Introduction

[Bulworthy Project]

Welcome to the forum and good luck with your search. It took us 5 years to find a piece of woodland that ticked all the boxes. Hopefully your search will be quicker.

[splodger]

hi - welcome

great to hear another would be wood owner has found this site

only advise i can give you - is don't rush into anything - so don't let that inheritance try and burn a hole in your pocket

if you fancy a day out in hampshire - you'd be more than welcome to come and visit our small patch - to have a look around - and more importantly, chat with my dad - as i am sure he could give you plenty of advice / tips etc on anything and everything woodland related - he searched for a few years before he found and bought our copse - because it was important that nearly all of his criteria boxes were ticked - and as far as i am concerned, it was certainly worth the wait

[splodger]

we went to great effort and expense - to have mains water and electric on site - and we certainly appreciate the benefits of that initial outlay - i know that this is not possible on all sites - but it was one of the reasons my dad bought our site

our biggest expense, over the year is running the chainsaws (we have a working copse) so the fuel bills are our biggest cash swallower

insurance isn't essential - depends who you have on site and what you do whilst you are there - we only started having pli a few years ago - and only because my dad was doing a bit of free tuition on site - and has a few "helpers" on site at other times - prior to that - we didn't bother with pli

[SimonFisher]

once your woodland was bought, apart from perhaps yearly insurances, or tools/stuff that you want to add/use in your woodland, are there any yearly/monthly payments you need to make that you didn't account for at the start?

Changing the car, twice, then fitting more appropriate tyres. The first change was planned as we knew our first car would ground merely coming off the main road. The second after we learned that there's four wheel drive and decent four wheel drive. With what we have now, we can get into our woodland at pretty much any time of the year, take our tools or whatever gear in with us if we're camping, as well as use it as a work-horse to move wood around and bring it home with us. For us, the woodland's almost an hour's drive from home so there's the cost of fuel for the car with every trip.

I can't think of anything else along the lines of insurance/fees/taxes that we've had to pay out regularly. Most of our spend is a choice.

We have spent a fair bit over the years buying tools and associated stuff - chainsaw, bars, chains, training course, protective gear, levers, winch, straps, shackles, splitting wedges, etc. And if I spend long enough looking, I can usually find something else that I absolutely need The chainsaw 'consumes' fuel and oil which needs to be bought and I had it serviced by a dealer last year.

[ncrawshaw]

The first thing I got was the Land Rover. We have 13 acres about 6 miles from home and burn loads of wood at home as the woodburner provides hot water and central heating. I got an old pick-up, diesel, not turbocharged, cheap, slow and never gets stuck! It costs me about £1,000 a year to run, including tax, insurance, MOT and fuel - I do my own servicing. Chainsaws cost money, not worth getting the cheapest you can find. I have a Stihl and a Makita. The Makita is an excellent machine. If you're doing a lot of work buy chain oil in 25 litre drums - cheaper and it doesn't go off. I have insurance, £188 a year. Not sure if its worth it but we do have a few visitors, some of whom help me out and I don't want to suffer the financial penalties of a tree falling on them! Odd tools, petrol etc all cost, but you can make most of that back if you sell a few loads of logs. All the best, hope this helps.

[splodger]

i realise that you are really keen to get a patch of wood to play in ratcatcher - but don't rush into it - do your research and only buy a patch that meets your needs fully - don't get stuck with a lump that you can't fully utilise

it goes without saying - but access is a key requirement for a woodland owner - i would avoid shared access as it can be extremely problematic

you've already discovered that covenants / restrictions are going to be less than ideal for you / your pursuits - so again it may be best to avoid land that has any of these

before you start thinking about shelters etc - take your time - and find that perfect patch - for you

good luck in your search

[splodger]

what points would you see as problematic with shared access?

well the obvious one is the (fair share of) costs of maintenance and upkeep - it doesn't sound like an issue, but i can assure you (from exp') that it can be a real pain

one persons idea of fair use and wear & tear - might not be yours
an eg. of a possible senario: a tractor will make much more mess than a normal road vehicle or 4wd - where eventually a tractor can make a track impassable for any other vehicle - it may be seen as being of fair use - so the tractor may be able to continue to use that track without additional cost/penalty - but the other "permitted users" may not be able to pass through - unless on foot

ok if you are the tractor owner - not so great if you are not

also getting money out of third parties (for repair costs etc) can sometimes be extremely difficult - say you'd like to put down a firm track using gravel / scalpings etc - you'd think that the other users would be well up for it - until you asked for a contribution to the costs etc - when you want to make any type of improvements - all parties involved would have to agree to it and agree to pay towards it

believe me - imho - sole access is far less complicated, your hands are not tied in any way and you can make as much mess as you like - or keep it as nice as you like - without anybody else sticking their oar in

having said that - if you want to lay a firm based track - you may need permissions from local council