Rural Smallholdings Magazine

Derek and Jeannie

For most of us the dream of owning and working even a small piece of our own land takes years to achieve.  There are financial commitments to consider and often family commitments prevent us from living our dream until the timing is somewhere near ‘perfect’.  Another factor for many people and one that stops them taking that bold leap to self sufficiency is the basic fear of it not working out.  It can be hard to find people who have taken the leap and succeeded to ask them about their experiences or ask the sort of in depth questions we’d love to ask.

There is nothing more inspiring than reading about people who share our dreams and have taken the leap of faith to make them possible and succeeded.  Reading about their day to day lives and the difference the change in lifestyle has made to them can be the deciding factor in deciding whether you make the move or not.  It can also be a relief to find you are not just a ‘dreamer’ but are among many who fully intend to one day make that life change to owning a little piece of heaven and trying at least if only partly to work for yourself.

The best books I have ever read and that have inspired me the most to follow this dream are those by Derek Tangye.  You may not have heard of them as Derek and his Wife Jeannie long ago fulfilled their dream and are no longer with us.  However they live on in the books which chronicle the fulfilment of their dream to move to Cornwall and live a humbler lifestyle and work the land.  The books may have been written a generation ago but the dream remains the same.  Derek and Jeannie both left high paying jobs in London to rent a small cottage and some land in Cornwall and to try and fulfil their dream.  They started as dreamers with no real experience and learnt from their mistakes.  They had simply holidayed in Cornwall and fallen in love with the idea of living a simpler life closer to nature, but they lived out their lives there in a way that most of us would envy.

The books are full of their trials and tribulations as they try to make their new life work, but they are also full of the joys of living and fulfilling a dream and of their obvious love of nature.  Their previous lives working in London are a stark contrast to their simple life in Cornwall, away from the trappings of money and success.  But their love for their new home and their new life shines through in every book, even when things are not running quite so smoothly as they had hoped.

So if you are like many of us just waiting for the right time to fulfil your own dream of owning or renting a smallholding, why not take inspiration from The Minack Chronicles and immerse yourself in the world of Minack.

Click here to buy the books on Amazon. 

Click here to visit the Friends of Minack Society website – a website and forum filled with information about Derek and Jeannie, their books and their lives at Minack.

Article by Rural Smallholding Magazine