If you have a smallholding and no one else keeps bees in the area, you might want to consider beekeeping to generate smallholding profits. Not only can you generate profits from the sale of honey, you can also generate sales from the wax they produce.

You might think that it takes a calm personality to work around bees. This isn’t always the case. My very nervous father-in-law enjoyed keeping several hives on the family’s half hectare (1-1/4 acre) property. Something about working with the bees calmed him.

Even a compact smallholding can support bees if there are no other hives around the area. Some avid beekeepers say they have kept healthy hives in the city, so if you are out in the country, you have it made. While bees have their preferences, they will gather pollen from any flowers that are available.

Once you get past the initial set-up costs, beekeeping isn’t that difficult. Many people find it addicting. For the most part, if you are patient, the bees will do most of the work for you. Prepare to invest an hour or two every month checking on the health of your hive(s).

While you will have some ongoing expenses, beekeeping can be very profitable. The primary expenses involve extraction equipment, medications and feed for the cold months.

To learn how to keep your beehives healthy and producing the maximum profits for your smallholding look out for our next article on BEEKEEPING ON A SMALLHOLDING: Keeping the Hive Healthy. This article will go into how to prevent an unhealthy hive from draining all of your profits.

Sources of Beekeeping Profits

The most obvious source of profits is honey. If your smallholding is in a tourist destination there are ways to add value to the honey your bees produce. For example, the dark rich honey made by bees that forage on heather should be packaged attractively for the tourist trade. Take advantage of its reputed health benefits and market your honey for more than it sells for in local trade.

Attractive packaging is important no matter what type of flowers your honey comes from. With the options available in paper and printers, you can experiment with producing your own labels. Design labels that fit the type of customer you want to attract. If you are placing your honey in an upscale shop, make sure the labels look upscale. This may require commercial printing. If you are a selling the honey out of your own smallholding shop, then commercial printing becomes optional. Often a handmade feel sells products.

If you have already experimented with cider making, you may want to experiment with making mead. This alcoholic beverage has an ancient history and is mentioned in the earliest literature of England and Scotland. Once again it is a product easily marketed to tourists. Make sure you meet all regulations before selling the product.

When looking at profits, don’t forget the value of the beeswax. Beeswax finds its way into everything from candles to lip balm. Purifying the beeswax for use is very simple. Wrap the wax in a jute/burlap bag. Just place it in a kettle of boiling water and weigh it down so the wax filters through the jute and rises to the surface. This method leaves most of the impurities in the comb behind.

Once all the combs have melted, allow the pot to cool slowly. Don’t accelerate the process. This allows impurities to settle to the bottom of the wax. Some impurities usually show up on the bottom side of the block. Just scrape them away. If you want to sell the beeswax in small blocks, you can melt it again in a double boiler. Pour the wax off into plastic containers. Market your beeswax on the internet if the local interest is inadequate.

Beeswax candles are a potential source of income both locally and on the internet. Add essential oils and market the candles for the healing properties of the essential oils used.

You can also use beeswax as a base for your own brand of healing lip balms, lotion bars, lotions and skin creams. Majestic Mountain Sage offers many recipes that will get you started. Beeswax is also useful in soap making.

Finally, there are profits to be made renting out your hives. Other smallholders may need bees to pollinate their fruit trees and gardens. You deliver the hive and let your bees do their job. Many beekeepers move their hives from spring through autumn. Not only do the bees generate income by making honey. They bring you income by pollinating.

Keeping the Peace with Your Neighbours

When you start setting up your hives, you may meet resistance from your neighbours. If there are other cottages nearby, make sure you place a solid fence around your beehives. This encourages the bees to fly higher so they are less likely to collide into someone passing by. A fence provides other advantages as well. Protecting the hives from the wind prevents excessive chilling in the winter or drying out in the summer. It can also keep nosy children from poking around the hive. In general, something that is out of sight of your neighbours will quickly be out of mind as well.

Bees tend to be less aggressive when there are plenty of flowering plants in the area. When nectar is flowing, bees are contented. Let clover blossom in your lawn. Plant succulent flowers, such as sweet peas. Any member of the legume family will provide nectar and pollen for your bees and the flavor will be good.

As a beekeeper you can also condition your bees to be less anxious by placing the hives near bushes. Because the wind constantly moves the branches, the bees become accustomed to movement around their hives.

When a queen is over a year old, the bees may have a tendency to swarm. Keep a bait hive nearby. Tack a small piece of honeycomb inside. If this baited hive is positioned about 10 to 30 feet away from the existing hives, and about 10 feet above the ground it will be very attractive to a swarm. Your bait hive may prevent the bees from taking up residence at your neighbour’s home.

Many smallholders have discovered that beekeeping creates smallholding profits. To learn how to get started in beekeeping on a smallholding look out for our forthcoming article SMALLHOLDING PROFITS: Getting Started in Beekeeping.

Article by Denise Rutledge for Rural Smallholdings Magazine

Still looking for Your Smallholding? Visit Greenshifters for the latest smallholdings for sale, rent and exchange. ]]> http://www.rural-smallholdings.co.uk/running-smallholding/smallholding-news-features-smallholding-profits-from-beekeeping/feed/ 0 http://www.rural-smallholdings.co.uk/running-smallholding/forest-garden-shovelstrode-an-ecotourism-venture-opens-its-doors-for-courses-and-camping-in-2011/ http://www.rural-smallholdings.co.uk/running-smallholding/forest-garden-shovelstrode-an-ecotourism-venture-opens-its-doors-for-courses-and-camping-in-2011/#comments Sat, 21 May 2011 09:05:23 +0000 Forest Garden Shovelstrode http://www.rural-smallholdings.co.uk/?p=2351

Yurt camping and woodland craft courses such as green wood working, basketry, hurdle making and bee keeping are all available at a new business enterprise called Forest Garden Shovelstrode, located in the High Weald of Sussex.

The setting is based around 6 acres including an ancient woodland and a vacant paddock that has been recultivated into the early stages of a Forest Garden with a newly created wildlife pond.

Forest Garden Shovelstrode is a place for people to come and learn the principles of Permaculture demonstrated in the Forest Garden and also a range of woodland craft. A shop will sell products such as honey, eggs, green wooding tools and locally produced crafts.

Charles Hooper and Lisa Aitken have worked on a plan since 2009, searching for ways to live more self sufficiently and sustainably from a small area of land. Forest Garden Shovelstrode sets out to inspire others in a similar way.

With the help of a European grant, work began in earnest in September 2010, with renovations made to stables creating a kitchen, farm shop, shower and WC facilities, a new parking area and a new storage barn was erected.

Now with Spring arriving, they plan to welcome visitors for camping from the Easter weekend, Friday 22nd April with courses beginning in June.

2 yurts are available for hire, the first being a traditional Mongolian style with painted wooden poles, the other is a locally produced hand crafted yurt made of coppiced wood. The yurts are both located in the woodland in a peaceful environment. The yurts are both fully equipped with a log burning stove and many creature comforts to create a truly wonderful camping experience. Glamping at its best!

Courses begin in May:-

Sunday 22nd May – Intro to Bee Keeping
Wednesday 1st June – Introduction to Vegetable Gardening
Saturday 11th June – Basket Willow Weaving
Thursday 16th/Friday 17th June – Green woodworking
Friday 15th July – Hurdle making
Sunday 17th July – Children’s Green woodworking
Friday 22nd July – Flintknapping
Saturday 20th August- Beeswax Products

Click here for more information on all courses offered.

Further courses take place right up until October.

To learn more click here to visit the Forest Garden Shovelstrode website.

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Article by Forest Garden Shovelstrode for Rural Smallholdings Magazine

This post was submitted by Forest Garden Shovelstrode.

Slow Summer Snail Farm re-opens its doors for the summer on Saturday 28 May with Kent’s first Snail Festival and hot snails Spanish style, to celebrate National Escargot Day.

Our edible snails, Helix aspersa maxima, will be enjoying the outdoors at Grow at Brogdale right through until the first frost in October. Brogdale Farm at Faversham is the home of the National Fruit Collection so the snails will be looking forward with us to enjoying this year’s fruit crop.

Slow Summer Snail Farm is registered with Kent Children’s University as a Learning Destination. Admission is free but we charge a small amount for taking part in educational activities. In return we provide a workbook for those who want to get their passport stamped together with paper and crayons for drawing and colouring or writing about snails. Some days there will also be snail races or the opportunity to take part in a quiz or make miniature gardens.

Meet the Snails: You can watch the way the snails use their antennae and mouths to explore the world around them: to see, taste and feel

• Admire their brown and gold intricately patterned shells.
• Tempt them with different kinds of vegetables and fruit to find out which they like best.
• Handle the snails and feel them gently exploring your fingers
• See how they use their muscles to move slowly
• Find out about the history of snail farming
• Learn all about these intriguing molluscs

When we first started farming edible snails it was difficult to find the information we needed. That is why we have produced a Smallholder Guide to Rearing Edible Snails. We also offer a predator proof snail pen so that other people can have a small scale set up next to their chicken house to rear snails for their own dinner table.

Our mini snail farms are proving to be a winner with animal lovers, both adults and children. 6 baby snails and everything you need to look after them: the ideal gift for that special occasion.

Live snails prepared for cooking can be ordered and collected at the farm gate and at special events we offer hot and bottled prepared snails for sale.

From 28 May we will be open Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday 10.30 – 3.30 and at other times by arrangements. Telephone 01227 728613 or email info@snailfarm.org.uk. The snails are available to visit schools all year round to take part in Meet the Snails days. They are accompanied by Helen Howard who is a scientist and qualified teacher.

Open Days for teachers will be held on Saturday 21st May 11- 3 and Tuesday 24th May 3 – 4.45 pm.

Click here here to visit the Slow Summer Snail Farm Website.

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Article by CJ Wildlife for Rural Smallholdings Magazine

The 2011 Edible Garden Show is being staged from this Friday 18th March to Sunday 20th March at Britain’s most famous agricultural venue, Stoneleigh Park in Warwickshire.

Billed as ‘THE Ultimate Grow Your Own event for visitors and exhibitors alike’, The Edible Garden Show 2011 will provide a unique opportunity for people from all walks of life, whether town or country dweller, realist or dreamer, novice or experienced gardener to unite with like minded individuals, learn from the professionals and purchase from the wide range of gardening essentials on show.

Whether your interest lies in growing your own fruit and vegetables, running a smallholding, poultry keeping, organic herbs, sausage making, bee keeping, home baking, home brewing, or you just have a general interest in being self sufficient, the Edible Garden Show is the place to visit for all those with an interest in growing your own.

As well as exhibitors, the event will include a host of seminars and a packed programme of practical demonstrations. The British Beekeepers’ Association and The Poultry Club of Great Britain are both supporting this years show and experts from both will be on hand to give demonstrations and advice. The event also has the support of the Women’s Institute. Rachel Green – one of the UK’s foremost authorities on food – has signed up to front the WI Cookery School at the show.

She will join experts from the Women’s Institute’s famous National Cookery School at Denman College, Abingdon, who will be providing cookery demonstrations and offering advice to visitors on everything from preserving, jam-making and pickling to baking your own bread and getting the best out of your home produce.

Diarmuid Gavin, the Mirror’s new gardening correspondent and TV presenter, will be at The Edible Garden Show 2011 on the opening day of the show on Friday 18th March. The popular 46-year-old garden designer fronted a number of BBC programmes including “I Want a Garden,” “Planet Patio” and Home Front with Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen.

His inspirational designs have won him accolades at the Chelsea Flower Show and he is the author of a number of bestselling gardening books including Diarmuid Gavin’s Big Ideas and Outer Spaces. The celebrity gardener who launched his new Daily Mirror column on Saturday March 5 will join the Mirror team on the opening day of the show on Friday 18th March.

Garden Gurus Pippa Greenwood and Paul Peacock will be on hand for help, tips and advice at the show’s Miracle-Gro sponsored ‘Experts Theatre.’ Both renowned for their newspaper and magazine columns and specialist gardening books.

TV Presenter Botanist James Wong, renowned for his award winning “Grow Your Own Drugs” BBC TV series will be talking about Incredible Edibles on Friday March 18th – Offering a light-hearted, dynamic and innovative alternative to conventional ‘spuds and sprouts’ gardening talks, James will be revealing how growing your own can be so much more cutting edge than you might think.

Incredible Edibles reveals the astonishing array of rare, exotic and luxury foods that can be grown by even the most ardent gardening phobic. From Himalayan goji berries and cocktail-sized kiwi fruit, to fragrant saffron and oh-so-trendy wasabi, an enormous range of fruit and veg are not only hardy in our blustery North Atlantic Island, but can unbelievably be easier to grow and more productive than a grow bag of tomatoes.

Visitors to the show can also enjoy a 15% discount for advance booking with current discounted ticket prices being £11 for adults, £9 for children aged 6 and above/Senior Citizens, whilst children under 6 go free. Book now to get your early bird discount.

Tickets may also be purchased at the gate on the day of the event (subject to availability).
Gate Prices: – Adults – £13, Child age 6 – 16 – £11, Child Under 6 – Go free – 1 Free with a paying adult, Senior citizen 60+ – £11

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Article by Rural Smallholdings Magazine

Derek and Jeannie

This year marks the 50th Anniversary of the publishing of the book ‘A Gull On The Roof’ by Derek Tangye. Who is Derek Tangye you may well ask and what has he to do with smallholding? You may not have previously heard of him as Derek and his Wife Jeannie long ago fulfilled their smallholding dreams and are no longer with us. However they live on in Derek’s many books which often complete with illustrations by Jeannie, chronicle the fulfilment of their dream to move to Cornwall and live a humbler more self sufficient 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 most of us do 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.

To mark the 50th anniversary of the very first instalment of what have now become known as the ‘Minack Chronicles’, the Friends of Minack Society , a group of people brought together by their common love of Derek’s books, are launching a new book to recelebrate the books and to introduce them to a whole new generation of readers.

‘The Minack Chronicles Revisited’ not only includes a special 50th Anniversary edition of the very first book ‘A Gull On The Roof’, but tells the story of Derek and Jeannie Tangye themselves. With well over 200 pages, it includes the fascinating background story of Derek and Jeannie, of how they met and came to Minack, interviews with their friends and characters that featured in the Chronicles, together with an appreciation of the beautiful part of West Cornwall that became their home and later Oliver Lane Nature Reserve.

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.

‘The Minack Chronicles Revisited’ is due to be released in March, but you can pre order your copy now by visiting the Friends of Minack Society website and registering to obtain your copy.

For most of us the dream of self sufficiency, owning and running a smallholding or 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.

We thoroughly recommend The Minack Chronicles having been inspired by them decades ago ourselves, to anyone looking to start a life of self sufficiency and away from the madding crowd.

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 and to register and pre order the new book.

Article by Rural Smallholdings Magazine

“There’s no good flock without a good shepherd, and no good shepherd without a good dog.”

It’s a hackneyed saying in sheepdog circles, but no less true for that. Whether you have 16 or 600 sheep, a dog under good command will save your time and your temper, not to mention avoid unnecessary stress for the sheep.

But how to achieve the “dog under good command”? A trained dog will often cost several thousands of pounds. The price reflects the cost saving of the dog’s work, often replacing a full or part-time employee, and the hours and patience spent training the dog from puppyhood upwards.

For the smallholder with a small commercial or hobby flock, the cost may be impractical or plain impossible, but if you can spare 15 to 30 minutes, a few times a week, you can train your own dog to gather and control your sheep.

The process is quite straightforward. Once the dog’s interest has been aroused it needs to learn to circle the sheep calmly, without “cutting in” and scattering them, while keeping a good distance between itself and the sheep. The dog needs to learn to move the sheep to you, to balance them and to flank smoothly around them in both directions on command. It needs to walk up confidently on its sheep, and it needs to stop on command too. These are the basics on which to build, but a dog working even at this level will be earning its keep as well as providing a great companion.

Andy Nickless has helped hundreds of Border collies, and Border collie handlers, on the path to effective sheep work through his successful and popular sheepdog training classes. This expertise is now available on DVD to help anyone get their collie started with sheep – “First Steps in Border Collie Sheepdog Training – From Chaos to Control” .

At the start of training collies will largely fall into one of four categories: disinterested; rough and reckless; the “stand and stare” type; or the natural performer who’s just born to it. Needless to say, the first three are the most difficult to deal with, but “First Steps” shows examples of all three types of dog, and how to work around the initial challenges.

Whether you already have a farm collie around the place or want to start with a new puppy, “First Steps in Border Collie Sheepdog Training” is a DVD to guide any newcomer through the early stages of training your own sheepdog. Made for the complete novice to sheepdog handling, the two-DVD set explains how the dog works, and why, how the sheep will influence the dog and your training, and how you can work with the dog’s natural instinct and ability to become an effective working partnership.

No prior knowledge is assumed, and unlike many other training DVDs on the market, “First Steps” also shows how things can go wrong – and how to correct them.

The Working Sheepdog website contains a wealth of information about training and common commands, as well as a range of DVDs of interest to sheepdog enthusiasts in the online DVD store.

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Article by Gill Watson for Rural Smallholdings Magazine

This post was submitted by Gill Watson.

Once winter chill sets in, you start looking for things that you can do around the smallholding that don’t require you to work out in the damp and wind. At the same time, temperatures are usually mild enough in most of the UK for smallholders in the drier English counties of Essex, Cambridgeshire, Suffolk and Norfolk to take advantage of dry spells to plant out winter hardy seedlings of spinach, cabbage, kale, broccoli and cauliflower.

If you live in the wetter areas of the UK or are plagued with the snow this year, December is best left to laying plans for the next year. Unless you get an unexpected break in the weather, many building projects just don’t make sense, unless they involve refurbishing the indoors.

Looking Back and Looking Forward

Before you start laying plans for the coming year, take a look back at the year drawing to a close. What worked? What didn’t? Did you have a budget? If you did, how well did your expenditures agree with that budget?

Now, look at the coming year. Make a list of things you would like to do in the next year.

 Do you plan on a selling produce at market? Then go through the seed catalogues and select the crops you want to grow. If a certain variety has done well for you in the past, stick with it. For example, the tomato Early Girl does well in areas where summers are short and cool. You want to place your seed order this month so you have seed in time to start seedlings in January and February for the cold-weather crops and February and March for warmer weather crops.

 Do you plan on selling eggs? Then work up a budget that includes all the costs you will have, chicken coop repairs, feed, ground oyster shells or other calcium source, etc. Make sure you will be able to turn a profit.

 Develop a garden layout for the produce you plan to grow. This includes planning crop rotations and succession plantings.

 Start looking for new marketing ideas, especially if you want to expand your market. Maybe you have products that you can produce on your small holding that could become value added products—fresh strawberries can become jam, syrup, dried nuggets, blueberries can become jam, syrup, dried berries and frozen pies, apples can become chunky applesauce, butter, dried rings, fruit leather and frozen pies. If you develop flavour intense recipes using wholesome ingredients, you can ask higher prices than the grocery stores.

 Develop some definite marketing plans based on your goals.

 Develop an action plan. Schedule when each task needs to be done and assign someone to do it. Now is the time to develop the general overview for the year and then break everything down into jobs that need to be completed within certain time frames.

 Most importantly, make sure you draft a budget that includes all of your overhead. Remember to include all the business costs—petrol for the small tractor and/or rototiller, seeds and seedlings, bedding for the animals, mulch for the fruit trees, etc. Only by taking the time to look at your real costs can you develop a plan that turns your smallholding into a profit-making venture.

December is the perfect time to look back over the previous year. And it is the best time to look toward the coming year. You will never regret taking the time during this holiday centered month to start preparing for the coming prosperous year.

Wishing you Happy Holidays and a Prosperous New Year.

Still looking for Your Smallholding? Visit Greenshifters for the latest smallholdings for sale, rent and exchange.

Article by Denise Rutledge for Rural Smallholdings Magazine

For all those harvesting the crops on their smallholdings, allotments and in their gardens this month, we’d just like to wish you all a Happy Halloween. We decided to try growing squashes for the first time this year and have had great success. We were put off in the past because we thought they would be hard work, need too much watering and so have been putting off growing them for a few years, but they really were easy and very productive.

We’d also like to share this inspiring video from Ecoworks Nottingham which shows their amazing squash harvest this year, all 2.5 tonnes of them! Ecoworks activities are based on Community Gardens and the FRESH Market Garden and Training Centre, both on the Hungerhill Gardens Allotment Site in St. Ann’s, Nottingham.

Ecoworks is a community organisation with the interests of people and the environment at its heart. They exist to promote the interests and personal development of people who are socially disadvantaged by delivering activities connected with the conservation, restoration and enhancement of the environment.

Click here to visit the Ecoworks website to find out more about:

• Organic vegetable and fruit growing
• Healthy eating courses
• Accredited horticulture training
• Craft workshops including strawbale building and willow weaving
• Chemical-free veg boxes
• Harvest Cafe (vegetarian and vegan catering van)
• Volunteering opportunities (growing, IT, cooking, admin, catering, stalls and festival events)
• Mental Health Support on their community gardens. Also the home of Straw Bale Building.

Still looking for Your Smallholding? Visit Greenshifters for the latest smallholdings for sale, rent and exchange.

Article by Rural Smallholdings Magazine

With the debut of the Edible Garden Show being postponed until 2011, the planning for next years show is well underway and they are currently offering early bird rates to exhibitors.

Billed as ‘THE Ultimate Grow Your Own event for visitors and exhibitors alike’, the Edible Garden Show will provide a unique opportunity for exhibitors to present their products and services to the buying public and stands are available to book now. Exhibitors can currently enjoy up to 25% discount but this offer ends on the 30th of September 2010 so book now to avoid disappointment.

The 2011 Edible Garden Show is being staged from Friday 18th March to Sunday 20th March at Britain’s most famous agricultural venue, Stoneleigh Park in Warwickshire.

The Edible Garden Show 2011 will provide a unique opportunity for people from all walks of life, whether town or country dweller, realist or dreamer, novice or experienced gardener to unite with like minded individuals, learn from the professionals and purchase from the wide range of gardening essentials on show.

Whether your interest lies in growing your own fruit and vegetables, running a smallholding, poultry keeping, organic herbs, sausage making, bee keeping, home baking, home brewing, or you just have a general interest in being self sufficient, the Edible Garden Show is the place to visit for all those with an interest in growing your own.

As well as exhibitors, the event will include a host of seminars and a packed programme of practical demonstrations. The British Beekeepers’ Association and The Poultry Club of Great Britain are both supporting this years show and experts from both will be on hand to give demonstrations and advice. The event also has the support of the Women’s Institute. Experts from the WI’s famous National Cookery School at Denman College, Abingdon, will be providing cookery demonstrations and offering advice to visitors on everything from preserving, jam-making and pickling to baking your own bread.

Visitors to the show can also enjoy a 15% discount for advance booking with current discounted ticket prices being £11 for adults, £9 for children aged 6 and above/Senior Citizens, whilst children under 6 go free. Book now to get your early bird discount.

Still looking for Your Smallholding? Visit Greenshifters for the latest smallholdings for sale, rent and exchange.

Article by Rural Smallholdings Magazine

In January 2010, a new European Union grant was announced, aimed at improving rural internet access in Wales. Despite advances in broadband and wireless technology, many rural areas in the UK still have problems with the internet access which is increasingly vital for individual communications and business development.

Even in the twenty-first century, some very remote rural homesteads in the UK have only been connected to the electricity and telephone grids for a couple of years. And with broadband signals only able to travel along conventional phone lines for a short distance, special technology and planning is needed to get the furthest-out smallholders and farmers online. Isolated Welsh lamb and dairy farmers have been forced to give up trying to sell to some processing companies and wholesalers, because as email becomes the standard means of communication for most businesses, they simply can’t keep up.

Rural Communications Solutions, a Cumbria-based firm specialising in getting internet access to rural ‘not-spots,’ cites bypassing by mainstream internet service providers as a problem. Getting services to remote houses, villages and smallholdings simply isn’t cost-effective for web providers geared to supplying cheap broadband to urban mass markets. Suppliers like RCS have to find ways to get strong wireless internet signals to remote sites, without resorting to the kind of controversial and unsightly aerials used by the mobile phone networks.

But as Ieuan Wyn Jones, Deputy first minister of Wales, said of the EU grant, “In the 21st Century, it is vital that people in all parts of Wales gain access to a high-speed internet service, and it is essential that businesses are fully equipped with the right information communications technology (ICT) infrastructure to compete successfully in a global market.” As well as the ability to access the web, good internet connections also offer rural communities the opportunity to run their own websites, communicate via email, and save on phone costs by using VOIP (voice over internet protocol) calls.

And for smallholders looking for ways to maintain a livelihood from rural locations, the internet is becoming non-negotiable. According to Isobel Davies of Izzy Lane, a designer clothes company which uses wool from sheep kept on her own small farm in Yorkshire, “the website is vital for sales. I think any smallholder will find that if you try to sell through shops the mark-up they have to put on products can make them unsaleable. With clothes, retailers often mark up 250% so if you have a high-quality, high-cost product to start with, the prices become ridiculous and in a recession no shop is going to take that kind of risk. Which is why the internet is brilliant, because if you sell direct to consumers you retain that margin instead.”

Chris Bailey, who with wife Suzie runs Whithorn Lodge B&B from his smallholding in Dumfries & Galloway, also depends on the internet for much of his trade. “Most people come because they see the website, they see that we have the rare breed animals running free range and that’s what sets us apart.” Although the Baileys do get some B&B trade via word-of-mouth and repeat custom, being able to access the internet is key to their business, and to many other rural enterprises. And this is a tool which is still unavailable to many inhabitants of rural areas, especially in Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales and the North and West of England.

Still looking for Your Smallholding? Visit Greenshifters for the latest smallholdings for sale, rent and exchange.

Article by Sarah Irving for Rural Smallholdings Magazine

Photo Courtesy of East Devon Guide