FROM TOWN TO THE COUNTRYSIDE
COUNCIL HOUSE EXCHANGE

Stevenage to Dyfed (Continued)

Another objection was that his family was too large. He had 4 children including a son of 18 years. The fact that both houses were three- bed-roomed was not relevant as far as the council was concerned. Lodgings were found for the 18 year old son, but I believe that shortly after the move he was back at home. We moved on January 3rd, 1977, on a cold wet day, using one van, which did both moves, so halving the cost for both parties. It took another year for me to succeed in renting an unfurnished farm cottage. I used to visit farmers or keep an eye out for any empty cottages: I advertised in local papers and in village shops. Finally I was lucky enough to get a small cottage, unfurnished at a reasonable rent, with approximately 2 acre garden, surrounded by farm land. Access is by farm track. I am now able to keep ducks, chickens, pigs and two calves. The farm is helpful and able to supply me with hay, straw and grain in return for help on the farm.

My wife Valerie has started a small patchwork business which we are going to call Paskesten Patchwork. I do chair seat and back -re-caning with seating cane on all furniture that people bring me to repair, also rush re-seating. Our two children, Sandra aged 8 years and Simon aged 5 years are much healthier and happier for the change in our way of life.

There are still problems of course, nothing in life is ideal. We would like to buy the cottage we are in later on if it becomes possible so that certain improvements to it can be made. But our existence is more meaningful and interesting and the whole exercise was certainly worth the effort as far as I am concerned.

A main consideration is finance. College courses are expensive and we felt that we couldn't pay for all the tuition fees etc. ourselves. Theoretically I am a teacher looking for work in other fields (if you'll excuse the pun!) because of the cutbacks in education. Therefore I approached the government retraining scheme - Training Opportunities Scheme (TOPS) - and after a series of interviews 'they' agreed to sponsor me for a place at agri-cultural college. My place is called an 'infill' because I am taking part in an already existing course, as opposed to one run exclusively by TOPS. At one time this scheme was unwilling to cater for those who intended to be self-employed, but as unemployment continues to increase they have widened their horizons.

While I am at college, Paul will also be studying. He is going to another local college, again with TOPS sponsorship, to study for a Diploma in Management Studies. He has already had several years experience in systems engineering and some administrative/organisa-tional experience in various alternative movements. When we move to a small-holding and have become established, we hope that Paul will be able to start up a small business with others, maybe on a co--operative basis. At the moment he has lots of ideas and enthusiasm but feels that he needs to know more about the techniques of runn-ing a business. There are courses which cater specifically for small businesses, but for various reasons the DMS seemed more suitable. TOPS courses are available to anyone who has been out of full-time education for three years. Information on them is avail-able from your local Department of Employment. So much for theory, what about the practical side of things? We will need lots of money to buy a small-holding. This is one reason why we are joining forces with another couple. We think that we will get more value for money by pooling resources and then sharing land and buildings: We have a reasonable sum of money because both of us have put a lot of hard work into improving our houses and thus amass-ing capital. Maybe some people disapprove but at our age (mid '20s) this and hard saving is the only way we can afford to start up a place of our own. Of course, we realise that even having been to college we will both make plenty of mistakes and still, no doubt, find ourselves short of cash on occasions. However, we hope that at least we have given ourselves a reasonable basis for our 'simple life'.