Hugs, positive vibes and loads of advice and ideas needed!!

[Mrs H]

Hi Guys, well, lifes never simple is it?!?!?
Ok ill try and give you all a brief run down on whats goin on without makin this the longest post in history!!
On 1st May we moved into r dream house, old cottage up a long lane, r rental included the outbuildings and about 2 acres. It has the most amazing views from it. When we first saw the cottage it hadnt been lived in for 2 years. We new the landlord as he was a neighbour of our last place. He bought a kitchen and got it half fitted, he bought the paint and we painted it, he layed new carpets threw out. We went out of our way to ensure we were there for deliveries etc so as to take the pressure of him as he works long hours on his farm. Anyway when the day came to move in loads wasnt finished, 2 windows r boarded up, the render on the back needs redone, the kitchen roof leaks everytime it rains and he agreed to fit a shower (we got the leccy shower but he was to pay to fit it). He also said he would build a pen for our dogs up the back. Although all the work wasnt finished we had to move out of our old place as our notice was up and frankly we didnt mind as stupidly we thought it would all get done and we trusted him. Anyway we loved it, we had great plans and had begun building our raised beds, we fenced in the garden so the kids were safe etc. I helped him when he came up to move stock about and generally we were just happy and settled here very quickly.
On Saturday are new neighbour called in to see us and our landlord found out he had been there. He called me up and started yelling and swearing down the phone about how our neighbour wasnt allowed in the house. He was mega abusive! and really from then things have gone from bad to worse. We tried to explain that as we rented the property he couldnt say who did or didnt come in but it was falling on deaf ears. Him and his Mrs frankly have gone bat shit crazy. They came up yesterday and were so abusive to my husband that we took legal advice from the police this morning about what to do if it happens again. They have told us to get out, we dont know what we have done and frankly feel abit lost. So we left our dream and woke up in a nightmare. We found out today that he has previous for being threatening with a fire arm so to be quite honest im now scared as we have 3 young kids and we dont know whats going to happen next.
We have begun trying to find somewere to move too, easier said than done with 3 kiddies and animals!! Anyhow we found a property today taht is to rent with 22acres of land. Its too much rent for us but it made us think if you could run a business from it. We dont want to make millions just enough to make ends meet. The thought of it excites us and makes us feel like maybe all this shit is happening for a reason.
We have been racking our brains as to what would work, and the big contender is free range egg production? Any ideas? We will consider any ideas currently as frankly we feel pretty screwed at the minute and want to turn this nightmare back into a dream.
Please help!!!

[JulieSherris]

Hey Mrs H - oh my goodness! I'm so sorry - it sounded like you were getting really settled as well

Any idea what his beef was with the neighbour? Not that it's importnat now anyway, if you can't feel safe there, then with the kids, you are better off out of it.

One question.... do you HAVE to stay up north?

And then onto... egg production.... Tricky one. Depends on how legal this all has to be. If you're looking at being able to package the eggs, then you are going to have to get registered, buy the date stamp equipment, make sure the you are complying with the defra rules... and so on & so on....
You'll also have to make sure that you have enough hens to almost guarantee the required amount of daily eggs.

I have 24 hens here & at the moment, I might get a dozen a day - 2 girls have just raised chicks, 3 are with chicks still, 3 more are still sitting.... 3 are going through their moult, 1 is laying in the woods/banks/montbretia/garden somewhere! It all adds up.

Unless you intend heading for the more commercial route, it's going to be tricky - even if you try for a more commercial way, then yes, that will be tricky too, financially at least.

You could certainly think along the lines of a smallholding & selling the goods like I do - I have just been sowing 'pretty' seeds for next year to sell & I always grow more veg than we'll ever eat, so I sell veg as well. And I'm thinking that a lot of it will depend on where you end up & how much work/money it will take setting it all up - yet again!

I hope all works out though, keep us posted x

[Clarry]

Wow Mrs H! First of all sending you a big massive

Have you asked about the possibility of just renting some of the land or is that not an option?

Hoping you get this all sorted very quickly. I am a firm believer that everything happens for a reason. This may bring you onto bigger and better things

[becks77]

sending sounds like you'r better off out of that one,
hope all goes better from now on

[boboff]

I LOVE YOUR ATTITUDE!!!!!

Bloody horrible situation, but like you say may be for a reason.

The only thing you can do with 22 acres I would say is Livestock, provided the fences are good. Any other crops need big money on machinery.

You could look at a number of easy things for say 20 acres.

1. Rent as grasskeep
2. Rent out to horse keepers

You may be able to get back some of your premium on Rent that way quickly.

Other than that I would be scared of investing in a rented place, Chicken would be ok, as you can move the houses and fences, but I am crap at it, and I reckon my eggs were costing me about 3 times the price of shop ones, feed is really expensive, so you need to grow your own to make it viable.

Other than that you need to grow undercover or have access to a tractor and tools.

Look into grants for environmental stewardship type schemes, they may help.

Pigs are great fun, and very commerically viable in my opinion, and housing and fencing is again transferable. You need good access and a car with a trailer for taking to slaughter, which is by far the worst part. Setting up a co-operative or selling meat to friends at a commercial price should be ok. Sell for £6 a kilo and you should make about £150 a pig in 4 months. Lots of if's and but's in that statement mind...... 12 pigs, twice a year ( have the winter off) £3600 a year profit, £300 a month towards the rent? £2000 set up costs excluded, should be able to use a rotating space of around 3 - 4 acres I would guess.

Best of luck.

[chickenchargrill]

Wow, that sounds scary. To be honest, if it were me I'd be shipping the kids out to friends or family and just finding somewhere.

Could you possibly share rent with somebody? So they're using some of the acreage for pasture while you're setting up some of it for business?

Sending hugs and positive thoughts your way x

[Graye]

It seems a pity to give up on something which could be idyllic without exploring what went wrong and seeing if compromises could be reached. Have you heard from him since? Did he ask you to leave during these arguments? It sounds as if he's like an extreme version of my OH who completely flies off the handle and then calms down like a lamb shortly afterwards, meantime being amazed that everyone has been so upset by him.

Is there someone you could use as an intermediary to find out why he went quite so crazy about the other neighbour's visit? Could it be he was actually worried FOR you rather angry WITH you but showing it in a very strange way? If he's just trying to impose unreasonable restrictions on your right to have whoever you like as a visitor then he's obviously wrong but if he was wound up by having that neighbour in the vicinity of his tenants for some reason it might be worth finding out why. You say you already knew him so I'm assuming you had never previously had any idea he could turn like that?

It sound as if he iwas a reasonable landlord (apart from his apparent descent into craziness since the weekend) so far and has gone ahead with at least some of the improvements he promised and it sounds as though you are ideal tenants for him - willing to help and do work yourselves.

Did the police tell you about the previous threatening offence? If not, can you be sure it's true? Did they actually visit him when you consulted them this week? I suppose if they did it has probably got too now for any chance of a reconciliation anyway and your only option is to look for something else.

Good luck with the whole situation and just regard your priority as keeping yourselves, children and pets safe

[MKG]

I think there may be some very sound advice in Graye's post.

Mike

[Keaniebean]

I can't offer any advice as to what you should do, but I agree that keeping yourselves safe must be your prority.

My own thought however are that even if you were to find out what the issues are with this landlord and his neighbour, I think the fact that he has been threatening/abusive towards you and your family is too much. If it were me, I don't think I could feel safe in his house no matter how helpful he offers to be in the future, I just wouldn't want to take the risk, but that is just me.

Have some and I hope it all works out for the best, I think you may well be right and all of this has happened for a reason.

[JulieSherris]

Mrs H, whilst I like the look of Boboff's post regarding pigs... I'd have a really good read of Stoney's blog before you even begin think of it...
http://stoneheadcroft.com/pigs/

It all sounds good on paper but the realities of making a decent profit do not match the paperwork, methinks.

After sleeping on things for a night, I would agree with Graye too & try to have a chat with the landlord - maybe go armed with a bottle of wine & ask what/where/why.... maybe there's a history between your landlords & the neighbour that you're unaware of? You may have just been caught in the crossfire?

Whatever happens, best of luck! x

[spider8]

I agree with Julie, must be worth a try to see if you can mend things (even though you didn't 'break' anything ). Goodness knows what this person had done to your farmer landlord to cause such venom but you didn't know anything and were innocent, not your fault. Otherwise I wish you luck in getting somewhere to live and sending you .

[boboff]

I agree about trying to get to the bottom of things, but if it were me, then I would be out like a shot. For what ever reason the behaviour is not acceptable, and therefore why risk it? Mad Men who behave madly, and have access to guns, and have a history of using guns in a mad way....well you know.

As Gaye says it happens, and people calm down, but as a closet "ranter" I do know that it is just not acceptable, however meek you are after.

As Julie says, nothing is easy, as with any business really the hard bit is the selling the stuff in the end, and then all the other crap we have to deal with, Vets fees, worms, fighting, dying, escaping, transport, holidays, emergencies, Welfare, Complaints from councils, Health & safety, etc etc. Our society is geared towards consumption in 2 bed semi's in sub-bored-out of head on Sea, whilst buying the mail, binge drinking on Alcohol deals from T***o, moaning about our kids education, obsessing over our weight, car, sofa, TV, whilst absoutely refusing to return someones smile and public, or absolutely never ever giving way to a pedestrian or car, even if by doing so would cause happiness, safety, or improved traffic flow, it's all about the me.

[Mrs H]

It seems a pity to give up on something which could be idyllic without exploring what went wrong and seeing if compromises could be reached. Have you heard from him since? Did he ask you to leave during these arguments? It sounds as if he's like an extreme version of my OH who completely flies off the handle and then calms down like a lamb shortly afterwards, meantime being amazed that everyone has been so upset by him.

Is there someone you could use as an intermediary to find out why he went quite so crazy about the other neighbour's visit? Could it be he was actually worried FOR you rather angry WITH you but showing it in a very strange way? If he's just trying to impose unreasonable restrictions on your right to have whoever you like as a visitor then he's obviously wrong but if he was wound up by having that neighbour in the vicinity of his tenants for some reason it might be worth finding out why. You say you already knew him so I'm assuming you had never previously had any idea he could turn like that?

It sound as if he iwas a reasonable landlord (apart from his apparent descent into craziness since the weekend) so far and has gone ahead with at least some of the improvements he promised and it sounds as though you are ideal tenants for him - willing to help and do work yourselves.

Did the police tell you about the previous threatening offence? If not, can you be sure it's true? Did they actually visit him when you consulted them this week? I suppose if they did it has probably got too now for any chance of a reconciliation anyway and your only option is to look for something else.

Good luck with the whole situation and just regard your priority as keeping yourselves, children and pets safe

Thanks for all your replies guys. Today my head hurts and i just feel completely drained. There is no reason with him, we have seen him again and he was really abusive to my husband. He told us that he wants us gone in 4 mths.
Him and the neighbour have history over a right of access but i spoke with the neighbour and they cant pin point exactly what went wrong just that he flew of the handle went nuts and that was that. Sounds scarily similar!
He is defo angry with us for allowing the neighbour in, he told Neil he was going to come round and show him what angry is.
He definatly has previous for threatening to shoot some family members. The police advised us the other day so havnt gone to see him. We have to call them should he be agressive again.
We are going to see a solicitor tomorrow and take some advice. We are scared to be here now and frankly its no way to live. We are trying to hide it from the kids at the minute until we get something sorted.
Boboff my attitiude that you admire has been clouded somewhat this evening by extreme tiredness and despair!! Im sure ill wake tomorrow morning with renewed vigor!!

[boboff]

Please, lets hope so.

Keep possitive.

[yvette]

Can't believe how some people behave! I am so sorry for you all, what a horrible shock for you WIsh I could think of the perfect business idea - all I can think is that my mum and dad, who own a tiny bit of land, make a little bit from renting out for grazing and selling hay - could make a small contribution. Most of their neighbours seem to do a bit of this, a bit of that to make ends meet. Could you have a lodger to help out? Wishing you lots of luck with your move, hope it is speedy.