New member looking to purchase a woodland.

[richy_b]

Hello, I found this forum today and have had a good read through. Lots of good advice available.

A bit about me, my name is Rich and currently live in London. I run my own business primarily dealing with the restoration and maintainence of rivers in an urban setting. I have previously worked for several local authorities managing parks and woodlands. I have a variety of experience in arboriculture but I tend to spend most of my time now with windblowns and sectional dismantling.

For the last two years I have wanted to buy my own woodland. I would like it for both enjoyment and as a place I can personally manage. I have notions of buying somewhere 30-100 acres that would be relatively economic. Not looking for profit but not looking for a money pit either. Somewhere that would pay for its initial purchase price over 20 years and have a bit of income for maintainence (fuel for saws/machinery etc). I have been looking at some small chesnut coppices in Kent recently and I am hoping to find the right one for me in the next 6 months. I am terrible for overthinking things though! As many I do have hopes of finding somewhere I might eventually be able to build a dwelling on but from my research I've seen how difficult that can be. I am not put off though.

Anyways, I am going to stick about and will contribute where ever I can.

[jillybean]

Hello Richy b. Welcome to the Forum Kent is a great place for woods but there are great places in Sussex too, you have to decide how far you want to travel

[tracy]

Nice to meet you Richy B and we look forward to hearing how you are going to make your woodland economic! Will you be planning to work in it full time?

Hope you enjoy our little group!

[James M]

30 - 100 acres in that part of the world. Have you won the lottery!?

[John H]

Owning a woodland need not be a money pit unless like me you become addicted to buying old tractors and machinery.However I think you are unlikely to make much more than pocket money out of it.

Running courses or perhaps open days where you charge for entry seems to me to be the best option of a return.

Using the woodland as a base for a firewood business may be another option.

When we bought our woods we saw them as a long term investment , hoping the value of the land would rise.

The larger plot was a PAWS conifer plantation, with very bad access across a forded river that you could have driven a tractor through but not a Land Rover. We paid less than £1000 per acre and then managed to pursuade the farmer to sell us a new right of way into the top end of the wood.

We then had a Forester draw up a five year plan and it turned out the FC were giving exceptionally good grants that year to reinstate hardwoods. We signed up and harvested 3/4 of the land and replanted with hardwood.( We had contractors do all the work)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFAg7eYMdwM

So we ended up getting our money back on the purchase price within 2 years. We are left with 10 acres of 60ft tall larch and the rest replanted with hardwood.We yet may come unstuck as the new trees are not doing very well as the are being attacked by a small pine weevil, many have not survived.

[docsquid]

Addiction to ancient tractors seems to be a frequent occurrence :-)

We have a Woodland Management Plan and get various little bits of money from the FC. We also sell craft products (at the moment only little trinkets while we wait for harvested wood to dry out) and plan to sell coppiced wood once our rotation is established. This offsets some of the running costs. Also get paid by Scouts to use the wood for wild camping and to do their various badges. Overall it makes a loss, but not a huge loss, and this would be less if my husband didn't like buying old machines :-)