We moved to the countryside and gave up our stressed-filled city lives in exchange for wellies, nature, fresh air and sustainable living. We’ve called this project My Home Farm.
After a year-long house hunt, which took us 14,500 miles across the length and breadth of the United Kingdom, we found our ideal property in the rural British countryside surrounded by rolling hills and lots of wildlife, and so far there hasn’t been a dull moment.
We moved into a renovated Victorian farmhouse (built around 1850) along with a 2-acre field in the Welsh Borders and our lives have changed completely. The plan is to be as self-sufficient and eco-friendly as possible, with a focus on personal health and well-being.
With that in mind, we’ve taken on many home improvement and DIY projects to achieve our goal.
Most things are still new to us and there have already been numerous challenges that we’ve had to overcome (like rebuilding a Victorian chimney on our house that was in urgent need of repair), but progress has been steady and many lessons have been learnt.
Watch and follow us as we discover home DIY, sustainable living, making our home as green, eco-friendly and sustainable as possible, growing and making our own, along with our success and mishaps.
What’s important to us
- Sustainable, environmentally-friendly central heating (air source heat pump)
- Solar PV for the production of carbon neutral electricity
- DIY
- Being self-sustainable and eco-friendly
- Smart home technology
- Home improvements including projects and product review
- Healthy living
- Relevant reviews relating to our editorial focus
Website Stats
In 2020, we had 575,426 page views from 216,043 visitors on our blog – verified by Google Analytics.
In 2021, we had 842,553 page views from 342,221 visitors on our blog – verified by Google Analytics
YouTube Stats
We started our YouTube channel in 2019 to share our experience of moving to the countryside. As of April 2021 we have over 2,000 subscribers, 350,000 video views and over 100 videos.
Awards
We won the Sustainable Living Blog of the Year 2021 as part of the SME News UK Enterprise Awards because of the way that we talk about our sustainable, eco-friendly lifestyle that covers gardening, DIY, smart home technology, renewable energy and heating, heat pumps and healthy, country, outdoor living on our picturesque smallholding in the Welsh Borders.
2021 Media Kit
Our 2021 media kit and production calendar is available – if you would like to receive a copy, please simply request one via our contact form.
6 comments
Love the site and your journey to a more sustainable lifestyle. Our journey has some parallels with yours so your experiences are very helpful to us. Thank you!
Just watched your comment on heatpump.
You have just confirmed my belief. I am a retired air conditioning engineer and have ocasionaly worked on reverse heat units mainly in offices, it means they will go into reverse cycle blowing heat or cooling as required.
I have always believed there is an outside temperature at which they become unecomical and it would be more economical to put the electricity directly into the house when I have voiced I have been poo pared “rodiculed” for saying this but thank you you have just proven this.
One way to over come this is use water from the bottom of a pond or ground source during low temps but the extra cost of installation so probably better to torn of heat pump and turn on fan heaters, this could be automated.
Thanks again.
The issue we face is that the Government places extra taxes on electricity in the UK, charging the highest rates in Europe, which makes electrification more expensive and is currently subsidising fossil fuels like gas. Until the Government changes taxation on electricity, and makes a fair and just transition, this additional cost will act as a barrier to heat pump adoption and slow the path of decarbonising our homes. Heat pumps are some of the most efficient and costs effective forms of heating and you just have to look at Finland, which has installed so many and this is all down to the price of electricity and the positive tax incentives, which include low electricity and VAT rates etc. The Government must reduce and remove tariffs and the additional taxes placed on low carbon electricity, so we all move over to heat pumps quickly. Using positive tax incentives has always been a driver of behaviour change and reducing the cost of electricity will help with that transition.
I completely agree with David. The government are holding back their own goals! People also need a better understanding of their overall consumption per KWh. The costs banded about for electricity caps and increases are all in pounds not price per KWh and will be different for everyone. We moved to a Far Infrared heating system in early 2020 partly in response to news that gas would be phased out in the next few years but we also loved the idea of a carbon free at output system. The panels are 100% efficient, there are no maintenance costs and relatively low installation costs as we were re-wiring anyway but were also half the price of a heat pump. Seemed a perfect solution! We had to make a quick decision due to a gas leak we couldn’t find and we were refurbishing and insulating as we went along. We found a green electricity tariff at 11p per kW and whilst still more expensive than gas we were lucky it was manageable until we could finish improving loft insulation, new windows and floor insulation in our 1960’s house. Jump to October 21, our energy supplier went bust so we were transferred to a new rate of 20p per kW….ouch! almost double already for us! We now can’t switch due to the cap which is also set to rise and other suppliers want 30-33p per kWh and this may increase further they say….
We used 13,500 KWh in 2021 which was our entire energy consumption with leaky windows to boot which we thought was quite low in comparison to KWh used for duel fuel homes….we were looking forward to reducing this further as home improvements were made but now our electricity bill has already jumped from £1485 to £2700 and could possibly reach £4455 if 33p per KWh stays and I dread to think if it increases any further. This with other cost of living rises significantly slows down our ability to replace old windows and insulate. We looked at solar panels but are restricted to a 4kw system and winter production doesn’t touch our consumption requirements of up to 60 KWh on the coldest of days so whilst on the wish list, they’re not a priority. We are therefore seriously considering cutting our losses and going back to gas and installing log burners…..What a mess!
I have just come across Home Farm by searching for information about heat pumps…still looking for a magic solution…..
Thank you for sharing your experience. I look forward to finding out more about your adventures so far.
We are planning to move to Wales and looking for the best way of heating our 350m2 space.
Thanks for all your great and useful information though I’m still confused as not sure if air pump or heat pump are the best options if cost to install are so high and running cost as well as the cost of electricity is keeps on going up.
Hi Nim. It is a big decision to make. If you have any other questions, I’d suggest you the join the forums on our sister site where you can get feedback from other homeowners across the UK: https://renewableheatinghub.co.uk/forums