Mark Holter

I take your point about land taxes Abraham, but in the UK first time buyers don't pay the land exchange tax (stamp duty) until £300k and ongoing land taxes you pay when you're renting anyway.

Even if inflation does stagnate, the buying fees (solicitors, mortgage arrangement) are less than a years rent plus the interest (I have done the maths when I was deciding whether to rent or buy). I don't think this situation is particularly likely in the UK as housing demand far outstrips supply and house building projects are moving more slowly than demand is increasing. There's a much stronger drive for ownership in the UK than in many other countries.

In the event of recessions, governments do often start large scale infrastructure projects to increase employment and prop up the economy (American railway network, German autobahns). The UK may invest in an affordable housing project in the wake of the pandemic. The housing supply may catch up with demand, but I can't see it reducing house prices, if anything they would stagnate. In this case the houses which may continue to increase in value are those older, more characterful properties with more unique qualities and larger gardens, which is what I would plan to buy anyway.

All of this aside, I'd be willing to pay a premium for the freedom to decorate my own house, and do with the outside space as I please. I know this might sound ranty, it's not intended to, it's because I've had this conversation with myself many times. It's something I've thought a lot about and I'm justifying my decision to myself, but I am very happy with that decision.

Wow, thank you for your heartfelt and thought out responses both of you. Purpose and finding my motivations is definitely something I've spent a lot of time thinking about recently. I think you can tell by the speed of reply that I've taken some time to really consider what you have said.
I should point out that I'm looking for a place with a bit more land, but I'm not looking to move straight into a farming lifestyle (think what most people would classify as a large garden). There are times to be bold and take risks, but if you can achieve the same or more by taking a gradual series of smaller risks - much better position to be in. In terms of finances, I do appreciate the price of property at the moment, and I spend everyday looking at new properties on the market, and as soon as I'm able I'm going to start leveraging local contacts a bit more to see if they know anyone looking to sell and see if we can save each other some money on the fees. I know what the price of property is like at the moment, but rent is high too. If I bought the house I'm currenlty living in my mortgage repayments would be 2/3rds of my rent.
I'm very conscious that I'm going into this not having fully tested it, but everything I've ever enjoyed has involved being outside and using land and creating great spaces outdoors.
The way I see it, if I buy a place and decide I don't like the lifestyle after a few years, at least I can sell on and I'll have built a little equity in the house, rather than throwing money away on rent. I am also aware the market fluctuates and rent isn't just thrown away, but time tends to increase investment value and as I said before, I'd actually be saving money with a mortgage.

Right team! Update (apologies for the radio silence)
Per Eric's advice I've bought some oyster mycelium. I've got this in a conventional bag growing so I can test the process before converting to a larger scale outside. There's the first signs of fruit on the bag and I'll post photos when they come. Am I right in thinking that as this reaches the end of its life I could take some of the straw out of the bag and blend it with fresh straw to rejuvenate it? Or will it reach its mortal end as the food runs out?
I've also managed to strike a deal with a friend who lives down the road. Her husband recently died so I'm helping tend her garden in exchange for control of the veg patch. I've got some raspberries and strawberries in. I've also sowed some carrots, beetroot and peas for shoots.
I say down the road - it's actually down the road from my parents house where I grew up which is quite far away, but I'm planning to use this as a learning experience and I'll keep things that need regular picking/tending at mine and 'longer crops' (spuds and roots) at hers.
I've also noticed some ramsons in the local woods which I'm planning to pilfer some of in the next few days. A very exciting start to my journey, thank you for all your help everyone!

Thanks for these Eric, really looking forward to this project.

Hi Nancy,

Thanks for the welcome. I've been looking at Wales a lot, it's more rural, land prices are lower and you're not often too far from the sea. In all honesty I think the One Planet Development might be a bit too much of a shock to the system given that I grew up as a townie and I think I'd struggle to convince my partner, but who knows in the long run. Definitely plan to follow your advice on finding some local places to volunteer gardening. I did have a go earlier this year but it may be something to look at when Boris says we can meet people again.

Eric - really interesting advice on the mushrooms, if you could point me in the direction of those threads I'd be grateful. Do you find you can use most wood chips? I know a tree surgeon I could probably pilfer some from but I don't think he'd be too impressed if I started getting overly picky about species.

Leigh, thanks for the welcome!

And Eric, that sounds like exactly the sort of ideal situation I'd be looking to set up - these places do exist but finding them is the gem. It sounds quite similar to where I grew up, right on the edge of a conurbation.

I often think the US has such varied landscapes and climates, when watching and reading about gardening from American creators and some of them are gardening in sub-tropics and others in Alaska! It's really interesting that you raised mushroom growing! I brewed some beer at the weekend and spent some time trying to work out whether I could use the spent grain for growing mushrooms. The consensus seemed to be that it was too sweet and would be subject to colonization by other microbes, but I might still give it a go. It's definitely something I want to do, but I've only recently started to like mushrooms, which explains why its late in the to-do list.

Hi Eric,

Thanks for taking the time to reply and for the welcome! No worries on the land side of things, hardly seems reasonable for me to expect someone across the pond to have a better knowledge of my domestic real estate than myself . I fully agree with you on the price of real estate, which is why my search area is so broad, I think I'd be happy to find land wherever it could be had in the long run. That being said I would have to be within commuting distance to somewhere more urban as my other half is a healthcare worker and would struggle to work out in the sticks. Having said that I think the US has far more rural spots than we do in the UK so perhaps not so much of a concern.

With regards to growing food in small spaces, I do echo your sentiment. I have windowsills lined with herbs, a few chilli plants and some seedlings ready to go out in pots onto my 10'x10' patio as the weather warms up (vertical gardening here for efficiency). I've also got my compost bin on the go, but this has to be quite small scale due to the nature of renting and the fact we might have to move at short notice.

Mark

Hi Everyone,

I've finally started to bite the bullet, but I think it's going to be a long time to chew. I've just graduated from university in the UK and have been watching these forums for years, finally I've decided this is it, this is what I want my life to be.

Growing up I always enjoyed gardening, fishing, building, caring for animals. I'm also very fond of a bargain wherever it can be had. As I worked hard, I always came top of my classes, and fell for the classic modern rhetoric that I was too smart not to pursue more academic pursuits. How wrong that was. I now understand that what you choose to do, what you enjoy, had nothing to do with your intelligence.

So now here I am, a 23 year old in a city job trying desperately to move and carve out the kind of life everyone here is pursuing - sustainable, back to nature, and focused on the important things, like family. I have a little money saved and am trying to increase that as rapidly as I can (currently renting). I'm also trying to build any skills I can that would help in the future - I'm quite good at fishing, though the potential for feeding yourself cheaply by this route in the UK is someone limited unless you live somewhere coastal. I'm forever improving my gardening ability, I have a few seasons under my belt growing larger numbers of crops on a small scale and I grew up on a building site so my DIY is quite good. I know there's always room for improvement, so if anyone can offer advice on where to focus my efforts while awaiting a move o somewhere with more land I'd be glad to hear it.

I'm also wondering if anyone could offer advice on finding a property? I think I would gladly move to most areas of mainland UK, which makes the house search somewhat problematic - I'm becoming increasingly annoyed that you can't order on Rightmove by the size of the land! I'm really looking forward to learning from all of you and plan to start completing some of these badge-bits I see so much about. I also fully intend to return the favor and offer help wherever I can, although at this point those skills might be limited (I have a chemistry masters if anyone needs any of those kinds of skills though)

Thanks again everyone!

Mark