Welcome to Valley Gate

At Xmas 2009, Kim and I moved from our semi-detached 3 bedroom house with modest garden in West Malling, Kent to a 3.5 acre smallholding just outside Narberth, Pembrokeshire. This was the culmination of our first 10 year plan and the start of the next...

I have always wanted to try and live off the land (I was brought up watching the Good Life!) and Kim was desperate to escape from the South East. Kim has links to South Wales and her parents have a flat in Sketty (Swansea) that enabled us to explore the Gower and further afield. Initially we were looking at the Gower but prices were very high, there is not much available with land and there are significant planning restrictions. We made a couple of offers on places but they were either rejected or we were outbid.

Friends of Kim's parents live just outside Narberth and suggested that we look a bit further west. Narberth is a thriving market town that looked very much like the village we had come from. My only concern was that to make this move to the country work, I would have to continue to work in London. Luckily my employer agreed in principle to me working in London three days a week and at home two days a week.

Kim was graduating from the European School of Osteopathy in Summer 2009 and planned to work in local practices for a year to gain experience. The move west was therefore tentatively planned for sometime in 2010.

However, we were in Wales in July 2009 and decided just to see what was 'out there' and got details of Valley Gate and several other properties in the Narberth area off the Internet. We spent a morning looking at three properties and immediately saw the potential with Valley Gate. We arranged a second viewing the next day and put in an offer that afternoon. It was accepted within about 15 minutes. Did we go in too high....

The house is about 1mile from Narberth down a single track road serving a couple of farms and a former mill. We can walk to the town in about 20 minute along the road or via a bridleway up the valley that starts outside the front door. Kim's criteria for 'remoteness' was that we had to be within walking distance of a pint of milk. The land we have is split by Valley Road with about 2.5 acres to the south of the road rising up about the house and a further acre to the north with a mobile home sat on it.

We got the keys on 28 October 2009 and spent a week in the house ripping out carpets, removing wallpaper and the 1970's fitted bedroom furniture. The front part of the house is 200 year old with a 1940's rear extension (we think). The previous owner had owned the house for 30 years but it had been on short term lets for the last 6 or so years. The house had been empty for 6 months and due to a lack of heating and ventilation smelt (and was!) damp. There was much evidence of black mould, particularly behind the fitted furniture which was about 5mm thick in places. However, copious quantities of bleach soon sorted it out.

The first week gave us an introduction to living in the country in an old house. Day one the boiler broke down, however, help was at hand and Paul Smith of Gas Technical Services came out within two hours to fix it. Day two we ran out of gas. Two hours later, a very nice man called Nigel arrived in a big tanker and half-filled out LPG tank for £300.00. Day six we had a massive storm and woke up to find a large pond had developed at the back of the house (a natural low point formed by the conservatory) and the road in from of the house was flooded. This was alleviated by digging a trench around the back and side of the house and letting water drain off the road into our land on the other side of the road.

One thing we did find straight away was that there is bugger all topsoil, or come to that sub-soil. The house has been cut into the valley side and under whatever topsoil there is lies a siltstone known locally as 'Rab'. This was a bit alarming to start with a the whole point of moving here was to try and live as far as we could off the land! (However, inspired by what they have achieved at the Centre for Alternative Technology in the base of a former slate quarry we were not going to let that put us off).

This means digging any form of hole, or trench, requires the use of a pick axe.

We moved in properly between Xmas and New Year with thanks to former neighbour Dave who lent us his 7.5 tonne truck and Gerard to drive it. Dave runs Cavendish Marques if you are looking for such a thing in Kent and the South East.

First thing that happened was it snowed and then the pump that supplies our water from the well stopped working. An emergency call out from Penstar Pumps on New Years Eve was required who also advised that the filter and UV steriliser had not been changed for 7 years. These were changed but it transpired that the electric cable to the pump had failed rather than the pump. It is now being run from an extension lead from the kitchen until the electrician returns with an armoured cable to be put in the cable duct I laid (in rock) under the lawn.

I will try and bring this up to date over the next few days. I have taken this week off to get stuck into digging and planting but it has just pissed with rain incessantly! I am to record how we get on managing the land, renovating the house and installing 'alternative' technologies.