Alan and Sue Hall

Resourceful sea-dog (Engineer) and hard working city chick (Retail Manager) (Married) wishing a radical life style change, seek three bed property with space to live the ‘good life’ (veggies and chickens), ideally in a rural setting or on a farm in the Oxford, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire, Hampshire area.

Alan and Sue Hall

“The training we have done has been great. It was something we needed as we are investing in a new business.”

 

Training for the Good Life.

This quirky advert in the Farmers Guardian led to Jointers Farm, Oxford - with four-and-a-half acres and a six-acre paddock – just right for the good life.

Alan, an engineer, and Sue, a former retail manager, have all kinds of training and skills, but not the qualifications for rearing chickens and pigs, felling trees and raising fences.

The couple’s three-year plan is set to transform the farm into a self-sufficient home and business.

Alan and Sue have taken training in:

• Logging
• Tractor driving
• Pig rearing
• Chicken care
• Vermiculture - breeding composting worms.

They also plan to study horticulture so they can increase their productivity.

Sue said: “The training we have done has been great. It was something we needed and as we are investing in a new business, every bit of help was welcome.

“We’re planting fruit trees and bushes, we’ve invested in a polytunnel, and we’re doing a lot of fencing and ditching in anticipation of getting the pigs which will all be rare breeds. We are also waiting for our first lavender plants to arrive.”

Their first objective was to feed themselves by growing vegetables and raising chickens. 

In five years Alan and Sue hope to have an established brand and buy a site. “Although we have both been exposed to marketing already, we would like some training on how to establish our identity, present and properly market Hallshaw Ltd.”