How it all began

It all begins with an idea. Or in our case, with this book.

The Askefield Project’s story started back in 2005, when our boys were 5, 3 and 1 and Chris was working for Ricardo Motorsport. Having small children is tough enough (as we all know) but add in two dogs and a husband who is regularly abroad and when he was home, worked long hours and I’d had enough. Mum and I started talking and the seeds were sown of an idea that I had no inkling would take off in the way it did…..

I bought Chris this book for his birthday and very soon we were all getting excited about the thought of a new life. Our friends thought we were mad but in June 2006 (after several hiccups) we finally made the move to Friskney, with Mum in tow. The land finally became ours in November 2006 and our first furry friends arrived in the form of ex-battery chickens, housed in an old hen house we found in the garden and rebuilt. An orchard was planted, the land was seeded and the whole are fenced in.

And, we became minor celebrities! We were a source of amusement to the media as we had actually done what a large number of people dream of doing, except we were bonkers enough to do it, ie give up a nice lifestyle, regular income and stability for a field full of chickens and a couple of pigs and absolutely no income whatsoever! We were in the Observer magazine, the Sunday Times, Marie Claire magazine (they prized Chris into a cardigan much to his disgust) to name a few and in 2009 we were on The One Show! It might sound like an irresponsible move with small children to look after, but we firmly believed (and still do) that time and attention were worth way more than computers and designer clothes. We grew our own food and sold jam, chutney and cordial to bring in the money we needed and life carried on this way for a few years……