The sun is shining. I'm not trapped at an airport. I don't live in a country run by a sociopathic misanthrope. Three good reasons for me to show you these two properties, and then get out into my garden and plant things.
I'm concentrating on smallholdings today. Places to escape into hard work - renovating, farming, growing. Places to welcome in Spring, alone or with family and friends.
And I'm going to start here, the biggest of my picks in terms of both scale and price.
Pontbrengarreg has so much to offer - a cosy and cute (dated rather than wrecked) three-bedroom farmhouse, plus a stone smithy ripe for conversion into accommodation, a mobile home in the yard, workshop and outbuildings.
And the biggy - 20 acres of land (yes, 20!) split into 10 parcels, mostly fields and pasture and including young woodland and a lake, plus mature gardens around the farmhouse.
The property is just outside the West Wales village of Llangeitho, about three miles from the market town of Tregaron and about eight from Lampeter.
Downstairs are front and back halls, two reception rooms and the kitchen, with a multifuel stove in the living room and a Rayburn range running the hot water and heating in the dining room.
This is a project for someone who would rather be outside and digging than inside and painting. Get yourself a chainsaw, and a secondhand copy of Seymour's Complete Book of Self-Sufficiency, and side-line the madder world.
The scale, the number of fields and those extra buildings could also offer options for multi-family/friend living and working that might make the £640k price more reachable.
On the market through Morgan & Davies. Details and more pictures on the agent's website here and on Rightmove here.
My second property (above and below) is similar - two/three bedroom country farmhouse, stone outbuildings, land with great views.
This time the land only extends to just over two acres but it's that attached stone barn and the range of outbuildings wrapped around a large courtyard that prompted me to pick it.
Again, plenty of space for you but with options for expansion, multi-family living or holiday letting.
The location is gorgeous, sweeping hills, big skies, remote - your nearest neighbours are all sheep, actual sheep. But on an accessible B road, and close to two villages (Croglin is nearest, about a mile away) within Cumbria's Eden Valley.
There's a large kitchen-diner, living room and what's currently being used as a bedroom on the ground floor, two further bedrooms and bathroom upstairs. All needing updating but perfectly liveable.
On the market through Britton Estates at £380k. Details and more pictures on the agent's site here, and on Rightmove here.
Right, the sun's still shining and the radio's firmly off. I'm with Barbara - I think better in wellies : )
