I'm curious what it would cost and what the legal rammifications are of buying land either already forested or to plant trees on. Not that I could afford it (or be allowed to) but I've often wondered. Say a few acres of reasonably flat land that you could mess around on, no planning permission required, maybe just put up a temporary shelter light a few fires and generally enjoy your bushcrafting solitude.
Buying Land
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The eternal answer - it all depends!
Land around here will vary hugely in price depending on its historical and possible future use. So figures around £3k per acre upwards for rough grazing land - if and when it:- (a) becomes available, (b) suits your needs, (c) suits your pocket & (d) is in a lot that you can consider.
As far as legal issues go, I'm not expert but things like hunting/fishing/shooting rights can elevate the price and need to be considered separately to the land itself. Moral issues of endangering neighbouring land if you set yours alight, and ethical issues if the land you buy has a hidden crop in terms of timber production/conservation/etc, can also play a big part.
If you also have to factor in costs in maintaining border fencing, travel to and from, and many things that I have no idea about, it is probably easier to beg permission from a closer landowner for occasional use for bushy activities.
ATB
Ogri the trog
Land around here will vary hugely in price depending on its historical and possible future use. So figures around £3k per acre upwards for rough grazing land - if and when it:- (a) becomes available, (b) suits your needs, (c) suits your pocket & (d) is in a lot that you can consider.
As far as legal issues go, I'm not expert but things like hunting/fishing/shooting rights can elevate the price and need to be considered separately to the land itself. Moral issues of endangering neighbouring land if you set yours alight, and ethical issues if the land you buy has a hidden crop in terms of timber production/conservation/etc, can also play a big part.
If you also have to factor in costs in maintaining border fencing, travel to and from, and many things that I have no idea about, it is probably easier to beg permission from a closer landowner for occasional use for bushy activities.
ATB
Ogri the trog
Have a look here - plenty of reading regarding conservation, as well as the sale of privately owned woodland.
http://www.woodlands.co.uk/
http://www.woodlands.co.uk/
A reasonable plot of reasonably good fertile land , wether hill side or pasture can cost anythig from £5k- £25 per acre , the more you buy the better priced it is, as many wannbe land ownwer can affort the odd football filed for GG's, to stroll in.
water, electric, piping, etc all go into effect with cost.
As far as the tree aspect, land with already wooded areas is far lower in price, as they are protected & orders needed to fell them, putting them on, well why devalue the land ?? unless its to your advantage !
water, electric, piping, etc all go into effect with cost.
As far as the tree aspect, land with already wooded areas is far lower in price, as they are protected & orders needed to fell them, putting them on, well why devalue the land ?? unless its to your advantage !
If 160 of us spent £12.5k or 320 spent £6.25k we could have this....
http://search.knightfrank.com/edn090017
which would provide more than enough room for 320 hammocks.
I count myself as the first investor.
http://search.knightfrank.com/edn090017
which would provide more than enough room for 320 hammocks.
I count myself as the first investor.
Now that is lovely. Could do with a few more tree's. But lovely none the less.
Don't want to sound flash ( like i could afford it. ..Not! ) But that seems quite cheap does'nt it?
Quick , someone win the lottery.
Even a temporary shelter might bring planning woes. I know Ben Law had terrible trouble about his benders, because they don't fit the legal definition of a caravan, which is all you're allowed to place on-site for seasonal agricultural work.
It's a bloomin' minefield.
However, in The Woodland Way, he does also say that it's just about possible, in certain cases, to buy land for less than you can get in grants to reforest it.
Organisations such as the Woodland Trust and Better Woodlands for Wales can provide grants for planting new woodlands, generally trees of local provenance. However it takes some while for a 30cm "tree" to grow enough to fix your hammock to!
As well as woodlands.co.uk mentioned above you might take a look at http://www.johnclegg.co.uk/
Good luck with your search...
As well as woodlands.co.uk mentioned above you might take a look at http://www.johnclegg.co.uk/
Good luck with your search...
It is indeed a minefield when it comes to what you can do there. We've erected a small shelter, but we've made it clear enough that it is not for sleeping. There is, however, an awful lot of grey area... Good luck with the research!
Jake
Jake
I've just come back from Knoydart. It is really great up there! A bit hard to access though. Train to Mallaig is fun, very scenic, after that it's shank's pony, ferry or landrover only. Must be wild in winter!
Having been through the process of buying some woodland after a long search I can offer a little advice. As has been said, pasture might well be far more expensive than woodland depending on quality, access, location etc and it's not always possible to convert it into woodland if it has any conservation value which means it has to be left as pasture.
I'm not sure that there's many grants available either at the moment and even if there are I doubt they'd cover the cost of young trees, tree guards, stakes, deer fencing etc that you might need and then you have several years before you can enjoy your woodland.
Although there are people who specialise in selling off a few acres of woodland there are cheaper ways of doing it and it's possible to get woodland for less than £2k an acre. If you can team up with other people then there are companies that sell of chunks of 20+ acres, often blocks of 50 acres. It'll work out much cheaper per acre than buying a small plot and is often the way some of these other companies buy their woods and subdivide them.
Another way is to find the woodland yourself. I started looking at properties that were being sold as lots as occasionally a small piece of woodland was being sold off on its own, or look for fields or paddocks being sold of with bits of woodland attached - often people who want the pasture don't want the woodland so you have an opportunity to offer just on that. I eventually found a few paddocks being sold with a small bit of woodland and after viewing the area managed to negotiate to buy just the wood and some extra woodland for a reasonable price.
It might also be possible to speak to landowners and see if they are willing to sell, there's quite a bit of land that has been planted using the old woodland creation grants but once the grants are over there's no money coming in to the owner and they might be happy to sell them on.
As for staying on the land, as long as it's temporary, like a tent, and for less than 28 days in a year IIRC then there shouldn't be much of a problem. Another advantage of getting hold of some established woodland is the fact hardly anyone will know when you do stay.
I'm not sure that there's many grants available either at the moment and even if there are I doubt they'd cover the cost of young trees, tree guards, stakes, deer fencing etc that you might need and then you have several years before you can enjoy your woodland.
Although there are people who specialise in selling off a few acres of woodland there are cheaper ways of doing it and it's possible to get woodland for less than £2k an acre. If you can team up with other people then there are companies that sell of chunks of 20+ acres, often blocks of 50 acres. It'll work out much cheaper per acre than buying a small plot and is often the way some of these other companies buy their woods and subdivide them.
Another way is to find the woodland yourself. I started looking at properties that were being sold as lots as occasionally a small piece of woodland was being sold off on its own, or look for fields or paddocks being sold of with bits of woodland attached - often people who want the pasture don't want the woodland so you have an opportunity to offer just on that. I eventually found a few paddocks being sold with a small bit of woodland and after viewing the area managed to negotiate to buy just the wood and some extra woodland for a reasonable price.
It might also be possible to speak to landowners and see if they are willing to sell, there's quite a bit of land that has been planted using the old woodland creation grants but once the grants are over there's no money coming in to the owner and they might be happy to sell them on.
As for staying on the land, as long as it's temporary, like a tent, and for less than 28 days in a year IIRC then there shouldn't be much of a problem. Another advantage of getting hold of some established woodland is the fact hardly anyone will know when you do stay.
I did some work a while back for guy who bought woodland then divided it up into small parcels to sell for about 5k each. No fences or anything, you get beneficial rights to the whole wood.
Have a look at ancientwoodland.com As mentioned I know him but do not make any money from his business.
I am sure he must have been mentioned here a couple of years ago.
I remember him saying there is another company that do woodland in £50 lots but as you can imagine that is potentially an awful lot of people turning up at weekends
I can find out the name of that firm too if you want.
I know that you will be unlikely to find a wood smaller than 40 acres.
Have a look at ancientwoodland.com As mentioned I know him but do not make any money from his business.
I am sure he must have been mentioned here a couple of years ago.
I remember him saying there is another company that do woodland in £50 lots but as you can imagine that is potentially an awful lot of people turning up at weekends
I can find out the name of that firm too if you want.
I know that you will be unlikely to find a wood smaller than 40 acres.
Have bought 3 fields in the Yorkshire Dales - 1 acre, 3.3 acres and 8 acres, all with water, all very different in terms of price per acre and unfortunately not too many trees (but a few). One has a small barn (2 storey and about 10ft x 14ft). Absolutely no chance of planning and the Park Authority are so controlling on doing anything with the barn - it seems they rather things like this fall down than be maintained - that said essential repairs start this month. Woodland comes up infrequently near me - yes woodlands.co.uk does have a number of woods for sale, but it does seem to be premium priced when compared to agricultural land with some attached woodland. I still really want a wood - when you own it, no one can stop you camping there or having fires!
Well done! As far as your barn is conserned, its yours, if you use it for a income of certain reasons other than sheep, you maybe able to add more storage etc to it ..& prove you have an income to maintain yourself , the later opton may be considered.
I had a 21' x 8' former mobile holiday home (1960's ridge roof model) on private land in north London without any Environmental Health Dept. or Planning Dept. problems!
I was visited and photographed by an astonishingly rude and unprofessional woman whom introduced herself as being from the Local Authority Planning Dept.
After she made a host of incorrect assumptions and accusations, all of which I was able to deconstruct and discredit, I informed her that contrary to her stated belief that I was living on the site, I actually had a contract to be at the location.
She informed me that I needed planning consent (which would be refused!) to live at the location, whereupon, I corrected her that I had an annual contract (to the value of £1:00) to provide an around the clock 'security presence' in order to deter squatters and burglars from entering the location.
In reply to her charge that I lived at the site, I replied that whilst the former mobile home was indeed designed to provide temporary holiday accommodation, I in fact used it as a 'site office', not a place of residence!
With a triumphant grin, she said that she could clearly see a couch with a pillow and quilt on it, and that I was obviously living there, she demanded an explanation for the pillow and quilt.
I informed her that as a professional, I was acutely aware or the Health and Safety implications of attempting to drive home, having provided said 'security presence' for the last sixteen hours, and that I would be comitting a criminal offense by attempting to drive, in the knowledge that I was impaired by fatigue.
I confirmed that I used the couch in order to rest sufficiently in order that I would not be impaired as a driver! I invited her to institute proceedings to remove me from the location, as I had the full support of the locals, and the police (as crime in the location had actually ceased since I had arrived 'on site') but more importantly, that I had breached no legislation whatsoever, by being at that location, for the stated purpose.
She swore at me, and shouted that she was going back to her office to immediately commence proceedings against me.
I never heard from her again!
I was visited and photographed by an astonishingly rude and unprofessional woman whom introduced herself as being from the Local Authority Planning Dept.
After she made a host of incorrect assumptions and accusations, all of which I was able to deconstruct and discredit, I informed her that contrary to her stated belief that I was living on the site, I actually had a contract to be at the location.
She informed me that I needed planning consent (which would be refused!) to live at the location, whereupon, I corrected her that I had an annual contract (to the value of £1:00) to provide an around the clock 'security presence' in order to deter squatters and burglars from entering the location.
In reply to her charge that I lived at the site, I replied that whilst the former mobile home was indeed designed to provide temporary holiday accommodation, I in fact used it as a 'site office', not a place of residence!
With a triumphant grin, she said that she could clearly see a couch with a pillow and quilt on it, and that I was obviously living there, she demanded an explanation for the pillow and quilt.
I informed her that as a professional, I was acutely aware or the Health and Safety implications of attempting to drive home, having provided said 'security presence' for the last sixteen hours, and that I would be comitting a criminal offense by attempting to drive, in the knowledge that I was impaired by fatigue.
I confirmed that I used the couch in order to rest sufficiently in order that I would not be impaired as a driver! I invited her to institute proceedings to remove me from the location, as I had the full support of the locals, and the police (as crime in the location had actually ceased since I had arrived 'on site') but more importantly, that I had breached no legislation whatsoever, by being at that location, for the stated purpose.
She swore at me, and shouted that she was going back to her office to immediately commence proceedings against me.
I never heard from her again!
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