On the 1st of Aug 2010, we arrive in a wilderness on Hambrook hill, West Sussex. 5 acres of brambles, wild grassland and bog. All this was left around 10 years ago when we moved our horse at the time to a field in the next village, and Hambrook hill was left to go wild.
2010 saw the need for the field to become inhabited once again, when i had to move 2 foals off the land they had occupied previously. Diana, a 2 year old black welsh sec D cob and Oliver, a one year old gypsy cob moved into the fields in Hambrook hill and set about eating everything in sight. 5 acres seems too much for 2 native ponies who get fat just by looking at a blade of grass, so an idea was born in my mind......
For ever and a day i have kept animals: Horses; goats;chickens; rabbits, and everything in between. Im a shepherd by trade, and have previously worked in the dairy industry, so farming isnt a new concept to me. on 5 acres i can keep myself self sufficient, and probably keep alot of other people too!
With alot of interested friends the smallholding idea is taking shape, where i cant do it myself and dont have a friend who can do it either, local tradesmen are being drafted in to lend a hand: Mark is a man in a tractor, who turned brambles into dust...we like mark, he made life alot easier! also the man in the watercress farm opposite tidyed the hedges, so it looks like someone cares.
6th oct 2010, caravan arrived onsite, to provide an office and somewhere to have a cuppa :) it was mostly covered in dust, and had been stored in a barn at the farm i work at for 20 years. so it shall be undergoing a make over.
