffordshire should also go on the list.
> Get some B&B guests and some rare breed pigs/sheep and you'd be set
Yes, it's important to realise that no matter what proortion of your own food you source, you'll still need hard cash. Apart from the taxes you'll have to pay (incl. maybe metered water - it's surprising how much water you'd need to irrigate crops), you'll need transport, clothes energy, etc. So apart from feeding yourself, you'll need enough land for a cash crop if you're planning on being truly self-sufficient for all your other needs, too.
Yes, but I think that's going to be hard to be fully (or is the OP after
*mostly*) self sufficent without. You really need dairy even if you don't eat the cow (well, not until it's getting past it). I suppose a goat would be an more manageable option for milk. And I can't see how you could survive without some hens (eggs and meat).
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