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We went to view yet another house at the weekend. But it wasn't right. Again. I can't tell you how many houses we've been to see over the last five or six years. If I had a tenner for every one, the financial situation would be less tight! Also, if you worked out how much we had spent on petrol or diesel going to see them, that would be a scary sum.
We originally made the decision to move to mid Wales but then we started acquiring grandchildren who live less than a couple of miles away. This means that we see them regularly which we enjoy very much. I love watching them grow and change and develop new skills. If we moved to mid Wales then we would only see them maybe two or three times a year. And I would really miss our church. So last year we made the decision to stay vaguely in this area. The problem is that a house with any sort of land or even a very large garden is silly money around here. Any house that we can afford will have something dire wrong with it or else the location will be problematic - like the one this weekend.
So I'm getting despondent. I've worked my socks off building up a deposit and we are on the brink of giving up and remaining smallholderwannabes for ever. We have the allotment and I have my chickens but I would love a field to call my own. And neighbours that don't watch every move we make.
The upside to this weekend is that the lane the house was in had blackberries, elderberries, sloes and crab apples. And I had some carrier bags in the car. So I am busy making preserves again. I have some stewed elderberries dripping through my jelly bag and will make them into elderberry syrup this evening. There were some hawthorn berries, rowan berries and rose hips too, so with a handful each of blackberries and elderberries and some of the crab apples, there will be some hedgerow jelly soon. It is a few years since I got enough fruit from a hedge to do a real hedgerow jelly without cheating. I've been reading that taking a couple of teaspoons of elderberry syrup is really good at the onset of a cold and kicks the immune system into action. Worth a go! And it is really nice as a drink made up with sparkling water too.
We originally made the decision to move to mid Wales but then we started acquiring grandchildren who live less than a couple of miles away. This means that we see them regularly which we enjoy very much. I love watching them grow and change and develop new skills. If we moved to mid Wales then we would only see them maybe two or three times a year. And I would really miss our church. So last year we made the decision to stay vaguely in this area. The problem is that a house with any sort of land or even a very large garden is silly money around here. Any house that we can afford will have something dire wrong with it or else the location will be problematic - like the one this weekend.
So I'm getting despondent. I've worked my socks off building up a deposit and we are on the brink of giving up and remaining smallholderwannabes for ever. We have the allotment and I have my chickens but I would love a field to call my own. And neighbours that don't watch every move we make.
The upside to this weekend is that the lane the house was in had blackberries, elderberries, sloes and crab apples. And I had some carrier bags in the car. So I am busy making preserves again. I have some stewed elderberries dripping through my jelly bag and will make them into elderberry syrup this evening. There were some hawthorn berries, rowan berries and rose hips too, so with a handful each of blackberries and elderberries and some of the crab apples, there will be some hedgerow jelly soon. It is a few years since I got enough fruit from a hedge to do a real hedgerow jelly without cheating. I've been reading that taking a couple of teaspoons of elderberry syrup is really good at the onset of a cold and kicks the immune system into action. Worth a go! And it is really nice as a drink made up with sparkling water too.
Labels: househunting, preserves
posted by Jo @ 6:11 AM
1 Comments:
At 6:21 AM,
Unknown said…
awww Jo, i really hope this happens for you, I think I woudl be torn and have to stay once grandchildren arrived, have you seen frugaldoms blog http://frugaldom.blogspot.co.uk/
she has a small holiding that was in a bad way and have spent time doing it up how she wants it around her, I get so much inspiration from her blog as I know it can be done xx
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