Ben Fogle Return To The Wild - Hungary

fluffy2560 wrote:

perhaps they paid the going rate for there

I don't think they overpaid if that is the type of village life they want to have, in that part of the country.

However, for the entire package, of which price is only part, IMHO if total value was maximized or not is to ponder.

But then again, often falling back to Mr Blandings Builds his Dream House, "Some things you buy with the heart, not with the head.".

Very true we do often buy with the heart and I have visited people who have purchased places with no water and no toilet facilities in Hungary. Needless to say unless I was really roughing it for an adventure holiday, even if it was a beautiful view or next door to my best friends,  I could not live without proper facilities.

klsallee wrote:

.....
But then again, often falling back to Mr Blandings Builds his Dream House, "Some things you buy with the heart, not with the head.".

Fair enough.

I think there are so many properties here where the building has zero value, and the places are land value only or even slightly less because of the cost of demolition. And of course the owner always sees more value than there really is.

But just to keep it interesting and have a counter to the influential Mr Blandings, I'll throw in a Money Pit.  There are some amusing moments and the plus of Tom Hanks and Shelley Long.

Could be nice to have a slice of land with really good soil just in case we all have to live off the grid someday.
Saw a few "normal" homes in the countryside here in Hungary for less then a down payment on a home in the US. They were going for as low as 5 to 6 million Forints.
Then again they are out of the city and work is out of the question unless you work at home or love to travel everyday.
Also did see off the grid homes still for sale on the Big Island of Hawaii for super cheap. About a acre or more of land with a kit house without proper paperwork on the owner built homes going for under $20,000. USD.
They have solar panels, water catchment . Loads of fruit tress and the water is free since it rains just about every single day on Hilo side.
Then again, one has to love living off the grid, no real luxury household items, just the basics.
Often the neighbors could be "questionable" people, I know many people are actually "hiding out" deep in the rainforests, so one must take their chances on who is who living just down the road from them.
A "normal" home in HI on that Island is going for as low as $400,000 on up so you can imagine what you get for $20,000.
Usually these "cheap" deals are on land that may soon be reclaimed by nature. Lava flows happen allot over in these remote areas of the Island.  The ground top soil is super hard so no way could anyone build a pool or do serious gardening unless they brought in soil in trucks.
Was toying with the idea of buying out in the countryside in Hungary , cheap, putting in a pool and just chillin' but after thinking it over, it is more confusing then I thought it would be. Full time in a warmer climate seems to be more attractive as one ages. Had enough of working around the house, pulling up weeds and playing house. Might be nicer to just hit the beach somewhere and let the landlord do all the heavy lifting in a nice modern condo in the states.
Too many options to know for sure one is really doing the best thing with their time and money and energies.

Living off grid, food production and doing up a dump is always a poor persons or a young persons game.
I love my garden but know it needs to go back to nature at some stage.
in my grandmothers day they had an all day wash day on a Monday. Im sure some people enjoyed it but  I just use a machine .

anns wrote:

Living off grid, food production and doing up a dump is always a poor persons or a young persons game.

A lot of truth in that. But, of course, a poor, old person with a lot of enthusiasm and energy may also go off grid. Exceptions to every rule.

However, I will also add that it may depend if one wants to go with 19th century or 21st century off grid living styles. For 21st century off grid I will also add this: it is a game for people with capital (and age thus is not so important -- can hire other people to do the work to go "off grid").

Modern 21st century off grid means more than just electricity (but even then, photovoltaics are not cheap). For example, 21st century off grid includes waste disposal. Such as on site waste water treatment plants (the out house or septic tank is so 19th century). These are expensive. I know, since we have such a plant. Other examples including heating, cooking, house energy efficiency, etc. etc. etc. None of that is inexpensive. Going 21st century off grid has quite a price tag.

fluffy2560 wrote:

I'll throw in a Money Pit.

Great film. Best line: "How long will this take?" "Two weeks." (anyone who had done renovation understands the joke)

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

......
They have solar panels, water catchment . Loads of fruit tress and the water is free since it rains just about every single day on Hilo side.
Then again, one has to love living off the grid, no real luxury household items, just the basics.
Often the neighbors could be "questionable" people, I know many people are actually "hiding out" deep in the rainforests, so one must take their chances on who is who living just down the road from them.....
Too many options to know for sure one is really doing the best thing with their time and money and energies.

klsallee wrote:

Modern 21st century off grid means more than just electricity (but even then, photovoltaics are not cheap).

I've got deja-vu from this discussion.

I keep looking at solar panels and we've discussed them here.  Price has come down but still talking in the 7K EUR range for 4 kW max.  Payback is variously described as about 7 years now (used to be much longer, north of 10-15 years) but realistically, one would need more like 7kW for a family of 4, which would put it past 12K EUR.   It also needs quite a lot of room for the panels.  At my own place, I reckon I could squeeze in about 10 panels on my house and about another 7, maybe 8 on my outbuilding giving me, on a good (nay, perfect) day, around 4.5kW.  Stick in a battery bank for night and so on and it's all looking a bit expensive per kW.  No way to get an economy of scale and almost no incentive with the new Russian built nuclear power station coming in down at Paks.

I asked our architect about water capture and he just said, think about a well, it's cheaper  and also redirect your guttering onto the areas that need watering, then you'll be fine.  But we live on a postage stamp.

fluffy2560 wrote:

I asked our architect about water capture and he just said, think about a well, it's cheaper  and also redirect your guttering onto the areas that need watering, then you'll be fine.  But we live on a postage stamp.

What will you be using the water for? Gardening? Wells can bring up lots of undesirable minerals that you may not want to dump on your soils or your garden. Above ground water barrels at the end of the drain pipe are easy to install and use. Look ugly (to many), but do the trick, easy to remove later if you change your mind, and you can direct any overflow to where you want.

klsallee wrote:

fluffy2560 wrote:

I asked our architect about water capture and he just said, think about a well, it's cheaper  and also redirect your guttering onto the areas that need watering, then you'll be fine.  But we live on a postage stamp.

What will you be using the water for? Gardening? Wells can bring up lots of undesirable minerals that you may not want to dump on your soils or your garden. Above ground water barrels at the end of the drain pipe are easy to install and use. Look ugly (to many), but do the trick, easy to remove later if you change your mind, and you can direct any overflow to where you want.

Yes, gardening.  I did consider using it for the toilets, washing machine, washing the car etc. 

I assumed the architect was speaking from local knowledge.  Hereabouts, we're at the foot of the Buda hills.  In the forest there are plenty of hand pumps around which people drink out of.  I'm presuming these are tested regularly and I am also presuming that our well would be supplied from the same aquifer.   

I'm not very keen on those water barrels as they are a bug/mosquito breeding ground.  I used to have one and we did use the water but we forgot to empty it once and it froze inside and split the plastic! I could have gone for a metal one but I just sort of fizzled out on it but I might revive the idea.

Need to set up a stationary bike to a battery, kill two birds with one stone, get your daily exercise in plus generate power.
We knew a guy on the Big Island who won a lot of land in a card game, never had the land title in his name, think the guy he won it off of also was just using the land and never really owned it.
Visited the"house" he built for his wife and 2 sons just one time. That was enough for me...
It was just 4 pieces of wood, unpainted, untreated with a bedroom set up inside with a dividing wall, a hot plate and no electric or WC.
They lived near the forest so did their "business" in the wild. Not even a outhouse on the land.
They got water with a old water catchment system, not even sure how clean that was for drinking...
It was so off the grid it wasn't even funny. He was a nice guy, but one of the laziest people we ever met.
Never had a job, everything was off the books.
He was Hungarian, half Gypsy guy and his wife was a native Inuit from Alaska. Guess she was not put off by rough living.
I spent about 2 hours visiting them once and had enough for ever...
Thankfully, I didn't have need of the WC on that visit!
My husband joked once by telling me that they would often just drive over in the junker car to the mall about 30 mins away just so they could use a real WC!
I dare anyone to go off the grid that far.
PS, they loved eating their magic mushrooms, guess that's the trick to really rough living, to not know where you are or what is really going on.

fluffy2560 wrote:

In the forest there are plenty of hand pumps around which people drink out of.  I'm presuming these are tested regularly and I am also presuming that our well would be supplied from the same aquifer.

Water that is completely drinkable by people does not mean the water is good for the soil or plants. As just one example:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soil_sali … irrigation

Conversely, water that is good for soil and plants, may be not at all healthy for people to drink (such as a fermented compost "tea water" fertilizer).

fluffy2560 wrote:

I'm not very keen on those water barrels as they are a bug/mosquito breeding ground.  I used to have one and we did use the water but we forgot to empty it once and it froze inside and split the plastic!

Properly setup, a rain water barrel from a roof drain spout should be done in such a way that mosquitoes should not be a problem. Basically, if you have mosquito problems, the setup is wrong.

Yes, you have to manage external, above ground barrels, such as emptying them in the fall if freezing will damage them. True of anything that may contain water over winter. For example, I have an external water pipe and faucet both for outside hand washing and for cleaning equipment/bottles/etc.. I have a shut off valve indoors, and a drain cock. Every year when freezing temps start, the valve is closed, and the pipe to the external faucet is drained. I can not forget to do this.

Marilyn Tassy wrote:

I dare anyone to go off the grid that far.

Very 19th century off grid. As in, 19th century B.C.E........

B.C.E. is right!! funny.
Actually on rethinking it, they acquired that spot of land in HI another way.
For some reason I gave them the benefit of the doubt and mentioned a card game, more of a growing game if you get my drift...
Wonder how that's going these days since it is legal in many places with property permits and fees paid to the gov.
Like i said, was only there once , just a few days before I left the island and it's been nearly 25 years since then.
In HI most homes are all electric and those without power have either a generator or use butane fuel.
I have no idea how that women could of raised 2 kids under those conditions. Way to rough for me or for most people.
When we lived in Hilo we leased a fairly nice home on top of a hill with a ocean view. 40 acres of land that had sections leased out for sugar cane growth.
We were there for the last harvest, sad to see it gone and to never come back again.
I wanted cable tv very much back then but was unable to be connected because they needed 40 people per mile to set up a line.
Remote in many ways but the house we leased was new , clean and built by a local man who came by once a week and mowed the lawns and took care of his cows and bull. They were on the property but behind a fence, never really bothered us at all, once the bull got out of the fencing and was at our front door.
It was something else to try and get him back behind the fence. I finally had to drive down and collect the landlord, we couldn't do it ourselves, city slickers that we are.
Some people live very rough over there, it's something else. People still raise dogs and chickens for fighting too. Not exactly a place for animal lovers to live, too many pig farms where you can hear screams and cries at chopping season.
Had a pig farm up the mountain a bit higher then our place, nasty business.
One day my dog came walking down the hill with a hairy pig's legs in his mouth, happy as a clam he was... Yuck.
I was terrified that maybe one day they may mistake him for a pig and I wouldn't be seeing him again.

klsallee wrote:

fluffy2560 wrote:

In the forest there are plenty of hand pumps around which people drink out of.  I'm presuming these are tested regularly and I am also presuming that our well would be supplied from the same aquifer.

Water that is completely drinkable by people does not mean the water is good for the soil or plants. As just one example:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soil_sali … irrigation

Conversely, water that is good for soil and plants, may be not at all healthy for people to drink (such as a fermented compost "tea water" fertilizer).
.......

Yes, you have to manage external, above ground barrels, such as emptying them in the fall if freezing will damage them. True of anything that may contain water over winter. For example, I have an external water pipe and faucet both for outside hand washing and for cleaning equipment/bottles/etc.. I have a shut off valve indoors, and a drain cock. Every year when freezing temps start, the valve is closed, and the pipe to the external faucet is drained. I can not forget to do this.

Good points indeed. 

I have internal stop cocks but again, blinking forgot one year and had a leak.  I also forgot to insulate the underground water meter.  Luckily the Vizmuvek replaced it as it was "an emergency" (we had no way to turn it off). I've now filled up the water meter hole with polystyrene blocks left over from our construction and it's done the trick.  We've insulated the outside taps and also turned it off and drained outside.

As for the water, yes, you are right. It needs more thought.  I was thinking if the water is good for humans, and therefore OK for house plants, it must be OK for the garden.  We can always add fertilizer but that seems a bit pointless as I've got a pretty good compost heap going and 5 chickens that have no problem distributing their waste around the place, so all in all there's plenty of organic material to add to the garden if we can dig it in.   

Judging by the weed production during the summer, we've got no problems with the soil but then again, they are weeds.  We've got an old septic tank buried in the garden which might have been OK as a water storage tank but the costs are too high for retrofit (deja-vu? did I mention this before) so we're on the well idea as a separate solution - well is so much cheaper.

Anyway, the builders are coming back in April to landscape so this will turn it all upside down again so in no way in a hurry to rush the job.

fluffy2560 wrote:

I have internal stop cocks but again, blinking forgot one year and had a leak.

I don't blink. I fall asleep. That is why I have a thermometer with an alarm. I set the alarm to go off when the temps drop below a set number. Of course, I bought that many, many years ago. Today I suppose there is "an app for that".

klsallee wrote:

fluffy2560 wrote:

I have internal stop cocks but again, blinking forgot one year and had a leak.

I don't blink. I fall asleep. That is why I have a thermometer with an alarm. I set the alarm to go off when the temps drop below a set number. Of course, I bought that many, many years ago. Today I suppose there is "an app for that".

Aaarghhh.....a gadget I don't have!  I want one! Or two!

There is an App for everything.   We used to call them programs.

I am currently considering a Budakeszi weathercam and associated weather measuring gubbins.  Thinking of using the Raspberry Pi for it and mounting the thing on my chimney.

fluffy2560 wrote:

Aaarghhh.....a gadget I don't have!  I want one! Or two!

FWIIW: The Renkforce C8428 weather station is the least expensive, "non-app", multifunction, programmable alarm (temp, rain, wind, humidity) that I I know is available in Hungary. Unfortunately, it is not a data logger, or PC compatible. All the others, are either "app" oriented, or like the Davis Vantage Vue, are 200,000 HUf or more.

klsallee wrote:

fluffy2560 wrote:

Aaarghhh.....a gadget I don't have!  I want one! Or two!

FWIIW: The Renkforce C8428 weather station is the least expensive, "non-app", multifunction, programmable alarm (temp, rain, wind, humidity) that I I know is available in Hungary. Unfortunately, it is not a data logger, or PC compatible. All the others, are either "app" oriented, or like the Davis Vantage Vue, are 200,000 HUf or more.

Hmmm...interesting.  The alarm is a good idea.

I am going to see if I can do some research and find a DIY module and free software.  Something for snowy nights.

I'm interested in putting it up as a web service more than logging (but same difference).   

I've got a weather station from Aldi maybe 7 years ago - works OK even after I dropped it.  My other one I have had for years - made by Huger, bought in Germany - which works less well after being dropped.  Both of them seem distinctly old fashioned these days - colour screens, USB or maybe WiFi de rigeur it seems.

fluffy2560 wrote:

I am going to see if I can do some research and find a DIY module

This DIY system works pretty well for me.

klsallee wrote:

fluffy2560 wrote:

I am going to see if I can do some research and find a DIY module

This DIY system works pretty well for me.

[img align=C]https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2094/2277196861_cb56200e6a_b.jpg[/url]

I don't think that list covers the full rock functionality.

The back and forth works for for wind but it could be also work to show gravity and rotation depending on where the aforementioned rock is located, vis-a-vis: Focault's Pendulum.   

They need to add, "If the rock is precessing, then you are on the surface of a rotating planet".

fluffy2560 wrote:

vis-a-vis: Focault's Pendulum.

You understand Focault's Pendulum.

I understand Focault's Pendulum.

But there are some flat-earthers who say Focault's Pendulum is fake news.

So while the rock was just trying to be neutral on the issue it is instead blamed for being politically correct. Which makes it a snowflake. Which means it is white. Which means it is snowing. Even when it isn't. That is today's world. Some want you to not even trust a rock.

klsallee wrote:

....

So while the rock was just trying to be neutral on the issue it is instead blamed for being politically correct. Which makes it a snowflake. Which means it is white. Which means it is snowing. Even when it isn't. That is today's world. Some want you to not even trust a rock.

But....but....but.....I've heard Dwayne Johnson is a possible for President....or is it more fake news?

He's a hero, I've seen him hanging out of a helicopter when LA was devastated by the San Andreas fault. 

Surely you're not telling me that he was faking it in that documentary????!!

Hi - dont be too bothered with what the others have to say... you guys look happy!
....all you need to build is a lapa and a braai
congrats on your first baby....

I wish them all the best and a good life

Hungarynuts wrote:

Wow, have you guys really not got anything better to do than criticize and pick apart other people lives? You come up with all your assumptions on who we are yet don't even bother to watch it, just assume that because gareths hair is unbrushed that he doesn't wash it and i am a rubbish hairdresser....get a grip, these things don't actually make you who you are (and i will have you know I was a Vidal Sassoon senior stylist for many years before I HAD to quit due to health problems.

Mr fluffy, you need to get your facts straight before you slag someone off.
A. My disease is nothing to do with muscles.
B. My mother may be wealthy but I don't fall back on her. And just so you know, our house is perfectly child friendly now, we are expecting our first child in a few months and you dont see us running from this "hovel"
C. The tv channel made an error with our friends name, what, have you never made a mistake?!
D. How dare you call us a national embarrassment! You don't know us, or what we have achieved in our lives.
I would love to say more to you but don't want to get thrown off this forum before i have even begun. But can i just ask, next time you want to be troll, think how it would feel if it was you on the other side of the screen.....

I've not watched  TV for a number of years.
But I have met a number of uk people who live in more isolated areas like mine.
On the whole they are usually people who have a sense of adventure. People who have taken advantage of being able to buy cheaply and live off the land. That's an impossible dream for many living in the much more overcrowded uk.
I've often thought that if my cottage was in the New Forest it would be worth millions .