When we were looking to buy a smallholding, one of our priorities was somewhere where we could be or work towards being “off-grid” for our utilities, or at least some of them. We thought that it would help us achieve our goal of keeping our outgoings to a minimum and feel more in charge/in control of our consumption. We figured that a more sustainable and self-reliant way of living would make us more resilient in an increasingly fragile and unsustainable world with rising living costs, limited resources and the serious challenges we face to tackle and respond to climate change. …

Abigail, Barney, Clodagh and Desmond all visited us in Mid-Wales in the past month and these storms, one after the other with little respite in between, all brought with them much rain and high winds. Desmond, last weekend, was a beast: we have never experienced winds as high as these and for such a long time!

There was flooding in the Severn Valley below us and some main roads were impassable for a while as the rainwater travelled quickly down the hills to the valley where the river burst its banks. The drainage channels around our property quickly became fast-flowing …