john k

And bizarrely they also apply even if you are only spot hiring a 7.5 tonner, and don't actually own or lease anything that you would need to maintain!

Perhaps you'd like to pop round and have a chat with Mrs K? I put a card in her car so she only found it when she went to work. You should have seen her this morning with her pretending-not-to-care-that-she-hadn't-got-a-card face on!

jammydodger, I'm not too far away from you so let me know next time you're planning to do some more work on this and I'll come and give you a hand if I'm free.

Fingers crossed! Is it a Woodland Management grant? What sort of woodland do you have?

I would be really happy to buy 20 or 30 acres leasehold at £1000 an acre. In fact providing it was in the right area and there wasn't something badly wrong with the place I'd jump at it. I can't afford 350 acres though, and it's more than I'd want. To take on anything that size would need to be a full scale business, with a very careful business plan - it would need some substantial investors or borrowed money. Leasehold would make that all more complicated, as the land itself would be much less of an investment. So the catch is that you'll need £350,000 to buy something that in the long term will be diminishing in value (although in the short to medium term it could conceivably appreciate). There may also be other catches in the lease of course.

It does look like a fantastic place, but lovely as it is would a beech wood actually provide what you want? It's going to be much less versatile than something more mixed, and won't give the opportunity for coppicing unless you clear fell some of it. Assuming that's even practical. It's not cheap, but none of these re-sold small woods are. It will probably find a buyer though. If you can afford it, and want it as somewhere lovely to get your firewood from then it might be worth considering [1]. I wouldn't have thought that it will provide the amount of work you want, or the returns. I'm no expert, so I'd be interested to hear what other people think. [1] I've found myself wondering whether biting the bullet and buying one of these woods might be the pragmatic answer, but above all I get the feeling that I would feel like I had been mugged which would take away a lot of the pleasure of ownership!

So, to recap: - 20 acres would be a sensible size to aim for - no one really has any idea of the implications of whatever the FC may or may not do - leasing doesn't sound like a popular option Would that be a reasonable summary?

Isn't most of the FC land leasehold with 999 year leases? Effectively not very different from freehold. I have heard that some of the Forestry Commission land in West Sussex will be reverting back to the Duke of Norfolk's estate, but I've also heard of the Forestry Commission selling leasehold land previously. There was some on sale in East Sussex via Clegg & Co recently, but that was withdrawn from sale for with no reason given. Do you know any more about it? It was set up to grow timber, but has developed over time and has been involved in conservation and amenity work since the 1970s, increasingly so in recent years. Car parks, cycle tracks, visitor centres and the like are all part of what "forestry" has become. I think that it's going to be interesting to see how this pans out. My guess is that if the sale goes ahead then the flagship forests will end up with the National Trust, some more will end up with other charities, and some will end up with private investors and people with an interest in forestry and woodland management. I think it's very unlikely that we'll see wholesale felling and development across swathes of forest land.

The sort of lease I am talking about would need to cost substantially less than the sale value to make any sense. There is no reason why a leaseholder shouldn't be the one making the decisions either - it would depend on the lease.

I was wondering whether leasing might be an option to explore. Not a FC style 999 year lease, but maybe 50 or 60 years? At the right price I would happily take a lease. I don't have any great urge to own the land, but I would like somwehere that I know I can manage and bring on over a few decades. I can see that it wouldn't work for everyone (you would be unlikely to be able to borrow against it for instance), but it might open up new areas. For instance there may be estates that don't want to sell off any land but would be happy to take a lump sum for a lease on some unproductive acres. Any thoughts?

I've thought about a joint purchase too - it does seem like an obvious solution and I'd be happy to talk. richy_B what were the problems with dividing it up? I can't see any reason why it should be either difficult or expensive. I have a friendly conveyancing solicitor who I can have a chat with.

I've had a look and there's some good stuff there, but I'm a bit suspicious as it's effectively owned by "Woodlands for sale". I suspect it's more useful for existing woodland owners than for someone looking to buy.

Thanks for the encouraging words! It's certainly going to be interesting to see what happens with the FC land. There was a largish area for sale near here (200 acres or so IIRC) which was withdrawn from sale - I wouldn't be surprised to see it reappear in smaller parcels to maximise revenue. Clegg have some more FC woodland listed where it looks like the sale is going through. I get the feeling that the Clegg guide prices are low by more than a few percent. Once the FC sales go through we should be able to find out what the final price was.

Thanks. That's pretty much what I was guessing. Have you been actively looking, or just keeping an eye on what companies like Clegg & Co have been listing?

Hi, I've been lurking here for a while and found lots of interesting reading. I'm not an arb, but am interested in conservation and woodland management. I have no practical experience, but am learning fast and looking at ways to get my hands dirty. Like lots of people I've been dreaming about buying some woodland for years. I've looked at quite a few, but never found the right deal at the right time. I've missed out on a couple of good ones though! It looks like I may be in a better position to buy something soon, and have started looking a bit more seriously. The woodland needs to be in the south east, so I know that my money won't go as far as it might. It's not going to be a hard nosed "Dragons Den" type of investment, but I do want to make sure that it will support some sort of productive use - I'm not planning on making a living from it, but I'd like it to be a worthwhile part time job. The plan, such as it is, would be to do a mixture of things depending on what suits. Probably some coppice products, maybe firewood, possibly some charcoal, and maybe an acre or two of Christmas trees. What is the minimum size that would be worth considering? I was reckoning that less than ten acres probably wouldn't really be worthwhile, and that twenty would be better, with anything more an unlikely bonus. Does that sound about right? The other hurdle is obviously finding somewhere to buy. I could probably afford a small woodland from "Woodlands for sale", but from what I have seen it would be too small, with relatively poor access, have restrictive covenants, and all at a premium price. So I probably need to be more creative. With the potential sale of Forestry Commission property somewhere on the horizon maybe it's best to see what happens. There could be an opportunity to buy direct, or if not then there might be more woodland on the market. Does anyone have any idea how this might pan out?