Woodland costs

[Firemanrickski]

Hi im new to this forum so after help. I have been intersted in owning my own wood now for about 10 years. Ideally looking for 3 ish acres in North Lincolnshire for recreational use and fire wood for my home.

 

I have some questions regarding prices, access and regular maintenance.

 

Can anyone provide an indicative price per acre that would be advised. Not the small lots Woodlands co.uk are dealing.

 

Access, if i have vehicle access can i take my motorhome, camper and stay.

 

Are there any costs required to maintain woodland like insurance, fencing etc

 

Any advice on any topic highly appreciated as I look to aquire my own wood.

[Muddy42]

You are right to watch out for sharks like woodlands.co.uk  Sometimes the ownership rights these people offer is very sketchy and your "plot" is in the middle of a much larger woodland block with no access.

 

The price can vary hugely - £10k an acre used to be the rule, but commercial blocks or planning potential can boost the price.  Plus proximity to towns and wealthy areas and good access will boost the amenity value for people like you.

 

I think technically there is a limit on the number of night for a private campsite (60 days?) which should be plenty. It would be unusual but check for a restrictive covenant against overnight stays.

 

There is a lot of discretionary costs that you can make - pruning, thinning, replanting etc.  Compulsory costs would probably be limited to fencing and branches falling through fences, especially where the neighbours are livestock farmers. If access is shared there may be road repair costs.  If the woodland is part of a grant scheme or accreditation, this will come with conditions.  

 

You'd want public liability insurance.

 

 

[Paul in the woods]

6 hours ago, Firemanrickski said:

Can anyone provide an indicative price per acre that would be advised. Not the small lots Woodlands co.uk are dealing.

 

To be honest, your post sounds like an ideal customer of the woodlotting companies. 3 acres isn't a big patch and I would guess the prices will be similar to woodlands. It is worth looking around their web site as they provide some useful info.

 

I bought a piece of woodland well over 10 years ago now and looked at some of the woodlotted plots and spoke to some of the woodlotting people. They offer a service and price accordingly. You could always buy a much larger area than 3 acres and sell off what you don't need. I ended up looking at much larger areas, I even viewed some large woodlands that were subsequently woodlotted so I got a good idea of prices.

 

If you have an area in mind then trawl through all the estate agents of that area and track down the ones that deal with agricultural land, fields, bits of woodland etc. The piece I ended up buying was almost an afterthought on some paddocks for sale for horses. Sometimes farms are broken up and a suitable bit of woodland can be found.

 

I think for such a small piece the price will be be dependant on the area and it's hard to give even a vague idea of price, it's likely to be far more than a commercial forestry price.

 

I'd look at smallwoods magazine for ideas on insurers, I could dig up the details if you need them. I ended up extending our house insurance to cover our woodland.

 

 

[Amarus]

How long is a piece of string? There is not a simple/single answer to your question as there are way too many variables. 

My only piece of advice, after dealing with an enormous number of woodland owners who went ahead and bought a piece of woodland or planting land shelling out from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands pounds only to have a very rude awakening when reality hit them in the face (and more importantly in their wallet):

 

Do spend a grand or two on a proper, independent woodland appraisal conducted by a professional who hasn't got a skin in the game and wants to sell you something (besides some of their time)! Do this before you part with any other monies or sign anything - don't get too excited before you read and understood it.

The non-forestry estate agents have not got a clue what they are selling, none of the conveyancers will have the faintest either. Go to the forestry agents and ask them for a recommendation instead.

The likes of woodlands.co.uk have some interesting moral codes, my latest is a lotted conifer block somewhere in the SW sold as Douglas fir (seen all their paperwork!) which was in fact larch, not 15 miles from an active SPHN; strangely not a word on this anywhere...

 

If you are willing to invest a lot of money and time in a piece of land you better make sure you fully understand what are you getting into first, especially if you are new to it; spending a little money upfront will truly pay dividends.

Edited 1 hour ago by Amarus