Qualified and registered farrier based in Pembrokeshire. Offering a friendly and reliable service cov
26/04/2025
Hi guys - heres the first post, the welcome post , the warning…. I’m a complete over sharing, ridiculously excited and really wanted a place to remember our whole journey, so setting up this page will allow me to do this, to share and take you along for the ride if you want to join 🙂
Yesterday, the 25th of April 2025 we completed on our land … to some ‘it’s just a field’ but to us - it’s been a dream for so long, it’s freedom, it’s security, it’s excitement, it’s plans, it’s our future …. But still, it’s just a field 😉
Over the years iv kept my horses at my parents, at livery yards, iv rented a yard, iv kept them at friends, iv rented fields but nothing feels as good as having your horses on your own land (ok … nothing feels as good as having your horses at home but we couldn’t afford that with the crazy world and in increase in house prices since Covid in Pembrokeshire so I’ll take the next best thing!) looking forward to the future - there is a beautiful bundle of houses opposite the field , and also one of our favourite villages is 1.2 miles away from the field. I’m not quite at ‘crazy Charlotte’ mode where I go knocking on all the doors asking if they want to sell … (I may have been around and knocked on one 😝)
We have lots of exciting plans which will set us up to having the perfect little set up. We are getting a very experienced and recommended planning expert in to help us get everything right. when I talk about my plans, I sound like I’m on a champagne budget when really it’s more lemonade, but over time we will get there. Being a very impulsive and get on with it person , this is going to be the hardest part for me. I want so much done yesterday and find it so hard to just sit back and rely on other people’s time scales - reminiscing the solicitors , saying they had to treat my emails as letters taking over a week to reply and couldn’t reply like I had sent them a text! Which in my eyes was completely crazy and what’s the point of moving forward in the world if you have to go at the old pace?! But took a deep breath and completing within 6 weeks was a win! They definitely gave in and just wanted to get rid of me!
I will be documenting everything that goes on , the good the bad and the ugly. There will the smiles but I’m sure there will be tears and tantrums to over come too.
Here’s a list of the essentials and what we have to crack on with first -
Water mains supply to the field, I have already got on with this, applying for a quote from Welsh water - this quote alone costs £155 , and they then give you a actual quote to connect mains water which can be anything from £500-£5000. Then ‘digger Dave’ will come to do all the ground works for the main supply and water troughs in the separate paddocks.
A storage container on site - for the hay, feed (… a quad when we buy one!) unfortunately we have already had our first bump the road as the local council have said we can not just put a storage container on the land after a ‘permitted development’ application (£25) which was originally advised by their team, after seeking advice from them - instead we need to put in for full planning permission for a movable storage container…. Which we will now do. Ticking all the boxes ✔️
We will be putting in for planning for the stables as well - which was going to be at a later date, but as we are getting a planning expert involved- I think we should get everything we want draw up together and apply in one go. My lovely Volkswagen transporter will be going up for sale once the plans get passed , and I’ll be replacing with a cheap runaround …. As that’s a big chunk of the building itself.
If you got this far - you’re invested in the journey and would love for you to come along and follow this page for updates.
Lots of love the James’
