I have a dream . . .

Way back in the spring time, when the leaves that are careering in gusts around my garden were just little twinkles in the mummy trees’ eyes, we came to a decision.  Ever since then, I have dreamed of writing this blog and now it has come to it, I just don’t know what to say!

This all gets a bit long winded so you may want to get a coffee before you start reading.

This is a bit of a historic blog - it is the beginning of something which could be the most brilliant thing that has ever happened to us ( well apart from Sam, of course) or of course, it could be horrendous!  It has been hard because my blog is painfully honest and sometimes I put things on I probably really shouldn’t but I like it that way and this big thing I haven’t been allowed to mention which felt kind of strange.

I’d better come to the point I suppose or my blogging friends may get bored and miss the news.  I am just very worried that some people will not like it and I really hate upsetting anyone.  It is quite exciting though and a little bit of me wants to leap about - I did that quietly in the field with Bert and Lina today - Bert took it all in her stride but Lina curled her lip and looked very disdainful (she is developing quite a lip curling habit - don’t know whether she has always done it).

When we first started with alpacas it was just two as pets but as soon as we got them we were bitten by the bug and just had to have the two girls.  As soon as baby Spike arrived we knew that was what we wanted to do, breed the very best alpacas we could, develop a business based on quality animals and quality products  We put all the savings we had into building the herd, learnt as much as we could and haunted shows trying to get an eye for quality.  We read fervently and then planned how to get there.  Then, of course, gradually the difficulties began and things got increasingly hard but it did not stop us, and never will, but we had to find a way around the problems, problems all coming down to not being with the animals.  Anyone who has read past blogs will know the problems - bottle feeding in the dark in the middle of a field, intruders and stray dogs, death and illness . . . I could go on but I won’t as I have just realised I haven’t said yet what the big thing is - in fact I have not come to the point as I said I would!

We spent ages talking and, to cut a long story short, we never want to sell our fields and move anywhere else - I love this land which has been in my family for ages and this is a village as near perfect as you can get.  Sam loves it here and is deeply attached to the land, as is Carl.  I really am coming to the point now!  We decided we would have to apply for permission to build a proper barn and live in the field with our animals.  We applied for something called temporary agricultural occupancy which means living in a mobile home for a period stipulated by the council to make sure the business is viable.  Back in the Spring I very nervously talked to a few people who had connections with the land to make sure they would not be upset by it and then we got a Planning Consultant to deal with the application.  It went in at the end of August and on Friday night I saw it had been registered!  That may explain the posts on Newts as we had to have several ecological surveys done to make sure we were not going to destroy anything - which we would not have done anyway.  I have been desperate to say something about it all but the Planning Consultant said I could not until it was registered.  Well, now it is and I have got A NUMBER!  It is all costing what, for us, is a small fortune and it has been a big decision as we have a very lovely house with incredible views but we just can’t run the business when we can’t see or hear the animals (we also have restrictions on the house which will not allow us to officially run  a business from here - making life a little insecure).  Whether it will all work out I just do not know, I have to admit we are pinning all our hopes and dreams on it but you have to really if you are committing so much to something.  I hope it is not all a horrible process and I really hope people don’t think we are just doing it to get a house built - we already have a better house than we ever would in the fields and that will go to fund the barn and business expansion.

Do you know, I have typed like a crazy thing and I don’t think I have actually said anything about what we are applying for!  It is to put a proper barn - with sides all round - down where the old barn is (in the valley at the bottom of first field), and take the old one down and put the mobile home up behind it.  As the new barn will be lower it should not be visible from the road - at the moment you can just see the roof of the old barn when the grass is cut.   If it is granted, we have to make the business viable in the time the council give us or it all has to go.  If it does prove viable, as we know it will, we can then apply for permanent permission for a little house with an agricultural tie.  We have tried to make it all as unobtrusive as possible so now we will just have to see what happens.  The Parish Council have already put the notice up on the Notice board - that was the covert operation tonight, to go and have a look at it - and the meeting where they talk about it is on the 10th December.

I have already eaten two galaxies and a packet of minstrels, now I feel sick!!

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