We paid £11k for a tiny house on Facebook – it costs just £8.86 a day to run, we have an en-suite & stunning views too
As I chop wood for the fire, my friends are out clubbing and eating in restaurants, but I'm looking forward to an evening in my tiny home, eating a meal I've prepared with one of my two pots on my little stove.
It may be a squeeze for my boyfriend Ollie and me, but our tiny home saves us thousands of pounds a year.
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I met Ollie in March 2019 on a night out with friends when we were both 20, and I was living with my mum Bev, 52, and dad Matthew, 53.
Three years later, I was working in a medical lab and Ollie was an agricultural mechanic, and I moved in with him and his dad Terry, 60, on their family farm in West Yorkshire.
Farm life
I loved farm life – I had two goats as pets and used their milk to make soap, which I sold at local markets, along with honey from my dad's bees.
Ollie and I dreamed of turning my hobby into a full-time business and finding our own rural home, but with neither of us earning enough to cover the £1,000 a month to rent somewhere, it felt impossible.
Then Terry made us an amazing offer – he suggested we rent some land from him for our goats and, as we were agricultural workers, we'd have planning permission to create a home on the land.
However, there were restrictions set by the local authority. It would have to be a very small home, no larger than 40 x 20ft, and it would be off-grid, with no mains electricity, water, gas or sewage pipes.
Undeterred, we used our £11,000 savings to buy a tiny house we found on Facebook. It has a bedroom and en-suite, plus minuscule kitchen and living room.
Our families were supportive, but friends thought we were mad.
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Why would we want to spend our time chopping logs, and how could we live without a TV?
But our house was delivered by trailer, and in September 2023 we moved in.
Waking up that first morning, with the sun shining in and views of the moors, I was thrilled.
We did squabble as we adjusted to living in such a small, basic space together – we argued about whose turn it was to fetch wood or tidy up – but going for a stomp around the fields usually cleared the air!
Our only water source is rain collected in a tank, which we use for the shower and to flush the toilet.
It's connected to a septic tank that Ollie dug into the ground, and we also filter the water to drink.
Six months after moving in, we got a generator, which we use for an hour a day to heat water for a shower and turn the lights on for our evening meal, otherwise we rely on solar lights.
I use my phone for accessing the internet, and we don't have a TV, which I missed at first, but now I love reading books more.
We gather wood, whatever the weather, for the wood-burning stove and I have thick pyjamas and hot-water bottles for colder nights.
We don't have a fridge and instead use a cool box to keep milk and butter fresh and buy food daily, often from farm shops.
A normal house would cost £12,000 a year just in rent. Instead, we pay £2,000 to Terry to rent the land
We do need to be careful with everything we buy. We have only a few cups and small saucepans, but the kitchen is full.
Our dining table only seats two, so we can't have dinner parties – a friend did stay over once, but they had to sleep on the floor as the sofa wasn't big enough.
Without the financial pressure of a mortgage or monthly utilities, we were able to quit our jobs in December 2023 and commit to our business, Herd & Hive, selling goat's milk soap, raw honey and beeswax products.
A normal house would cost £12,000 a year just in rent.
Instead, we pay £2,000 to Terry to rent the land, and being in the lowest council tax band costs £1,000 a year.
With the cost of gas for the cooking hob and the generator factored in, we live on £8.86 a day, excluding food.
What I love most about living in a tiny house is the simplicity. No TV, no washing machine to load and unload – we use a launderette nearby – and peaceful fields around us.
It's allowed us to follow our dreams. That's worth the wood-chopping and cold showers any day.'
Visit Herdandhive.co.uk.
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