Vandalism and theft

[Dexter's Shed]

we did have the same idea when we first got our wood, I bought two medium size barrels with lockable waterproof lids and started digging our heavy clay soil, at around 2ft deep I gave up as I still needed another 3ft and was knackered, so in the end we just hid the barrels in the undergrowth, as time went on we found no one stole from our woods, there were plenty of sheds on other plots that had never been broken into, so we took the gamble and fitted up a shed that you could blow on to open, and the caravan, which is like fort knox,
I still regularly forget about that hole and fall down it

[oldclaypaws]

Great big lumps of fint were the only problem I encountered while digging.

Go easy! Could be painful for someone

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Fint

[jennysmate]

You learn a lot on this forum. I meant to write FLINT of course.

[SimonFisher]

You learn a lot on this forum. I meant to write FLINT of course.

I'm sure that was obvious to all of us. You do learn a lot, not all of it useful however!

[smojo]

The plastic barrels buried in the ground sound a great idea but ... they'll need a deep hole and you'll need long arms to retrieve small items from the bottom. I'm thinking how about some large rectangular plastic storage boxes. Get some that have airtight lids and they can be buried too but easier to access that barrels.

[Tarrel]

This is indeed a disturbing story. Fortunately, in six years of ownership, we've only had one break in to our cabin, with some small tools taken. It was a wake up call and I now take all power tools home each day. We also keep the vehicle access gate locked.

My nightmare would be if someone decided to set something on fire just for a laugh, and it spread to the trees. Generally the area is pretty quiet though.

[smojo]

My nightmare would be if someone decided to set something on fire just for a laugh, and it spread to the trees. Generally the area is pretty quiet though.

Reading a very informative book called Woodlands by Oliver Rackham. He states that in this country, it is almost unheard of for broadleaf woodlands to catch fire. If you think about it they are usually pretty damp. Coniferous woods are a different kettle of fish though, having high resin content.

[Tarrel]

My nightmare would be if someone decided to set something on fire just for a laugh, and it spread to the trees. Generally the area is pretty quiet though.

Reading a very informative book called Woodlands by Oliver Rackham. He states that in this country, it is almost unheard of for broadleaf woodlands to catch fire. If you think about it they are usually pretty damp. Coniferous woods are a different kettle of fish though, having high resin content.

That's good to know...apart from the fact that ours is 90% conifer! (At the moment)

[Zathras]

My nightmare would be if someone decided to set something on fire just for a laugh, and it spread to the trees. Generally the area is pretty quiet though.

Reading a very informative book called Woodlands by Oliver Rackham. He states that in this country, it is almost unheard of for broadleaf woodlands to catch fire. If you think about it they are usually pretty damp. Coniferous woods are a different kettle of fish though, having high resin content.

It is a concern for sure.
Although a natural fire or a fire spreading easily is unlikely on the whole, I have no doubt a deliberate attempt to set fire to the woods would be successful.

Given the unwanted visitors have already shown they are willing to make fires, smash up or burn equipment, damage and endanger the wildlife/trees - then I consider the risk to be quite real.
Our wood had been largely unmanaged for a significant period before we bought it, so it has a lot of dry and dead hung up trees we're slowly dealing with, this makes it quite a worry until we've made it much healthier.

I have liability insurance but that wouldn't cover any loss or replanting costs, is there a way to insure against this risk?

[Tarrel]

Well, yes there is...but... We had Fire and Storm insurance with Willis of Dundee until this year, when the premium doubled in cost in the space of a year! They said it was down to the amount of storm damage claims that insurers were receiving. FWIW, we were quoted £1265, for 25 hectares, valued at £78,000. They take into account the age of the trees and the area. The value insured changes each year, to reflect the increased asset value. A smaller and/or younger area would obviously be cheaper.

We had a combined policy covering Fire/Storm and Public Liability (actually, two policies, sold as a package). They wouldn't let me just buy the PL, so I cancelled the whole thing and went with a broker suggested by Mike Pepler. They can be found at www.thebeechtree.com. I found them very responsive and the PL policy has the bonus of including employers' liability, which covers us for WWOOFers.

It was a difficult decision to take commercially. A fire resulting in total destruction would be pretty devastating. The woodland was originally planted under a Woodland Grant scheme, and I've no doubt the FC would expect us to restore it after a fire. But, £1200 a year is a big ask.

HTH.

Tarrel