Greer absolutely nails it....

[UndercoverElephant]

Give serious consideration to building new. Old houses like above will ALWAYS suffer from cold and damp, or be ruinously expensive to heat. Coming from the east as you are it's hard to appreciate the difference west Wales' much higher winter humidity has.

I took a very hands on approach with our build but know many people round here who outsourced the whole build. Even one guy with a passive house 'prefab'. It was made in Scandinavia somewhere came on a couple of trucks with half a dozen builders and was pretty much *done* inside a month. It's stunning, really high quality, comfortable and super efficient.

Where are we supposed to live while building new? In a caravan?

Not sure I could talk my other half into this, even if I was enthusiastic about it.

[Catweazle]

My wife and I call that stretch of the A484, between Emlyn and Carmarthen, "Jurassic Park". It's a deep and unspoilt valley, quite wooded, but within easy reach of essential services. The A484 is quite busy, there aren't many roads around there, it's narrow and slow in many places. The old railway line runs through it.

I like it there, and the property looks to be spacious and slightly elevated above river levels. You might find that the valley bottom position makes it cold, it will be a frost pocket. I'm not sure about the planning issues for taking hydro power, but it's worth looking into.

The property looks interesting.

[Stumuz2]

A few observations.

1/ Have you asked yourself why you want so much land?

I ran my self sufficient holding in the early nineties. It was half that size. I was also an extremely fit young man. If your vision is to move to Wales and live off the land, think again. It will be the hardest physical thing you ever do. If you think that in extremis (food shortages) the land will not be requisitioned, again think again, it will. In TEOTWAWKI, unless you have blood ties nearby, you are on your own defending it.

If you want to become self sufficient in food, you can produce (no dig) all the food you will need on a quarter of an acre, plus stuff to give away.

2/ Are you moving to Wales because you think that society is about to implode?

If so, yes you will be out of the inner cities, but your 'needs' in a rural community depends on a functioning society. Fuel, or that little widget that keeps the thingamabob going will be needed just as much in rural Wales, probably more.

3/ Or are you going to become like Ken, a genuine high quality and sustainable food producer?

It is hard work, requires a lot of built up knowledge and skill, and you need to be at the centre of a web of (local) like minded individuals. If you are next to a commercial farm, you will probably not see, yet alone talk to anyone for weeks.

Sorry to be pessimistic, but it is very hard work. Although you are in a fortunate position of being mortgage free, you will still need an income.

[Potemkin Villager]

I agree with all S2's points above.

I too wonder why you want so much land
and if you have thought through the implications? It sounds to me you
may have caught a dose of land fever, a well known affliction in these parts.
Also you should consider just what a situation you may be moving into. The sale
of farms and farm land can be very emotional for the vendor and their extended family as it is generally seen
as a sign of failure. It is worthwhile asking just why anybody wants to, has to sell such an
apparently idyllic and desirable property.

You have reasons for not doing it but I would add my voice to those suggesting
that you rent and try first.

Good luck.

[Catweazle]

I can see downsides to living in a secluded smallholding, but having too much land isn't one of them. UE has written that he can work from anywhere, and live on royalties - with no harsh commercial pressures he can work that land / livestock in an ethical manner or even re-wild some of it. A clutch of beehives in a large wild meadow is an obvious example.

Not far away, although notably not in the bottom of a valley:

https://lammas.org.uk/en/welcome-to-lammas/

There are a few groups setting up this kind of community:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1134486020357293/

[kenneal - lagger]

One of the advantages of buying an existing house is that, usually, you have somewhere to live as you move onto the land with some or most of the "mod cons." As long as it isn't listed you can easily insulate the outside and, with most older Welsh houses, you get the benefit of all that thermal mass from the stone. You might have to lower the ground levels around the house a little and divert any water flowing down the land to keep the place dry but that is relatively easy. Unless the place has been reroofed recently you will probably have to do that sometime in the near future and when that is done you can properly insulate the roof and extend it at the edges to cover the external wall insulation.

There are a number of opinions about what to do with the floor as some say that installing insulation, a damp proof membrane and concrete slab will push moisture to the outside edge of the slab and into the walls. Not sure about that myself, especially if you take steps to reduce the ground moisture around and under the house as suggested above. If water is a problem you can dig out the floor foundation to a fall into a drain and take that out from the house. You can lay your hardcore on that, possibly use an insulating hardcore like Lecafill, and then your insulation and slab.

There are so many ways of building/renovating a building that I could spend all day giving you advise but the main thing to take from this is that something is usually possible.

I would always go for land and buildings on a south facing slope and avoid anything north facing. East and west facing would depend on the specific location and its other dis/advantages.

[UndercoverElephant]

A few observations.

1/ Have you asked yourself why you want so much land?

We wouldn't want to manage 38 acres as a farm, but I can turn that into a wonderland for teaching foraging, which is my job.

2/ Are you moving to Wales because you think that society is about to implode?

We think the only way is down, we want to get away from London, and we get more for our money down there. There's no good reason not to, since we can both work down there easily.

3/ Or are you going to become like Ken, a genuine high quality and sustainable food producer?

Sorry to be pessimistic, but it is very hard work. Although you are in a fortunate position of being mortgage free, you will still need an income.

We want to be able to produce enough food for ourselves, and maybe to trade with other people.

This time next year my second book will come out. It's a 512-page "bible" on plant/seaweed foraging, and if it sells as many copies as my first book (on edible mushrooms) then we're looking at £30K income a year from sales of that book. It is entirely possible it could sell 2 or 3 times as many copies. My wife works as an editor. And I can do freelance foraging work. And with this property, we'd turn one of the outbuildings into a holiday let. My next project is a philosophical novel about an ideological revolution and paradigm shift that happens as civilisation as we know it starts properly collapsing. We think income is not likely to be a major problem for us.

[UndercoverElephant]

I too wonder why you want so much land
and if you have thought through the implications? It sounds to me you
may have caught a dose of land fever, a well known affliction in these parts.

I teach foraging for a living. I can really use 38 acres, especially if the habitats are varied.

Also you should consider just what a situation you may be moving into. The sale
of farms and farm land can be very emotional for the vendor and their extended family as it is generally seen
as a sign of failure. It is worthwhile asking just why anybody wants to, has to sell such an
apparently idyllic and desirable property.

Well, that's partly why I posted it on here. Although there are all sorts of reasons why sales have to take place. Maybe the owners died and the estate has to be split up. Maybe somebody got divorced. Maybe they've got no kids and want to retire somewhere comfortable on the coast...

You have reasons for not doing it but I would add my voice to those suggesting
that you rent and try first.

Really don't want to rent. Not with a dog, a cat, a child and a collection of unusual plants.

[UndercoverElephant]

I can see downsides to living in a secluded smallholding, but having too much land isn't one of them. UE has written that he can work from anywhere, and live on royalties - with no harsh commercial pressures he can work that land / livestock in an ethical manner or even re-wild some of it. A clutch of beehives in a large wild meadow is an obvious example.

Exactly. A mini version of the Knepp Estate, but deliberately introducing unusual gems like Wild Service Tree (which would do very well in this location, I think).

[clv101]

Exactly. A mini version of the Knepp Estate, but deliberately introducing unusual gems like Wild Service Tree (which would do very well in this location, I think).

It's worth being aware of how deeply unpopular the concept of outsiders buying up land in Wales and 'rewilding' it is. For all the ecological benefits (I've read Tree's book) it reeks of a cultural insensitivity that doesn't go down well.

The Knepp Estate had problems with the acceptability of their plans, they'd been farming, been part of that community for generations. Try doing that in Wales, as an English incomer and expect much more push back than they experienced.

[Catweazle]

Valleys with rivers are often foggy, we live at 145 metres and often we're in beautiful sunshine looking over the Teifi valley which is full of fog. When I used to drive to work in Llandysul I'd leave home in sunshine and run into a wall of fog at Abercych. Our rented house was in Beulah ( near to the coastal road ) next to a stud farm, the owner had moved there from further inland and in his words his old place was "two coats colder".

Living high can be windy, but I like it.

[UndercoverElephant]

Exactly. A mini version of the Knepp Estate, but deliberately introducing unusual gems like Wild Service Tree (which would do very well in this location, I think).

It's worth being aware of how deeply unpopular the concept of outsiders buying up land in Wales and 'rewilding' it is. For all the ecological benefits (I've read Tree's book) it reeks of a cultural insensitivity that doesn't go down well.

The Knepp Estate had problems with the acceptability of their plans, they'd been farming, been part of that community for generations. Try doing that in Wales, as an English incomer and expect much more push back than they experienced.

Just googled that. Seems like a whole load of ignorant reactionary nonsense.

[clv101]

But they are strongly held views, possibly by your neighbors. I'm just highlighting the need for cultural sensitivity. Phrases like 'load of ignorant reactionary nonsense' won't go down well!

[Stumuz2]

Just googled that. Seems like a whole load of ignorant reactionary nonsense.

Croeso am Byth mêt

[Stumuz2]

BTW

A word on 'foraging'

It is about as welcome as a fart in a spacesuit round these parts. I have my samphire patch which is pretty inaccessible. I have 'had ' it for years. Since lockdown more refugees have been renting statics wherever there is a patch of land (£200 a week who can blame the landowners)

Some tw*t has found my samphire patch and stripped it bare. It's dead.