bolthole

Thanks for all the advice folks - I'm seriously thinking about Damson Gin. I made some last year and all my friends are raving about it. Picked the fruit a bit early so it ended up being sublimely tart on the tongue (!!) with a wonderful taste a bit like sour cherries. The best bit was that you could drink it on it's own and knock it back like wine such was the taste... it occurred to me as a commercial go-er as Gin has become really popular these last few years and, living in Cheshire, there are tons of apparently unloved Damson trees about. I always try and support local food and am a bit fed up with drinking commercially produced English country wines which are sickly sweet and seem to miss the potential of our native fruit to taste good as an alcoholic drink. This stuff I made was proper grown up stuff... was also mulling over the possibility of producing a Damson Spirit although the process would be a lot more involved and would require me to come up with a lot more capital to get going...

Hi All, Can anyone point me in the direction of any funding that might be available for the planting of new orchards. I may be heading toward financial ruin but I'm looking into the commercial possibilites of Damsons! My research tells me that I'd not get a decent crop out of the trees until they are 10 - 15 years old so I'd have to look at buying fairly mature stock... ...if anyone has any general advice about this sort of undertaking I'd be all ears! Ta...

One more thing to add... I bought a saw from the states a few yeas ago when the exchange rate was 2 dollars to the pound; I did get stung for import duty (it was still well worth it) but the dealer had supplied the wrong pitch of chain with the saw. I ruined the chain, bar and sprocket finding out the hard way but also when I took it to the local UK Husky dealer to be fixed he told me that the saw wasn't CE approved and therefore couldn't be used for professional work... well it could, but there was the potential for my insurance to be invalidated if something went pear shaped and the insurance company discovered that my saw wasn't CE approved... It smelled a bit fishy at the time but I'm sure he had a point. The saw was exactly the same as the UK model I later bought... but you know what insurance companies are like... if there's a way to avoid paying, they'll find it!

The trick with making good home made wine is not to try and make it too strong. 13 - 14% is good. Use a hydrometer. Some wines need a bit of tannin or acid to make them taste right. Berry wines generally need a bit of pectolayse to make them clear - it tastes a bit better too. If you wine ends up smelling of bad eggs do not drink it. You will regret it.

I may have sent him a message politely and respectfully explaining the true situation... Seems to have worked.

These guys are always worth a look... AVON FOREST AUTOS Showroom | eBay Motors Pro Page 2

Hi, I've been working abroad for the last five years; I had a UK bank account, etc but had an NT (no tax) tax code. You need to satisfy the criteria for being 'non resident' and 'not ordinarily resident' and spend no more than an average of 90 days a year in UK averaged out over three years. You should speak to an accountant, but if you have not worked in the UK and satisfy the above, then you should be able to claim back your tax. There is also some implications regarding National Insurance; I was able to claim back my Class 1 contributions after I'd been away a year and only had to pay class 3 but this may be different as you are self employed. Speak to an accountant or look at the HMRC website. Make sure you get an accountant by recommendation from someone in a similar position; as a previous poster said there are a lot of accountants sorting out the affairs of ex-military lads doing CP work - these are the ones to go for. Make sure you find out what their fees will be before you authorise them to be your accountant; you shouldn't pay more than the low hundreds a year for this service. Don't get ripped off like I did!!!

We were going for James Elwood, but Florence turned out to be a girl!! http://wiki.name.com/en/Elwood:thumbup1:

There you go - learned something already! Thanks...

Hi all, A similar question to my last one; can anyone recommend a Hedge-laying course in the Cheshire area. I'm based in Malpas. Would anyone would be up for teaching me on the job in exchange for some free labour? I'm back in UK over Christmas, but Mrs Bolthole is about to give birth so I don't reckon I can come out to play this time around. Back in April for four months though... Ta! Bolt.

Cheers Nev - I'll be in touch.

I wore my PPE too... seemed like the obvious thing to do!

Thanks everyone - that's really helpful. While we're on the subject of learning, does anyone know about hedge laying courses? I'd really like to have a crack at that; it looks really satisfying. If anyone would be happy to teach 'on the job' in exchange for free and enthusastic labour, I'd be bang up for it. I think it's only fair to mention that I'm not back in UK until April... Cheers...

Used, towed, purchased outright... chipper. Unless a chipper is not what I need... what's the difference? And it's my first ever one!

Hi Folks, Can anyone suggest a decent (towable) chipper for domestic work. Ideally I'd like something that will fit up narrow entries and it needn't chip above 5" diameter as anything bigger than that I'd look at processing into firewood. If you'd like to comment on (shoot down) my assumptions the please feel free - I'd far rather re-think the plan before I part with any brass! Thanks in advance.

Hi All, Can anyone advise where I can take short courses in Cheshire. I'm based near Whitchurch - in the past I did my CS30/31 & CS38 at Myerscough but it's quite a trek every morning. I'm after CS39, large tree felling, dismantling, etc... and a Chipper course. Can anyone suggest somewhere decent within say half an hour of Malpas? Thanks in advance...

They chuck out an alarm pheromone which signals to the rest of the nest to attack. Throwing down your outer garment when you do a runner mean you most likely leave behind the bit of you which has been 'target marked' the most. Hornets, despite their scary rep are a lot less agressive, unless you disturb the nest, in which case you're in the same situation! There are a lot of stories about how dangerous their sting is; the venom isn't worse as such - there's just a bit more of it! It's always best to think twice before destroying a hornet's nest - they feed on other insects and so are effectively a friend to the gardner. You won't have any sympathy for them if you keep bees, mind...

Glad to hear things have improved there - I had a fairly disappointing experience of distance learning with them. Undertook the f.dip in Arb and unfortunately had no contact whatsoever from two of the three module tutors. The third (plant biology) tutor was excellent. I did my CS30/31 and CS38 there - both of these practical courses were very well taught and a lot of fun. I'll be returning for more of the short courses but would hesitate to go the distance learning route again. It's a nice site, is well resourced and has a lot of Equestrian students on site too... I'll let the lads work out why that could be an attractive prospect...

Aren't I right in thinking that blacksmiths prefer Chestnut Charcoal? Might be worth seeing if you can find someone local who's interested...

I keep playing fantasy Arb truck and came across these.... http://www.hopdeals.com/PDF%27s/Ref%2098%20-%20DAF%20caged%20tipper.pdf http://www.hopdeals.com/PDF%27s/Ref%20205%20-%202004%20Mercedes%204x4%20Tipper.pdf http://www.hopdeals.com/PDF%27s/Ref%20209%20-%202005%20Iveco%20Tipper%20Grab.pdf I've enquired about prices from these guys before... they weren't particularly cheap, but then again, I really wouldn't know one way or the other!!

I know!! And check out the Mogs too... and hey, how about using one of those bin wagons as a chip truck!!!

Hi all, Check this site out - there's some pretty tidy kit on here. I'm not on the payroll - just thought there might be some folks who might not know about them. AVON FOREST AUTOS Showroom | eBay Motors Pro Cherry Picker Mogs and some pretty neat tippers, 3.5t and 7.5t, with tool storage... I like the ex-power utility defender 110 with the cool lockers and winch too! I've had a pretty good experience of ex-utility company vehicles myself - definitely worth a look

Here we go... the good old Urban Tiger 'blade, plus power ranger... last years' Wirral egg run. Hey... hand on thigh... should this go on the 'lunge' thread?

I've got an ex-United Utilities Vauxhall Combi and it's a cracker. It's got a false floor in the load area with storage underneath, is caged off from the front and as it's basically a corsa van its 1.7 diesel is realy nippy and frugal. It cost me a couple of grand two years ago with 60K on the clock from a guy who bought them 'in bulk' from the auctions... I'm well happy!

Try using this... Recuva - Download I've used it on a number of occasions to great effect. If you can still read the drive, obviously... I've also used this; GRC|Hard drive data recovery software but they've started charging for it now. Good luck...