Charles wrote:
Hi

I live out on a remote farmhouse whose electric is supplied on overhead
electricity
poles.

In the two years that I have lived here, I've had about 20 power cuts.
Some are only a few minutes and a nuisance, but others can last for a
few hours.
snip
I would be happy if the generator would power a lighting circuit, and
maybe a few appliances (heating pump, boiler, television, radio etc).

It depends what you want.

The cheapest option is a small generator that you plug stuff into.
The best option would be a UPS, which can take power from either
the mains, or the generator, and will provide instant recovery from
failure.

A relatively easy way would be a small UPS plugged into a socket on
a ring.

Add another socket for the generator output.

From the UPS output, run a ring, from which are a few low-power (round 2A?)
sockets, and lighting (not exterior security lights).

Plug TV/... into these.

If power-cut happens, then after a few minutes, you unplug the UPS and
pilug it into the generator, then turn it on.
A "proper" solution would use a transfer relay to automate the transfer,
and some means of automatically starting the generator.