Sonnybrook View Farm
The land was purchased in 2019, but the journey began long before.
By the late 2010's we were already homeschooling our eldest child and questioning not only mainstream schooling, but mainstream life in general. With work taking up most of the week and family life squashed into evenings and weekends, something needed to change.
We were lucky enough to purchase our land just before the pandemic hit the world and caused prices to skyrocket. With much scrimping and saving, a 12 acre slice of the planet became ours!
For the first year or two, "The Block" became our destination for camping in our faithful hippy bus over holiday weekends and a stolen week here or there. After COVID hit, it became our escape for lockdowns as well, with several memorable last minute migrations down before being trapped in our city home!
With no planning permissions and nowhere near the funds to begin a house build, we began with what we could - the orchards. We decided early on that regenerative farming was the sort for us, and began our top orchard with Hugelkulture style beds forming each row.
The beginning stages of our no-dig shade house soon followed.
By late 2022 we had decided we would move down permanently in the near future, and the pace picked up! We farewelled our bus and purchased a tiny house shell. It was towed down ready to transform into our home for the next number of years whilst we build our dream home.
With a temporary home in place and an engineer in the thick of the plans but still no planning permission granted, we got stuck into what projects we could - namely, those without floors! The no-dig greenhouse reached it's final stages with the third layer of mulch added and water tanks & hose pegged down throughout, and we triumphantly harvested our first raspberries and beans.
In one of the most exciting purchases ever made, our first proper livestock arrived in 2024 in the form of 4 short legged Dexter cows; Maisy, Betty, Edith and Gladys.
These ladies form the first workers of the land, with duties ranging from mowing and fertilising the grass to producing calves in the coming years.
By the late 2010's we were already homeschooling our eldest child and questioning not only mainstream schooling, but mainstream life in general. With work taking up most of the week and family life squashed into evenings and weekends, something needed to change.
We were lucky enough to purchase our land just before the pandemic hit the world and caused prices to skyrocket. With much scrimping and saving, a 12 acre slice of the planet became ours!
For the first year or two, "The Block" became our destination for camping in our faithful hippy bus over holiday weekends and a stolen week here or there. After COVID hit, it became our escape for lockdowns as well, with several memorable last minute migrations down before being trapped in our city home!
With no planning permissions and nowhere near the funds to begin a house build, we began with what we could - the orchards. We decided early on that regenerative farming was the sort for us, and began our top orchard with Hugelkulture style beds forming each row.
The beginning stages of our no-dig shade house soon followed.
By late 2022 we had decided we would move down permanently in the near future, and the pace picked up! We farewelled our bus and purchased a tiny house shell. It was towed down ready to transform into our home for the next number of years whilst we build our dream home.
With a temporary home in place and an engineer in the thick of the plans but still no planning permission granted, we got stuck into what projects we could - namely, those without floors! The no-dig greenhouse reached it's final stages with the third layer of mulch added and water tanks & hose pegged down throughout, and we triumphantly harvested our first raspberries and beans.
In one of the most exciting purchases ever made, our first proper livestock arrived in 2024 in the form of 4 short legged Dexter cows; Maisy, Betty, Edith and Gladys.
These ladies form the first workers of the land, with duties ranging from mowing and fertilising the grass to producing calves in the coming years.
