Know your limits

You don't want to know the trouble I had replacing a water softener that I had plumbed in *hard* BEFORE I put the worktops on the units.

It went back with flexis...

Hmm. Anyone care to suggest what I should do with 60 acres of weed infested grassland following a use and run grazing tenant?

Modern tractors are too tall to use my access (bypass bridge) and there are too many public RoWs for Sheep.

My own tackle was sold following a prostate cancer diagnosis.>

I assume you mean wedding tackle? The mind boggles.... :-)

Apply for grants for changing to low intensity etc?

We recently had a leak under the bath. No way was I going to squirm under there, cut and fix a new bit of pipe. The plumber was worth every penny.

Box of matches and blame global warming?

Pigs? Goats? Might cost a bit in fencing though…

Tim

I retained the tractors. Two David Browns and a Manitou loader for pallet work.

Second go round with the grass topper early July. Still some Ragwort heads on view.

Fuel is an issue as the minimum delivery is 150 gallons and my stock is getting low.

Hedging starts end of August.>

Cover it with solar panels?

Field boundaries are fenced and the tenant left his electric fencing services behind. Pigs tend to pick up flints on this ground and I don't know anything about Goats.

Probably best to get the weeds sprayed next Spring and look for another grazier.

Could work. South facing slopes crossed by an 11kV supply. Battery bank? Still the issue of the 3m high access.>

Just hope electricians have smaller vehicles than farmers? I suppose the electricity board could cross other people's fields if they needed to.

On 31/07/2026 18:08, Timatmarford wrote: getting low.

How much would you charge to do mine?

None of my tractors are considered roadworthy. You could ask your neighbouring farmer once his crop is in he barn. ISTR an intervening ditch.>

Strictly they need a wayleave. I have had two visits this year: to install a new breaker and then back to remove the old one. Their hydraulic access vehicles were both too high for the bridge so *special measures* were involved!

When we purchased the farm as sitting tenants, the agreement included an

Call it "Rewilding", and see what grants are available.

full 3m access no ditch

There was a famous case where someone bought a house in a field in Yorkshire with no access to it (or no access except on foot, I can't remember). I don't know what the outcome was, but it is unsurprising that access forms a large chunk of the value of land.

My most frustrating tap encounter was a couple of houses (and about 50 years) ago, but still memorable. I replaced a pair of pillar taps for the kitchen sink, which were mounted on the worktop.

When I bought them I was also sold a pair of adaptors.

The initial problem was that the thread on the new taps was too short to project beyond the worktop. As the pre-formed worktop turned out to have ply on top of chipboard, I simply (!) chipped away the chipboard layer to produce a counterbore. This was not fun, but achieved the objective.

Then all I had to do was manage to get the joints leak free, the taps pointing in the right direction and firmly secured. This took quite a few attempts, with much to-ing and fro-ing to the stop taps.

It was only when I next washed up, with kitchen bowl in place, that I realised I had never actually considered the projection of the spout, relative to the mounting hole. The nice tight jet of water was aimed straight at the edge of the bowl, and I was drenched.

Pragmatism ruled - I just pared off the rim of the bowl, and all was well. A similar mod was done to any replacement.

Chris