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Keer Falls
Established in 1986, this is an organic, permaculture, forest farm managed to Soil Association standards.
We started the farm with nothing more than ten acres, purchased with a loan from the bank. On the day we moved here, I had twenty seven pounds and no job, our reserves had been spent on buying Keer Falls and there seemed little prospect of making a living here. At first our only home was a rusty old caravan that leaked when it rained, baked when the sun shone and froze in the winter, still we managed to live in it for eight years. We paid that first mortgage off in just five years, all right it wasn't for very much but through hard work and sheer determination our business has grown [except 2001 when foot and mouth nearly crippled us] by an average of nearly 50% per annum [there aren't many people who can say that].
In 1991, impressed by the work that we had already put into this farm and it's surrounding environment, Lancaster City Council granted us planning permission to build a cottage here. We got quotes from local builders but soon realised that we could not afford a mortgage to pay for the building and continue to develop the business...
...So I built us a three bedroom cottage myself [see more here]. Then mortgaged it to buy more land...
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