Now I'm no gardener, but…

[flint]

Not too good in the UK either. The lack of respect for the land does me wonder about things to come, the farming and chemical company lobbyists are very influential here, but sustainability is another matter altogether.

 

[clivehorridge]

It's very hard to have both, that is high crop yields and environmentally sustainable farming.

Here crops are planted and they yield what they do or fail. There's very little chemicals used, and failures are widespread due to drought or storms.

 

[Towpack]

When you live on a relatively small overcrowded island like the UK where land is at a premium then priorities are different. Max £ per acre seems to be the No. 1 IMO, wether it's crop yields or cramming the max number of houses/dwellings on a given plot of building land.

 

[flint]

It is a difficult balance, but what doesn’t get aired much is the effect that farming is having globally. The Chatham House report (here: https://www.chathamhouse.org/sites/...rgottenSectorBaileyFroggattWellesleyFinal.pdf ) makes for interesting reading on the subject. Of course, it pays to see who is behind various "facts" published, so many "scientific" studies have somewhat biased sponsors paying the piper.

 

[StarCruiser]

That looks real beauty if my wife saw that she would tell me that we must have a hideaway like that.so it looks like you have plenty of space and as regards water we have a 5000gal Concrete water tank for the house and we have cleaned it out about 3 times in about 45 years but I did have the water
tested and it was purer than city water.I did that for a bet with the county engineer
who forecast doom for all who used their own water.I reckon all the things that go in the tank must build up resistance to nasties.

It's great Pat. Arrived direct from the factory in Germany on the biggest artic allowed with a piggy back fork lift on the back and a kindly German in the front. Lynn and I got it up to the eaves in a day and every piece is numbered to match the plan. They even sent spare logs! It's 70mm thick and stays pretty warm with a 2Kw electric heater on a thermostat. Mind you, we put 125mm (5") of Celotex polyurethane insulation on the roof and 50mm (2") under the floor.

We love it and use it as our home office. Lynn not so secretly wants it to be more of a summer house. It's a nice space. 5.5m x4m about 18' X 13'.

 

[Pat]

It's great Pat. Arrived direct from the factory in Germany on the biggest artic allowed with a piggy back fork lift on the back and a kindly German in the front. Lynn and I got it up to the eaves in a day and every piece is numbered to match the plan. They even sent spare logs! It's 70mm thick and stays pretty warm with a 2Kw electric heater on a thermostat. Mind you, we put 125mm (5") of Celotex polyurethane insulation on the roof and 50mm (2") under the floor.

We love it and use it as our home office. Lynn not so secretly wants it to be more of a summer house. It's a nice space. 5.5m x4m about 18' X 13'.

My wife has had a look at your cottage and loves it.We both had a good look at your house and section and it seems that you have privacy and good living
spaces

 

[StarCruiser]

My wife has had a look at your cottage and loves it.We both had a good look at your house and section and it seems that you have privacy and good living
spaces

Thanks Pat and Mrs Pat. It had belonged to a much loved old lady who had passed away and had been empty for some time and was in need of renovation. We hadn't done much with the front garden except managed what was there. Lynn had emptied the front border and planted it up. We completely altered the back in 2011 giving us the office with some space behind for a shed, greenhouse and some raised beds where Lynn spends a lot of her time.

I rebuilt the verges and replaced the fascias, soffits and gutters in 2013. We haven't done much on the inside except installed the log burner and completed the spare bedroom after we moved the office into the cabin.

We will be replacing the remainder of the windows this year as they are still the old Crittal metal framed single glazed variety.

It's spacious and we do have privacy,it's on a good road with plenty of space and we have good neighbours all round. They pack new build houses in so tight these days it feels claustrophobic. We've been fortunate with this one and it's the longest we've lived anywhere.

We had a 100+ year old 4 bed house called The Croft before and completed it to a high standard with roll top bath and period features but it was on a major road that got busier so we moved. I loved it and was really down for months after. This one is great, but I don't love it like The Croft. We're getting there though.

 

[Pat]

Thanks Pat and Mrs Pat. It had belonged to a much loved old lady who had passed away and had been empty for some time and was in need of renovation. We hadn't done much with the front garden except managed what was there. Lynn had emptied the front border and planted it up. We completely altered the back in 2011 giving us the office with some space behind for a shed, greenhouse and some raised beds where Lynn spends a lot of her time.

I rebuilt the verges and replaced the fascias, soffits and gutters in 2013. We haven't done much on the inside except installed the log burner and completed the spare bedroom after we moved the office into the cabin.

We will be replacing the remainder of the windows this year as they are still the old Crittal metal framed single glazed variety.

It's spacious and we do have privacy,it's on a good road with plenty of space and we have good neighbours all round. They pack new build houses in so tight these days it feels claustrophobic. We've been fortunate with this one and it's the longest we've lived anywhere.

We had a 100+ year old 4 bed house called The Croft before and completed it to a high standard with roll top bath and period features but it was on a major road that got busier so we moved. I loved it and was really down for months after. This one is great, but I don't love it like The Croft. We're getting there though.

Thanks for the reply,The name Bognor Regis has always fascinated me so I looked it up on google earth.I have only been to the UK once and was not something I had planned.In 94 I was obliged to go to SA for a rugby meeting
and the day or so before I left NZ my darling wife told me that she had booked
me to go onto England to see our eldest son and his wife in Nuneaton.
I don't like travelling and only went to the meeting in South Africa because I had to.The hospitality in SA was great,5 days at Sabisabi reserve in Kruger Park.Then onto England,a train from a monopoly station to the Midlands
and son .in laws took me to their door.He didn't know I was coming,so after they had cleaned themselves up,never thought they would mess their pants.
They took me out to terrorise the natives including one day having a few drinks at lunchtime with a couple of surgeons who were operating on some bloke when they got back to work.No wonder Kiwis are boozers it came from the old
country.My wife a couple of years later encouraged me to do a trip to Aussie with a couple of mates.I didn't like the idea because she could then say you had a trip so now it's my turn.Well sure enough that's what happened,I phoned her from a beach in Auss and she told me she was booking to go to the UK,from Devon all the way up to the Orkneys.I begged and pleaded with her that it would break the bank and my so called mates in the background are yelling into the phone.Go for it Margaret don't leave his dough for the moths,spend it.
Well when I got back home she was packed,ready to go,but she looked after me
'twas a collar and tie man then and she had ironed 42 shirts for me.One for each day of my suffering.The shock of realising I had all those shirts rendered me speechless and I must have mumbled a farewell.
So while I never saw Bognor Regis I reckon Margaret has seen the lot.

 

[StarCruiser]

Well I hope it looked better on Google Earth than it does from down here Pat. We are actually just outside to the right in a village called Felpham. The village itself is quite old and nice in parts. William Blake is said to have penned the Hymn Jerusalem in one of the cottages there. Bognor is ok I guess. Half of it is a Butlins holiday camp though they have three massive hotels in there now and many of the old chalets are gone. We have a problem where the local council is in the next town so that gets all the good stuff and Bognor gets treated as a 'dormitory' to quote the planners. There been 20 or more years of wrangling and wasted money and nothing done but blocks of flats built where nice old buildings once stood. It should be a prosperous seaside town but I think Butlins keeps all their visitors within so much of their money doesn't get spent in the town.

We have had some new stuff and positivity of late. A bypass opened earlier this year much to our relief, though part of this was poorly handled. We have also seen a massive warehouse for Rolls Royce parts and further out of town shops opening. Though I do believe this sort of thing kills off the towns, especially Tesco.

It's home for now anyway, and if you google a bit further afield to Arundel and slightly North, there's some lovely countryside and villages about. We do live in a nice part of the world with all that on our doorstep. I just wish they wouldn't keep building houses on it.

 

[clivehorridge]

My brother lived on his boat for 7 years at littlehampton before buying a house there. He worked at Arundel at a plant research institute

 

[StarCruiser]

My brother lived on his boat for 7 years at littlehampton before buying a house there. He worked at Arundel at a plant research institute

Would that have been Glasshouse Crops Research Institute at Rustington?

 

[clivehorridge]

Would that have been Glasshouse Crops Research Institute at Rustington?

That's the one Rich.

 

[StarCruiser]

That's the one Rich.

That was on a huge site. Now a rather large housing estate I'm afraid. Along with anything on the outskirts of a town round here.

 

[Pat]

That's the one Rich.

when we started in the hothouse tomato game,we were as green as grass and we got a lot of books on the subject from England.So the scholars of Mother England held our hands and guided us on our way.I'll see if I can find the books as they may have orginated from your research station.

 

[Pat]

Well I hope it looked better on Google Earth than it does from down here Pat. We are actually just outside to the right in a village called Felpham. The village itself is quite old and nice in parts. William Blake is said to have penned the Hymn Jerusalem in one of the cottages there. Bognor is ok I guess. Half of it is a Butlins holiday camp though they have three massive hotels in there now and many of the old chalets are gone. We have a problem where the local council is in the next town so that gets all the good stuff and Bognor gets treated as a 'dormitory' to quote the planners. There been 20 or more years of wrangling and wasted money and nothing done but blocks of flats built where nice old buildings once stood. It should be a prosperous seaside town but I think Butlins keeps all their visitors within so much of their money doesn't get spent in the town.

We have had some new stuff and positivity of late. A bypass opened earlier this year much to our relief, though part of this was poorly handled. We have also seen a massive warehouse for Rolls Royce parts and further out of town shops opening. Though I do believe this sort of thing kills off the towns, especially Tesco.

It's home for now anyway, and if you google a bit further afield to Arundel and slightly North, there's some lovely countryside and villages about. We do live in a nice part of the world with all that on our doorstep. I just wish they wouldn't keep building houses on it.

Jerusalem,different words of course was one of our favourite rugby songs.

 

[clivehorridge]

when we started in the hothouse tomato game,we were as green as grass and we got a lot of books on the subject from England.So the scholars of Mother England held our hands and guided us on our way.I'll see if I can find the books as they may have orginated from your research station.

It's quite funny, when I talk to brother Jon about gardening, he's all about pollips and cell divisions, he seems to know nothing about plants

He's written several scientific papers with some acclaim though, I'm quite proud of him really!

 

[StarCruiser]

It's quite funny, when I talk to brother Jon about gardening, he's all about pollips and cell divisions, he seems to know nothing about plants

He's written several scientific papers with some acclaim though, I'm quite proud of him really!

You should show him my Landcruiser gardening Clive. You may get stunned silence.

 

[clivehorridge]

You should show him my Landcruiser gardening Clive. You may get stunned silence.

He'd appreciate that Rich, he's always pulling stuff out that's got out of hand. Trouble is, he's got an old Mondeo estate!

 

[StarCruiser]

Plant V Old Mondeo… I know which one my money would be on.

 

[clivehorridge]

Plant V Old Mondeo… I know which one my money would be on.

It is a diesel...