“I have always dreamt of living on a mini farm,” says Gemma Leese, who now calls the beautiful Staffordshire Moorlands her home.
Alongside her partner, Matt, and a lively menagerie of animals—including three cocker spaniels, two mini-Shetland ponies, two pygmy goats, five Ryeland sheep, nine call ducks (thanks to two recent hatchlings), and four chickens—Gemma is living out her childhood dream.
“I always wanted to look out of my bedroom window and see my pony grazing in the field,” she reminisces. After years of keeping ponies at livery yards and rented grounds, the couple began searching for a smallholding in early 2020. Their persistence paid off when they found their dream home later that year, finally moving in February 2021.
A Day in the Life of a Smallholding
Life on a smallholding is one of simplicity and routine, deeply connected to the land and its inhabitants.
“Our day starts around 7am with the morning chores,” Gemma explains. The first task is letting the hens and ducks out, followed by feeding the sheep and goats. The Shetlands are then turned out for a day of grazing, and the animal housing is mucked out, ready for the evening.
“Around 3pm, we bring the Shetlands back into their stables and ‘poo pick’ the fields,” she adds, describing a daily ritual that keeps the pastures clean and healthy. Evening chores vary with the seasons but always include securing the hens and ducks for the night and checking on all the animals before bed. Gardening, another integral part of smallholding life, is fitted in during lunch breaks or weekends.
“By far the hardest part is dealing with sick and dead animals,” she admits. The loss of her childhood pony, who was sadly put to sleep the night before they moved, was a heartbreaking start. Since then, they’ve faced the deaths of another pony, several cats, and hens, as well as nursing a pygmy goat back to health after a severe leg injury. “It’s brutal at times, but the positives far outweigh the negatives.”
Another challenge is the never-ending list of jobs to be done. In addition to the general maintenance involved in running a smallholding, they are still trying to get the infrastructure and land setup to work for them. Since moving in, they have replaced all the fencing and gateways, added stables, shelters, an orchard, and a vegetable garden.
“You also need to come to terms with the fact that your clothes will constantly be covered in mud,” Gemma jokes, admitting it’s all part of the messiness of farm life.
Despite these challenges, the rewards are plentiful. “We love animals, gardening, and being outside in nature,” she says. The ability to spend so much time outdoors, surrounded by their animals and tending to the garden, is a dream come true.
This lifestyle has also shifted their perspective on sustainability and self-sufficiency. “We try to ‘make do and mend’ as much as possible,” she explains, striving to buy quality items that will last, grow their own food and flowers, and reuse what they can, like using sheep’s fleece in the garden.
“When we need to replace something or need something new, we try to buy the best that we are able to, so that hopefully it will last and stand the test of time; ‘buy once, buy well’.”
Thinking of Owning a Homestead?
If you’re contemplating the homestead lifestyle, Gemma has some valuable advice: “Do plenty of research, speak to fellow smallholders, and acquire as much knowledge as you can.” For inspiration, she turns to Instagram and recommends her favourite book, ‘Living The Country Dream’ by Bella & Nick Ivins.
“Experience is a great teacher,” Gemma notes. Before moving to their own land, she and Matt rented a smallholding to gain practical insight into what it entailed.
For a taste of rural life, check out Gemma’s beautifully curated feed on Instagram. Her account, @gemma_leese offers a dopamine hit of nature, whether you’re dreaming of hobby farming or simply need a break from the daily grind.
“It’s a way of life,” she says, highlighting the importance of embracing the journey—even when it involves extra planning, like ensuring all animals are cared for before taking a holiday.
For Gemma and Matt, their smallholding is more than just a home; it’s a source of joy and fulfilment. “You really learn to appreciate and enjoy the positives and challenges that each season brings. We love being able to slow life down and enjoy the little day-to-day tasks. It’s a mindful, slower way of life.”
Being Shed-Sufficient
A key element of their homestead is their shed, discovered during a visit to Malvern Garden Buildings in Leek. “We initially stopped to look at greenhouses but were more drawn to the potting sheds and larger sheds—our then-current shed was in a sorry state before we moved in and had since survived multiple onslaughts from our goats,” Gemma recalls.
They chose a 12x12ft Reverse Apex Shed and added a partition to give them the best of both worlds. The partition created a 12x4ft potting shed that faces into their garden paddock and an 8x12ft section accessed via another door in their orchard. “We added an extra side window to the potting shed that adds light and allows us to view the sheep grazing in their paddock”.
The shed serves multiple purposes, from potting plants to relaxing with a cup of tea, and even as a workspace for Matt to repair tools and equipment. “We don’t have any outbuildings, so it is important for us to have an area to safely store equipment, sow seeds, but also to relax and spend time in,” she says.
Juggling the Demands of Homestead Life and Being a Photographer
“It’s a tricky balance,” Gemma admits. “I’m lucky in that I mostly work from home editing during the week when Matt is working and spend weekends out on shoots when Matt is at home. The smallholding is very much a hobby to us, so it falls into our relaxation and personal time.”
After a busy day shooting at a wedding, she loves to come home and go outside, enjoying the stillness and quiet time with the animals.
Looking to the Future
As they look to the future, their plans include more outdoor projects, such as adding a greenhouse, renewing their compost area, and planting more trees and hedging for shelter and wildlife. “We often joke that for the first 12 months on the smallholding, the animals lived more comfortably than we did!”
Their favourite moments? “An accumulation of small, little moments that bring us great joy,” Gemma explains. “…Looking out of the window while washing the dishes or making a cup of tea to see the ponies looking at us from the gate, collecting fresh eggs from the hens, seeing the dogs happily running across the fields and playing with the sheep, enjoying going out after a night of snow to watch the animals’ reactions as they play around in the crisp snow. All these little moments make it all worthwhile.”
