Brief history since 2007
We had 3 properties to sell, Gwen's in Bradfield, Jennie's in Parkeston and David's in Great Oakley. The first 2 sold quickly which allowed us to proceed with the purchase. Two lots of Estate Agents, Solicitors and surveys to deal with and we moved ourselves, well, with an awful lot of help from friends, especially Matt and Wendy our close friends and Jennie's Mum Bobbie and John. Not something we would embark on again!! Good job we had an 80ft barn to store stuff.
As soon as the bungalow was sold we started building, we needed the funds from that sale to oil the wheels.
We built a new sitting room and porch for Gwen, reduced the size of her bathroom (it was huge) and converted the utility room to a small kitchen. So she has her bedroom, lounge, study own bathroom and kitchen, completly self contained.
The next step was to build into the huge loft area of the original bungalow, this was intrusive, expensive and a real inconvenience but has given us a large bedroom and balcony to look over what we own and a shower room. And Jennie can now go "upstairs" to bed, this was one promise I had to make.
So why a small holding? We had been looking for a suitable property where David could be closer to Gwen and this just seemed to fit the bill, with a little extension work it seemed it would be ideal.
The big plus was the field and barn. This would give us the opportunity to grow our own meat, to ensure the welfare of the animals, to know what's happened to it, aware of the food miles and perhaps regain the flavour it should have.
The sheep helped keep the grass short, but I still had to cut it, so we purchased 3 Dexter cows to help with this task.
On Easter Saturday I had the biggest surprise. We had friends over, and as usuall they would walk up to see the livestock. I counted the cattle, then my chin hit the floor as I saw a calf walking behind Rosehip. We had bought the 3 as maiden heffers and although she had looked a little rotund I had no idea she was in calf. This says something for Dexter cows, she did it all on her own.