So when our Consett friends, (whom happened to have emigrated to Dubai 8 years previously) said that we would either love or hate living up here in this little oasis.- Known for having its own weather climate, where the snow settles on the ground for at least 6 months of the year, -we were keen to see if we had what it takes and embraced the start of Winter, with our new boiler installed and plenty of firewood.
But nothing would prepare us for the Beast from the East. The warnings were clear. Hunker down they said. We were ready. And then it came. Tonnes of the stuff. Fluffy and white driving in from every direction. Every night Bev and Jane would drag the fence panels across the alpaca pods and every morning dig them back out again.
Repairing burst water pipes became a daily chore, as was digging out reckless 4x4 drivers who thought they would make the 7 foot snow drifts along the lane.
Still preparing the piggy paddocks, we chose to rent out our large field to a friend from Scotland for his breeding sheep stock and his old Ewe Margaret. We took it upon ourselves to do daily checks of his livestock. Digging the stranded ones out, distributing the supplements and breathing life back into the ones where we could. This was a serious reality check.
But Margaret made it through and so did we.
Out came the workhorse and a call to arms to the older children to come help clear the grass cuttings before the new growth rotted beneath. Days and days ensued of collecting it up and ensiling it in the walled feeding section of the front paddock.
We have never worked so hard for such a zero gain.
It wasn’t long into the Spring that we realised that alpacas don’t eat much grass. By June we were knee deep in the lush green stuff and wondering what an earth we were going to do with it all.
A hard and painful lesson in pasture management. I think it was all contrived so that Garry could justify his next purchases, a disk mower, tedder, miniature baler, and wrapper. There was no resistance from me as I knew I wouldn’t be doing that again.
First Arrivals on the Farm
The first animal additional to the farm were alpacas. Ann and Bev’s pride and joy.
After many a number of visits to a farm in Yorkshire, they selected 3 quality females, two of which were mated & carrying cria before they arrived. They settled well in the small rear paddock and kept us fully occupied whilst we tended to them through the harshest winter known in the region for years.
Charisma, Cleaopatra and Jamelia the nanny, were a welcome sight every sunrise calling over the fence as we left for work and made us realise that we had definitely made the right decision.
The alpaca were shortly followed the arrival of 12 hens in the November of that year. They were initially to share the paddock with the alpacas, but my scepticism as to the effectiveness of their guard dog capabilities against the local foxes, was not to be tested.
The hen houses were positioned in the stone ‘might be a kiln’ structure and the hens were left to roam freely wherever and whenever they pleased. True free-range hens.
Note to self, screen off any plants that we want to keep!! They are relentless when they’ve decided to dig in a certain place.
So there it was, the seed was planted over a boxing day meal with my in-laws, “wouldn’t it be lovely to own a smallholding” my mother in law said, to which I replied “yes, Garry and I could work during the day whilst you pottered around, and we could all tend the farm on the evenings and weekends”…. Oh how life was different then, in our semi-detached house in Sunderland. (Countryfile has a lot to answer for!)
Then in June 2015 our dreams were realised. Bushblades Farm popped into Garry’s search on Zoopla and after a protracted purchasing process we moved in in June 2017. Garry’s mum and dad decided that the farm annex could be made into a suitable abode and very shortly thereafter did just that. With aspirations of growing our own produce, a focus on the rare breeds, Ann’s dream of owning her own alpaca herd and aiming for full organic status, we started planning how we were going to get off the starting blocks, given that none of us had a clue about ‘farming’ in the real sense (book farmers only).
One look at the field and it was immediately obvious…
our old grass cutter, wasn’t going to hack it !
We had hardly unpacked the kettle and cups before Garry and his father Bev breezed into the kitchen with a brochure of their first purchase….the workhorse So that was it, we were now officially farmers!!!
Jane needed to find out what was under the blanket of ivy that surrounded the back wall to the yard. “I think there’s an outside toilet in there somewhere” the previous owner glossed over, as he walked us round the garden during our initial tour.
To our lovely surprise we uncovered 3 outhouses and a curved structure, which we think was some sort of kiln, but later became our hen coup.
They were becoming far too familiar!!