Research and thought needed when leaving the farm for city retirement | OPINION

The most significant one was leaving "Berkshire Downs - 870", a very pleasant 45 hectare property almost 10km up the hill south of the nearest town.

It was dissected by a creek which ran along the 120m altitude contour and its highest point was 215m. Up there, you had magnificent views to Bass Strait to the north and the Tasmanian Central Highlands to the south.

The main arterial road ran along one boundary, and the address tells you we were only 8.7km from the post office in town, as the crow flies.

We sold the farm to our next-door neighbour, our son Tim, so that he could expand his farming. Our long-term succession plan was realised - now it was time to slow down and down-size.

We decided to see what town life was like, so we bought one villa which is central to three.

The town's river flows right past, and we are very close to the bridge which links our suburb to town (about 11,000 people).

One advantage of the location became obvious straight away.

It's a daily 15 minute leisurely walk across the bridge to get the newspaper and come home, compared with a pretty fast 15 minute drive from Berkshire Downs and return, which used a fair amount of fuel over a year, plus the time spent finding a parking space.

The villa is very liveable and we made extensive renovations.

It's open plan, with the kitchen area linked to the dining and living areas so you can have a chat to guests while cooking the meal.

However, it's rather small and we tend to fall over each other. Enough of that. This is for Good Fruit & Vegetables so what about outside?

You could spend all day wandering around Berkshire Downs checking the fences and livestock, and half a day mowing in the vineyard and around the house.

The mowing here literally takes about a minute. True, I've timed myself.

We had five pairs of terraced vegetable beds at Berkshire Downs each measuring 10m. Here we have one 2m diameter circular raised bed; all that we could fit in.

The huge difference is the noise. At Berkshire Downs the farmhouse was about 200m back from the road and there was little traffic; couldn't even hear the log trucks.

Here we are encompassed by the arterial road to town and the traffic across the bridge is constant, from 5.30am to 11.30pm, 24/7.

The motor bikes are the loudest. And then there's the fact that everyone is so close. We've never had neighbours and that's hard to get used to.

So what is the attraction of this "detached house just up the road"? It's in a quiet part of the suburb, with very little traffic.

It's on a fairly sloping block, close to the river, with very pleasant views from the deck across to town.

This includes the local vegetable processing facility which blends in with the landscape and is by no means an eyesore, even though it's one of the biggest in the southern hemisphere.

And when I walked up the block behind the house for the first time, there were three rectangular raised beds just waiting for me to put them to Good Fruit & Vegetable use.

So, our advice would be to think very carefully about the big move from farm to town, and really do your "surveillance and due diligence".

Living on a farm is very different to living in town and you need to adjust, even if it takes time. It's worth the effort.