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Our house is a basic 4-bedroomed kit-built affair, composed of wooden framing covered by sheet tin walls and a metal roof. New roof recently added - see pic above - with our two sons helping the old man. The old roof was disintegrating. There's still the rest to do ie new guttering and a full paint job plus new fencing, and conversion of the old conservatory into a dyehouse. It's not insulated and none of the windows fit properly - but it's home.
I keep a full store-room, buying most items by the case, as there's
usually two months between boats and anyway I have a siege mentality
according to Clive. We also have two freezers to preserve our own
beef (see Cattle), reserves of bread etc - and the occasional treats such as ice cream. We bake our own bread; this used to be done in large batches, but we recently acquired a bread machine and as we have
wind power I can put this running any time of the day or night and find a fresh warm loaf waiting for me. (Prior to this there was only power available for a few hours a day.)
We also have a basic vegetable garden, growing potatoes, cabbage, swedes etc - but neither of us is a keen gardener and there's far too much else we have to get done so this is as good as it gets. We keep a few hens. Used to have a polytunnel years ago, with all kinds of nice things in it - but a combination of horned milk cows, pet lambs and low-flying Phantoms put paid to this and we lost heart. Now we don't have the time.
Our electricity comes from the new and bigger power system Clive installed a few years ago - an American 4.5 kw inverter with huge UK-made battery bank, and a Scottish-made 2.5 kw wind turbine. Bliss. Twenty-four hour power with few generator running hours, hardly any noise and 6% of the diesel we used to use. See PowerSense.
Tap water comes from a spring some 1.5 miles away, up on a 400' ridge, and is gravity-fed from the tank there. In winter it can freeze up, which makes life interesting... and after heavy rain there's peaty colouring and the pressure can just about knock the taps off the plumbing. Though our annual rainfall is actually 12" or so, in a normal year here on the West, this rainfall is sporadic.
I use bottled gas for much of my cooking, together with a Rayburn
stove converted for kerosene - this also heats the water, and
runs our newly installed central heating system. We ship our wool
away by sea (see Sheep & Shearing) and our general supplies, stores and fuel (for vehicles and stove plus occasional generator hours) arrive the same way. The arrival of the MV Tamar FI, the
local coastal vessel, is an event to be looked forward to or dreaded, depending on the prevailing weather at the time.
Light or urgently-needed items are air freighted in, which costs 60 pence per kilo for most items though frozen foods, bread and fruit are cheaper. Airfreight and mail arrive when there is a flight into the airstrip here or our neighbours' airstrip at Shallow Harbour - which is six miles away down a rough track.
The islands are small peoplewise - some 2200 in total, most of them 
in town and the rest in Camp (the countryside). Only 150 or so on the whole of
the West including the smaller islands. We know most people and they of course
know us but we rarely get to any social events due to the new road not yet being
complete. There are a few miles of 'road' out of here, then a long stretch
of horrendous original track that meets up with the new stretch of the main West
Falkland road system. I look forward to being able to drive out of
the farm without fear of bogging!
We used to have immediate neighbours, as we live close to the farm boundary, but not a lot of contact with them - long story - but they have now sold up and moved overseas. Their farm was split in two when sold. Part was bought - apparently as an investment but we don't know that - by someone in Stanley. The other half which borders our land now belongs to the son of our neighbours at Shallow Harbour. as he little house he got with his land is somewhat in need to some DIY, he bases at home when he is working the farm, the rest of his time being taken up with contract shearing. So we have our total privacy at last...
The nearest other farmhouse to the east is some 28 miles away to the east. Thanks to the incomplete road/track we rarely get visitors. Though this will change soon when the new craft centre is ready for use.
We can't go anywhere in the evenings, but both like to read. I spin or knit, and Clive sometimes plays guitar. I have email contacts that I value, and am still amazed by the Internet though high costs and a slow link limit me.
A road in here will mean we can visit others and have them visit us much more easily and safely. A ferry service East-West is starting and some runs have already been made. When the road network is completed, we could visit town and see our family without the cost of flights. I wouldn't dare drive out of here on my own. I have to say I sometimes feel trapped, especially during winter. But not for much longer.
We have a radio type telephone link, of variable quality and 2 metre radio as portable units. The latter are used only when one of us is out and about, or to 'work' the plane when necessary, i.e. advise the pilot of ground conditions, wind speed and direction before landing. We also have an excellent single-channel television service (courtesy of SSVC, the military service which puts out time-lapsed SSVC, BBC and ITV programmes received earlier in the day by satellite from the UK). Programmes are varied and there are no true commercial breaks. This system is probably going to change in the near future and we hope for satellite tv but are not at all sure what we will be offered.
Both telephone and television are both comparatively new to Camp. We also have local radio which is broadcast by FIRS (the unfortunate acronym for the Islands' broadcasting station was FIBS but they changed it...) and SSVC radio programmes. The TV and radio services cost us nothing. Unlike the phone, which is currently 6 pence per minute for local calls and Internet access, 2p for the latter between 10 pm and 6 am for night owls... Plus swingeing monthly rental charges of £20 per business line.
Mobile phones are now commonly used in town but don't work out here.
To reach Stanley i.e. the only town, on the East, means flying 112
miles each way in one of the government planes, costing £84 return (same value as British ) so I only go there twice a year on average.
We can talk to a doctor by phone at a set time every weekday, or out of these hours if it is urgent. There's a medical visit by a doctor every two or three months to the main settlements, in our case at Shallow 
Harbour airstrip or down at their house if there's time (the airstrip visits being know simply as strip visits, which just occasionally is a totally apt term...). Every farm has its own government-owned
medicine chest out of which drugs may be prescribed, and we all keep first aid supplies on hand. Drugs which are urgently needed but not standard MC items are delivered by FIGAS, who give Campers an
excellent service.
A dentist normally visits annually, setting up shop at Shallow Harbour, some five miles away. All medical/dental services and prescriptions are free, other than glasses and cosmetic dentistry, and medical flights for further attention in town are charged at 25% of normal fare. Unless you failed to see the dentist when you had the chance, then get a problem, in which case the full fare is payable. Urgent medical cases may be flown by military helicopter to the hospital in town if the local air service is unable to help due to conditions or location.
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Altogether we enjoy plenty of excellent services which help to make up for the remoteness of our home and the lack of social life. We are very fortunate.
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Last updated 2nd August 2006
