Working every Square Yard of Space

   I have been extremely lucky in finding the property I am currently living at. When I moved back from England to Scotland I could've ended up paying through the nose for a modern box. Fortunately for me an old friend had just built a new home and was looking to rent his place. The property is a 100 square metre raised bungalow with roughly another 300 square metre of land.

   Having so much land provides potential opportunities. Here are some of the things going through  my mind:

• Grow your own. I already have 3 x Vegetable patches and a greenhouse but I could easily double all that space. How far could I go towards becoming Self-sufficient? If not self-sufficient then how much of a dent could I put into my food bills? Could a product be produced for selling at Car Boots? For example I can see already that I'm going to have tomatoes coming out of my ears this year. How many tomatoes do you need to make a bottle of homemade Ketchup?
• Storage. Storage is big business in the UK. People are living in smaller and smaller houses yet they are accumulating more and more junk. Nostalgia means they would rather pay for storage than chuck stuff in the skip. There are practical reasons for storage too. Last month when I was at Stirling University I was amazed to see the amount of leaflets on the wall advertising storage companies. Students leave their gear with a storage company during the summer holidays rather than dragging it back and forth across the UK. There is plenty of room at Caroline House to tuck a few six feet deep containers away in the corner.
• Renewable energy. I am informed by my landlord that the solar panels on the house are producing more cash than any of his other sets. That got me thinking as to other ways that cash could be generated from renewable energy at the property. Could the outbuildings be fitted with solar panels? Could the trees in the back garden (there are 10 trees of about 30 feet in height) be cut down either to power a biomass generator or to be used as firewood? Is there any wind potential on the site? Is there enough ground for a heat pump to be fitted? Could trees be grown as a cash crop?
• Tourism. I would never have thought that my area was big on tourism but I am reliably informed that the local holiday cottages are consistently booked out. I suppose the hills and the proximity to Stirling could prove attractive. A couple of years back my wife and I went to stay at a log cabin in Hay-on-Wye. It was simple but perfectly fine. That log cabin could fit into part of the drive at my current place never mind the garden. I think the trick would be to keep things cheap and cheerful. Now imagine if you were to take things further. Imagine you had a holiday cottage and a wooden teepee for "Glampers". You could deck the garden out with a Hot Tub and Fairy Lights to make it look fantastic. Suddenly you've got a really niche boutique offering.
• Industry. Time means Money. Space could mean Money if used correctly. Having the space could allow you to undertake industrial projects. I'm no Dick Strawbridge but I do have access to Dick Strawbridge videos on Youtube! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VM87o_fP2cQ&list=PLm6qlQPLzKsjNz8M9XRv2TI6oTcIsX4GY.
• Livestock. Keeping chickens is an obvious option but what about breeding rabbits or ducks for food? What about building a wormery?
• The raised bungalow. I mentioned that it is a raised bungalow. This immediately gives me two strange ideas: (i) Is a composting toilet a worthwhile addition to the home? (ii) how expensive would it be to create liveable space in the void below the property? This could be used as a rentable space, a man cave, industrial space etc.
• WebCams. Say I got the garden looking really ace and had all these different projects on the go. I could set up webcams in each corner and charge people to have a peep inside my "Secret Garden".

As you can see there are opportunities everywhere. There are acres of diamonds out there if you look hard enough.