Buying/Hiring Woodlands

[Forest]

A friend of mine has set up a new website with the concept of bringing like minded people together who may have an interest in acquiring woodland, either buy buying it, or letting & hiring woodland.

As explained on the home page, the idea is that people can 'pool' together to buy and manage woodland that you would normally be able to afford single handed.

Theres also an option to 'list' woodlands under threat and possibly rally support to prevent development or even buy the wood. Or, list woodland available for hire for whatever use, camping, shooting, bushcraft, etc

It's a new site so the forum has'nt got started yet, but it's open for use and designed to be a reference point for anyone needing info on woodland issues, management etc.

Have a look and see what you think. : www.woodlandsgroup.co.uk

Forest

 

[bambodoggy]

Nice idea....not sure if it'll work in practice but do keep us informed as to how your mates getting on as it's interesting to see if it could be made to work.

Cheers,

Bam.

 

[jasons]

I Will Be Verry Intrested

 

[woodwalker]

fanastic idea!

as a thought/suggestion though, your friend might want to change his logo - at the moment its a footprint of a dog or similar creature (could be wrong as my tracking is pretty shocking).

For me it just isn't right bearing in mind the style of the rest of the site.

The rest of the site's design and concept though is fantastic - once its fully operational I might just contact him!

woodwalker

 

[Zodiak]

My scout group used to lease a 2 Acre woods in the middle of large farm. It was too uneven to farm, to steep to build on but ideal for us, it cost £1800 in 1980.

In 1994 the local council purchased the plot of land next to our woods and extended a housing estate to within 20m of "our" woods. They assured us that there would be a 6' fence round the estate and that nobody would bother us.

Within days of the first people moving in fence panels had dissapeared or gates installed so the locals could "go for a walk in the country", our objections were ignored and we were accused of being white middle class elitists whe were simply trying to keep the best bits for ourselves, but the truth was that we couldn't let kids camp there when the locals used it as a moped dirt track, it just wasn't safe.

The farmer went ballistic with them, tried getting injunctions served and even put his own fence round part of the estate but they cut it down, went over it or just went round.

They showed no concern for our woods or the farmers crops, dogs were let to roam free and I am sure that for many of these people it was the idyylic life in the countryside that they had paid for but in reality they were doing more damage than football hooligans.

We stopped using the woods and eventually the farmer bought the lease back with a view to flattening the whole place so if there was nothing there for the locals then he was hoping that that they would go away.

We were sad at the thought of what was going to happen to "our woods" but could also see if from the farmers perspective. The wildlife had long gone, the trees were getting damaged and the surrounding area was being damaged by people trampling their way to the woods.

In the end the farmer was served with an in junction forbidding him from flattening the woods. A few years ago a body was found there so it was deemed to be unsafe and the council errected a fence. The land is now healing, wildlife is returning, but the farmer has gone and his land is used exculsivley for rape seed.

I am not saying that this will happen to your friend and I hope that it doesn't happen anywhere else too, but the fact remains most urban people are selfish and don't give a hoot about wild life. If you are buying wild land then be prepared to defend it, and look after it.

You can see the woods in Google Earth at <coordinates>0.5597442727267321,51.35558502500098,0</coordinates>

 

[risby]

A friend of mine has set up a new website with the concept of bringing like minded people together who may have an interest in acquiring woodland, either buy buying it, or letting & hiring woodland.

Have a look and see what you think. : www.woodlandsgroup.co.uk

Forest

Good grief, £100 to register !!! £100 per year !!! and no information unless you register "to protect our members". Your description sounded all very worthy but after seeing that I thought it looks more like someone tring to make a fast buck out of bushcrafters and environmentalists.

Even if I could afford it I don't think I'd be joining.

EDIT: ah, I see, I got that wrong. It's no contact information until you register. I got no information from my search because there is no information and only the one member, called Forest.

 

[Forest]

Good grief, £100 to register !!! £100 per year !!! and no information unless you register "to protect our members". Your description sounded all very worthy but after seeing that I thought it looks more like someone tring to make a fast buck out of bushcrafters and environmentalists.

Even if I could afford it I don't think I'd be joining.

EDIT: ah, I see, I got that wrong. It's no contact information until you register. I got no information from my search because there is no information and only the one member, called Forest.

Registration is free to begin with until the site gets going. (prob 6 -12 months)
He felt that you wouldn't pay £100 p.a. to list your requirements unless you were serious about investing. On the other hand if the £100 saved you £10-20k on a peice of woodland by sharing it, it was good value. It also keeps the list true and up-to-date, rather than full of people who've already bought.

There is complete viewing access, and posting in the forum is free , but registration will be required to list requirements to protect members against contact from Finance salesmen, etc for example, who would otherwise abuse the contact details of people with cash to invest.

It's a bit like Friends re-united, where you can see whats there before subscribing, but can't get the contact details, unless you do so.

Anyway take advantage while it's free, 'cause I want a few people to share buying a wood with for starters ! www.woodlandsgroup.org.uk

I'll pass on all of your comments though.

Cheers,
Forest