'Buy Your Own Wood'

[Arth]

Indeed managed the woods is better than nothing at all. Hopefully selling woodland into small parcels will be many hands make lighter work, only time will tell. The problem with our woods we are all to contribute to the up keep of the woodland track I doubt the owners near the main road will pay for the track at the back of the woods where my part is.

 

[Big Mark]

Where is your wood. How did you buy it?

 

[Arth]

Where is your wood. How did you buy it?

My woods is near Horsham and I brought it through Woods4sale http://www.woods4sale.co.uk/index.htm

 

[Big Mark]

Ah! I know. They look pretty good at what they do. I nearly bought one off of them ages ago when I first started looking at woods. It was the access issues and upkeep of tracks that put me off a bit. But there woods seem nice enough. Are you happy with it. what are the upsides? What are the downsides?

Timbo

 

[Arth]

Yeah they are good. The downside is the lack of parking but I've overcome that problem by making a car park in my ride. And of course road maintence I doubt anyone is going to pay for repairs if they don't use that bit of road and if you have a 4x4 your not going to worry about the track as much. The good points is woods4sale send you a up date of who owns which part of the woods.

 

[Yellow Wood]

My main concern over woods 'shared' for purposes like this is how do you maintain a healthy quantity of deadwood which is essential for wildlife and basic ecology in the wood when a high proportion of bushcrafters are stripping the wood over the years for firewood?

 

[Arth]

My main concern over woods 'shared' for purposes like this is how do you maintain a healthy quantity of deadwood which is essential for wildlife and basic ecology in the wood when a high proportion of bushcrafters are stripping the wood over the years for firewood?

6 acres of well mangaged woodland should produce a least 7 tons of wood per year, so should be enough firewood to leave deadwood for the wildlife.

 

[Big Mark]

We keep about a half of each wood for ourselves and take no wood at all - helping to keep a balance. A 14 acre wood would generate around 18 tonnes of wood a year...which is miles more than our owners would take. Some owners visit 4-5 time a year to look at the animals, etc. Other owners are more hard core...but this diversity I think is part of the magic...it would be awful if we were all the same....

 

[ilan]

Do you activly cut/ thin or coppice your woods ie activly manage them to produce a sustainable supply of timber and create a variety of evolving habitats .

 

[Big Mark]

Yes. We do thin and coppice certain areas to provide a wide range of different habitats inline with Forestry Commission principles. We use a team of five tree surgeons who come in for around 3-5 days a year. This isn't much but ensures that over time the remains in good heart but doesn't end up like a garden either!

 

[Toadflax]

Yes. We do thin and coppice certain areas to provide a wide range of different habitats inline with Forestry Commission principles. We use a team of five tree surgeons who come in for around 3-5 days a year. This isn't much but ensures that over time the remains in good heart but doesn't end up like a garden either!

So how does the ownership /beneficial rights work? My reading of the description says that you own a specified area of the wood, but that you can do (within the rules of operation) what you like wherever you like in the entire wood: i.e. your own area isn't a personal private area, simply a means of staking a share in the entire wood. If you liked a particular area of the wood that 'belonged' to someone else, then you could arguably go and camp in that spot all the time and never 'use' your area? It could, perhaps, be seen that you own a time share in the entire wood, except that you can go along any time - and all the other 'owners' could happen along at the same time. (I'm not criticising this method - just trying to establish how it works.)


Geoff

 

[Big Mark]

Yes that's a pretty good way of describing the concept Toadflax.

You own a piece of the wood at the land registry in the normal manner but the TP1 - as it is known - has a covenant that says you have the beneficial right to use all of the wood in perpetuity (forever) and complete access across and around the whole wood. So in effect you have the use of all of the wood.

For some people who want to be really territorial - in the style of a Kentucky farmstead - this isn't much good because if everyone put up fences and said 'get orf a my land' it would ruin the idea. But the benefit is that you get a whole wood to use forever for a fraction of the normal price. So as you say if you buy one section but fancy camping on another that's cool and vice versa. As I'm sure you know land changes over time and with the seasons so one bit that's good in summer may not be best to camp on 5 years later in the spring. It's supposed to be a communal thing for people in tune with nature. We don't have too many rules there are a few guidelines just to stop any really silly behaviour - quad bike racing, keeping pigs, etc! - but the idea is let's use a wood as a living breathing thing, respect it but have fun.

It is a bit like a time share - but as you say more a case of you own a bit but can always visit it whenever you like and walk and camp and use all of it.

We also provide a chat room/woodland community - a bit like this - so owners can chat and exchange ideas. Not everyone likes this and that's cool too. (It's just a facility.)

We hang on to about half of the wood so it doesn't become too over crowded and because well that's why we did it in the first place - to own a wood not make £ millions!

We don't mind if everyone camps on our bit at all.

It's just a fun idea that let's people like us have a wood of their own to use, where we can light fires, camp and do our own thing.

Hope this helps?

 

[marzi]

Well I am buying into the idea and cant wait to get in there, get a brew up on the go over the fire, fire up the dutch oven and let the kids run wild! no landowner understand why its good for the sole to sit round a fire and sleep out under a basha. Also bumped into a fellow bushcraft woodlore membertoday hope he also buys in.

Hope all works out.

 

[milius2]

This reminds me of "the village" movie concept
Nice idea thou, really like it and wish the best of luck for everyone participating in it!