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The real Good Life: An entire village turns against supermarkets and grows its own food
Last updated at 17:52pm on 15.04.08It was a sitcom that inspired many a household to live off the land.
And although it might not attract the likes of Margo and Jerry to move to the area, an entire village is trying its hand at the Good Life.
In a bid to become less dependent on supermarkets, the residents of Martin are working together to become as self-sufficient as possible.
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Villagers of Martin, Hants, who have shunned supermarkets to grow their own meat and veg
The Hampshire village is now home to hundreds of real life versions of the characters played by Felicity Kendall and Richard Briers, who lived off the land in the 1970s BBC comedy.
They work on a rota system and raise their own chickens and pigs and grow potatoes, garlic, onions, chillis and green vegetables on eight acres of rented land.
Of the 164 families who live in Martin, 101 have signed up as members of Future Farms for an annual £2 fee, although the produce can be sold to anyone who wants to buy it.
The "community allotment" sells 45 types of vegetables and 100 chickens a week, and is run by a committee which includes a radiologist, a computer programmer and a former probation officer.
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In The Good Life, Tom and Barbara (played by Richard Briers and Felicity Kendal) try to live a self-sufficient lifestyle by converting their garden into allotments
Nick Snelgar, 58, who came up with idea in 2003, said the project was gradually "weaning" villagers off of supermarkets.
He said: "I like to think of it as a large allotment in which there are lots of Barbaras and Toms working away.
"There are also Margos as well, but everyone can get involved.
"The nearest supermarket is six miles away. Of course people still have to go there for things like loo roll and deodorant and fruit you can't grow in Britain.
"So we aren't boycotting supermarkets entirely but we are gradually weaning people off them and as a result are reducing our carbon footprint by not using carrier bags and packaging."
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Every Saturday the produce is sold at the village hall
The good life: The village of Martin nestles in the Hampshire countryside
Mr Snelgar, a horticulturalist, said the VAT-registered co-operative had grown so much that last year it had a turnover of £27,000 - most of which was ploughed back into the scheme.
He said: "We began with vegetables and we found that all the skills we needed were here in the village.
"After the vegetables we introduced chickens and then pigs and we learned inch by inch.
"We have other producers whose goods we sell and they include a sheep farmer and someone who has honey.
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The farm sells 20 pigs a year as well as chickens and lambs and is now starting to sell beef
"It has been a fantastically interesting experience and we now have four plots of land covering eight acres.
"There are 164 families in the village and they include about 300 adults and 100 children, so there are about 400 creatures to feed.'
Every Saturday the community comes together with their produce which is sold at the village hall.
Mr Snelgar added: "The most popular thing we sell is carrots.
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The majority of families have signed up to the scheme, but anyone can buy the produce
"People love the smell of fresh carrots, and we pull them out of the ground the day before we sell them.
"We don't yet do dairy, but we hope to include that in the future and we also intend to grow raspberries and strawberries.
"We set the prices by working out how much the food costs to produce. We then add 20 per cent.
"Our pork sausages, for example, are sometimes cheaper than sausages you buy in the supermarkets. We break even and all money gets ploughed back in.
"When we started some people thought it would fail and we'd never last, but as the years have gone by more and more people have become involved.
"It is also a talking point in the village and it's great to see people walking to the village hall on a Saturday morning talking to each other. It has created a sense of belonging."
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One villager said they are not boycotting supermarkets but are weaning people off them
Reader views (17)
Here's a sample of the latest views published. You can click view all to read all views that readers have sent in.
Wow! Incredible. Big business are getting away with putting so much junk in food nowadays, and they are also trying to push out 'organic' naturally grown food and when they can't push it out they take over the standards groups and poison them from within by making the rules more 'loose'. So big businesses can use the organic mark and give true hard working organic farmers a bad name, a lot of the organic fruit and veg is worse than the normal stuff and I think that's big business's doing. IMO all fruit and veg should be locally grown with NO pesticides used at all. Good on you we all need to be eating properly grown local food.
- Peter Walters, Broomfield, uk
This is brilliant and exactly what is needed around the world! Growing your own food, or buying locally-raised products from small family-farms, instead of shipping produce from thousands of miles away! This is much better for the environment and our health! No chemical, pesticide-laden, synthetic, dead, plastic food, sold in boxes or wrapped in petroleum-plastic will ever offer the nutrition of fresh foods grown in healthy soil. Bravo to Martin's residents! Well done, indeed!
- Sharon Ericson, Nashua, NH
I think it's a great idea. Being self-sufficient is the way to go. If there's not, there should be people here in the States doing that. I know others would get mad, because to them it's all about the almighty dollar. People should not have to rely on grocery stores in order to survive. Besides, home-grown food is much better for you, anyway.
- David, Bowie, TX USA
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