Can I live in a Wood?

[dickymac]

Hi, folks!

Well I have had enough, I\'m 54 this year, disabled and true nature lover; I\'m looking for peace and quiet. The more people I meet the more I love my dog!

I\'m looking at the idea of buying a wood, but have no idea what the regulations are? How can I find out the in and outs of what I can, and can\'t do?

I don\'t think you would be able to build a permanent home, but can I live in a caravan, or a log cabin as these would be classed as temporary?

My intention would be to look after the wood and spend the Spring and Summer there.

I\'m looking for a wood in the Midlands, as close to South Birmingham as possible; got to stay close for hospital, treatment and obtaining medication!

I hope someone can help and give me some guidance?

Would love to hear of owners experiences too?

All the best!

Richard

[tracy]

Welcome Richard, nice to see you here.

I am sure you will get lots of replies with useful info! There is an initial guide on the woodlands.co.uk website about things you can do in your wood and FAQ.

You can\'t build a permanent home, and you can put in a caravan, and live in it for \'a season\'. I believe that is what the regulations say- many others will know more than me on this. You can only camp for 28 days a year.

In order to protect woodland there are loads of rules and it is worth knowing the limits before you get into it. Having said that, we love ours, and the peace and quiet of being there and having some of the world to take care of is wonderful.

All the best in your search

Tracy

[Darren]

As far as I can tell you have to working the woods to stand any chance of living there. But that doesn\'t mean you won\'t have one hell of a fight trying to get planning permission. I took Ben Law 10 years for that.

I recommend Ben Laws books it might give you a insight of what you are up against.

[mikepepler]

One loophole in planning is that you can put a caravan (or anything on wheels) in there, as long as you don\'t live there every single day of the year. It\'s for \"seasonal forestry workers\", and the only definition of a season is that it is less than a year, so if you go of somewhere else for a couple of weeks....

Best to look into it thoroughly before trying it though!