The 5 Mile Radius

Thanks to Covid we've had limits placed on the distance we can travel - 5 miles for most/all of the UK at the start. In Wales, we 're still restricted to 5 miles until 6th July.

 It seems a hardship to us now but our ancestors would have accepted 5 miles as quite normal. If you traveled everywhere on foot, or horseback if you were lucky, 5 miles might have been enough - perhaps you'd reach the next village, then you'd have to walk back carrying whatever you'd bought.

Everything you needed would be locally sourced, unless you lived near a port or market town perhaps. 

There's a map drawing website that lets you draw a radius from your postcode. https://www.freemaptools.com/radius-from...stcode.htm

What if everything we ate and drank was produced within that circle? Some of us would fare better than others. About half of my 5 mile circle is residential - not much growing there - and the other half is hillside, woodland and grazing. There is a farm shop so that would help.

If it was a 10 mile circle, I'd have far more choice, including the organic veg farm and its veg boxes - but, would I walk the 20 mile round trip to pick up a veg box? I doubt it!!

All this had made me realise the importance of providing for yourself, as far as possible. That tub of raspberries I've just picked has saved me a walk to the nearest PYO farm . 

Could you survive within the limits of your circle?

I've a small local Nisa village shop with a post office, a pub/restaurant, a chinese takeaway, doctor and a chemical research establishment all within 5 miles but no local produce available. No dairy cows locally most farm land is grain or seed - we do have a pig farm, which smells, so we might be ok for bacon, if slaughtering rules were relaxed. All other land is snaffled up by the MOD. We do have a local working mill that doesn't mill anything, so that might come online if armageddon struck. Otherwise it would mean going further afield to supermarkets which are 7-10 miles away. I think I might turn veggie like you V if I had to trek 10 miles and back. Or maybe I'd send Paul, who can't make it up the garden without puffing , and wait a few days for delivery. Neighbour has ducks so we'd be ok for eggs

I wonder how much land we would all need to become self sufficient. My 3 patches would prob do it in the summer, but I'm not great at winter produce. I think Paul would have to sacrifice the orchard and lawn and dig some more beds out!

The world would have to change even more drastically if we all had to eat locally and seasonally, I'm not sure it would cope.

We have a garage/post office/essentials in the village and when I say essentials it’s a bread and milk utopia.
As I don’t drive (or access to an orse) I walk the mile or so to the tiny cooperative thingy which has more than the garage but not much.

We would either starve or die of dehydration if it wasn’t for supermarket deliveries which grieves the heck out of me.

I so want an orse, goat and chickens. Do they do teeny weeny types the size of the average house brick.

Unfortunately we’ve not been able to follow the 5 mile radius rule. 5 miles doesn’t get us to the end of our road let alone a shop. The nearest shop is 14 miles.
I like that website that was very interesting actually seeing the 5 mile radius of home. If I have half hour later I’ll work out how many houses there are. None of them are a shop or useful business.

Most of your circle is sea!!
Do I sound envious? .)

We were not limited to a distance but only allowed out for essential shopping with a filled out attestation - arguing with the gendarmes as to why you'd not gone to the nearest shops might have resulted in a 135€ fine!
Our 5mile radius gives us a reasonable but pricey supermarket, a butchers, bakers, flour mill, market garden, various cheese makers and TWO wine merchants 

I think I would be ok! Lincolnshire is farmer country with lots of crops grown here and lots of cattle, pigs and sheep etc. Even within the measly 5 miles, I think I'd be ok. If nothing else, there's three or four farm shops within that distance too

I think the only thing I would be short of would be gent's wear. Only one very posh mans shop in local village but several ladies wear. Otherwise pretty much everything. 2 garages/self service shops, 2 coops, several pubs, churches for brick-a-brak, cafes, good farm shops, garden centre, lots of free range egg sellers with one going organic. At least 2 farms selling raw milk. Furniture a bit limited only 1 charity shop selling some and an antique shop.
There is also a scrap yard for 2nd hand vehicle parts.

I believe as long as I could still earn money to buy things from the village shop and the clothing on the internet, I could mostly manage on what I could grow and gather within a 5 mile radius. I started a Mental list of wild foods in that circle and realised it would take me all night. I’m very lucky I have pasture, woods, and the sea within that distance so could easily gather all year round, it’s having access to the shop that’s key so I could preserve, pickle, salt or dry the annual gluts for leaner months.

About half of my 5 miles is residential, the rest is mostly arable. There's a dairy farm with one of those self service milk dispensers, a farm selling eggs, and 2 farm shops at the limit of the circle. 

I think our ancestors walked more than we suppose. After all, a ploughman walked between 8 and 10 miles to plough just one acre of land, so they were well used to walking distances.