BY ALLISON LEE
How incredibly fortuitous that our first year in North Yorkshire has turned out to be one of the UK’s warmest and sunniest on record, with the first half of summer bringing no fewer than three heatwaves. Given that one of the reasons for our move from West to North Yorkshire was the brutal weather conditions, things are turning out well.
Our previous smallholding was perched 1,200 feet above sea level on the outskirts of the Pennines, where the weather could be brutal all year round, with strong winds and seemingly endless rain. We found it difficult to grow anything, and even the simplest of tasks on the smallholding were fraught with problems because of the unyielding altitude and brutal exposure to the elements.
Moving to a tiny village in North Yorkshire with a couple of farms and a church, used once a month for a congregation of perhaps half a dozen people, isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but for me, it is paradise. I can see my four-and-a-half acres of land from practically every window of the house, enabling me to keep a close eye on the menagerie of animals I keep at all times of the day.
The donkeys graze idly in the paddock, watched closely by a couple of greedy Shetland ponies, who are on strict diets to prevent laminitis, and the goats can be seen soaking up the sun on wooden pallets and decking. Pigs wallow in the mud bath before taking to the shade, and the sheep gather around their shelter, lounging in the gentle breeze.
We have moorhens on the most picturesque wildlife pond, heavily laden with water lilies, which holds an abundance of fish. There are swifts roosting in the stables and a resident woodpecker who comes for breakfast most mornings – what more could anyone want?
2025 has been quite the adventure for my husband and me. Some thought us mad when we declared that we were selling up and moving counties, whilst others wished us well and couldn’t wait to visit us in our new abode.
Early retirement made us think long and hard about where we wanted to spend the remaining years of our lives. With the animals to consider, a smallholding in a rural part of the North Yorkshire countryside seemed the idyllic solution, and so far, so good.
We have planted a small orchard, and instead of the leaves turning brown from the relentless wind, the trees have thrived, blossomed, and even fruited. We have wildlife in abundance due to the fabulous hedgerows and established woodlands, which see us welcoming hares, hedgehogs and an abundance of birds onto the smallholding.
Yes, there are downsides to where we live, but I sometimes struggle to think what they are when I am enjoying these long, hot, sunny days. Admittedly, we need a car to get to shops and pubs, as there is no public transport on our doorstep. However, we do have supermarket deliveries, and if the satnav tells me it will take twenty minutes to get somewhere, sure enough, that is exactly what it does take, as I no longer have to sit for hours in endless streams of traffic. If I phone my doctor at 8 a.m., I get answered immediately by a cheery voice and I can get an appointment that morning.
As I said, rural living isn’t for everyone and, when making a move to somewhere remote, you must think long and hard about what you want out of life. If you enjoy the quiet solitude and being surrounded by nature and you get the opportunity to leave the rat race, then jump at it. I for one don’t regret it for a minute.
Allison Lee is a smallholder from North Yorkshire who has written for the Yorkshire Times and other publications. Her website can be accessed here.