My wife wants to buy a ranch, and I’m… where to begin? For starters, we’ve only just managed to get a house in the suburbs up and running, and overseeing a ranch seems like a real jump from there. Secondly, for a property to qualify as a ranch, don’t you need to be raising cattle on it or something? How, in dog’s name, does she suppose we’re going to do that? Neither of us knows the first thing about agriculture, or horse riding for that matter.
It all started when we were at the mall the other day, took a funny way out of the car park and ended up round the back of Saddle Planet. We had a peek, just for curiosity’s sake, and were surprised at how taken we were by the range of country-style workwear – hats, boots, shirts and what have you. We had a laugh about, got in the car and went home to the ‘burbs. Little did I know that Raquel was seriously mulling over a lifestyle change of the paddock-oriented persuasion.
Oddly enough, my first response was to do with the cost of conveyancing solicitors, and how I’d much rather spend my hard earned moolah on something more exciting. I mean, I’ll probably end up spending it on termite inspections and home contents insurance, but still, I can do without conveyancing fees being added to the mix.
But there’s more to my hesitancy than just matters of conveyancing. For properties near Cheltenham, where we are now, there are amenities aplenty – schools, shops, hospitals and all that usual tripe. Out in ranch land, which is presumably located on Saddle Planet, you have to knuckle down and live on the land, at least to the extent that you can’t pop out to the mall whenever you want.
Maybe that’s why Saddle Planet sells so many things that aren’t saddles. Like, when people come in from the country for their monthly stock-up sesh, they need to make the most of it and get it all under one roof.