Woodland as an investment

[R3XXY]

Hi all, I'm thinking about buying a few acres of woodland. Primarily as my personal playground but I'd like it to pay me somethingback financially too.

Does anyone own any woodland, know anyone who does or have any idea(s) about how it can be used to make any income ?

 

[Shewie]

BushStock 2010 ?

 

[fred gordon]

There are companies who specialise in selling woodland. Might be worth talking to them first. Don't know who they might be in your part of the world. I think to get a good financial return from woodland you need quite a large acreage and be prepared to wait for a while. Good luck with the search.

 

[TeeDee]

You may find your entitiled to some Government money for acting as a steward.

Don't quite know where you should start looking ?..

 

[lee2205]

just a thought...if you can buy a peice large enough you could use part as a camp ground also renting it out to bushcraft schools, cadets, scouts and the likes and the other part you could run a pay and play 4x4 offroad playground.
lee

 

[TeeDee]

R3XXY

Out of interest have you looked into costs of purchase and how much that works out per acrea /hectare?
Is it mixed woodland your looking at

 

[lee2205]

here you go , for anyone interested
http://www.woodlands.co.uk/
lee

 

[FGYT]

here you go , for anyone interested
http://www.woodlands.co.uk/
lee

check carfully the covenants they put on this tupe of wood most you pretty much cant do any thing with cept sit in it and think ooo nice wood

ATB
Duncan

 

[lee2205]

check carfully the covenants they put on this tupe of wood most you pretty much cant do any thing with cept sit in it and think ooo nice wood

ATB
Duncan

thats always the way with this sort of thing, i just put the link up as an example of what out there
lee

 

[robin wood]

I have been involved with woodlands and woodland management in various ways for 20 years and by far and away the best way of making woodland pay I have seen is this.

http://www.woodlands.co.uk/

Buy a big wood, split it into little bits and sell them to folk who think it would be a nice idea to own a wood but cant afford 500 acres.

A good friend who bought a small wood 15 acres in Essex 25 years ago before it was all the rage has calculated all the costs of ownership over that time and reckons it to be about the same cost as being a member of a posh golf club. It is not an investment, it is not going to provide an income.

 

[Dave Budd]

you also have to be careful of what you buy from them.

I saw a plot of woodland (about 3.5acres) for sale by them a couple of years ago. it was described as "fully stocked native broadleaf woodland". I know the guy who was selling it through them; what the buyer would've got was a 3.5acre field with 12 year old saplings in it! not what I call a woodland really.

 

[TeeDee]

I have been involved with woodlands and woodland management in various ways for 20 years and by far and away the best way of making woodland pay I have seen is this.

http://www.woodlands.co.uk/

Buy a big wood, split it into little bits and sell them to folk who think it would be a nice idea to own a wood but cant afford 500 acres.

A good friend who bought a small wood 15 acres in Essex 25 years ago before it was all the rage has calculated all the costs of ownership over that time and reckons it to be about the same cost as being a member of a posh golf club. It is not an investment, it is not going to provide an income.

Robin , Are you aware of any Government payouts ( be they little and few ) that wood owners can obtain?

 

[TeeDee]

Just an aside , I've been perving over this bit of woodland and house for months.

Just the pesky Canadian citizenship thing in the way...

http://www.adventurebases.com/page83aaa.html

 

[R3XXY]

Thanks for all the replies guys, I had a look at that woodlands.co.uk site before posting my question, they're not an agent, they own all the woodland for sale on their site.

Those covenants did put me off somewhat. Can I ask you Robin, do you know in what ways one would incur costs by owning woodland ? Are there any council rates to pay or statutory laws for upkeep or anything like that ?

I had thought about renting it to scouts, hunters, wild campers etc but i'm not sure if they'd already have places where they can go for free, looks like some more in depth research is required.

 

[bhofmann]

You might like to flip through the free eBook available from this page:

http://www.woodlands.co.uk/owning-a-wood/badgers-beeches-and-blisters.php

Chapter 9 covers advice, taxation and certification issues.

 

[R3XXY]

R3XXY

Out of interest have you looked into costs of purchase and how much that works out per acrea /hectare?
Is it mixed woodland your looking at

£3000 per acre seems to be pretty good value from the prices I've seen. I think it depends on the location. And yes mixed woodland, I'd want it absolutely as wild as possible.

 

[robin wood]

Robin , Are you aware of any Government payouts ( be they little and few ) that wood owners can obtain?

http://www.forestry.gov.uk/ewgs

Can I ask you Robin, do you know in what ways one would incur costs by owning woodland ? Are there any council rates to pay or statutory laws for upkeep or anything like that ?

I had thought about renting it to scouts, hunters, wild campers etc but i'm not sure if they'd already have places where they can go for free, looks like some more in depth research is required.

Virtually any activity you undertake will be a loss. So thinning, felling, extracting timber will all cost more to do the work than the value of the product by the time you get it roadside. Unless you do everything yourself and call your time entertainment. Even so there will be money to lay out on fencing (if your neighbors livestock get in it will soon not be a woodland) most of the activities you are suggesting will entail some infrastructure provision which will cost money. Where are the wild campers going to put their cars or is your wood near a train station? Putting in hard standing for cars is expensive and destructive of the thing you are trying to protect, if you are looking at a driveway a little way into the wood and a car park for a few cars that costs. But without it you soon get a quagmire. Many folk would consider putting in some permanent structures if renting out to scouts etc. My friends in Essex rented to a paintball group for 10 years which offset some of the costs. How much do you think folk will pay for a nights wild camping in your wood? how many nights per year do you think it would stand before it begins to have a significant negative effect? 100? 1000? Imagine everyone gathering a little firewood and having a dump, if you are lucky and only get really nice conscientious folk (how are you going to vet them?) then they may practice "leave no trace" but multiply their actions by 1000 and you will still see a significant effect as you would if there were 1000 deer stomping around in the wood.

I think owning a wood is a really nice idea but think folk should go in expecting it to be a significant cost not an income generator.

 

[slowworm]

I bought a few acres last year, not for an investment but for personal use. As your biggest cost will be the purchase price ensure you don't pay over the odds, I posted up some details about that a while back and I can post again if you wish. I found my piece via a normal estate agent and paid much less than specialist woodland sales people seem to want.

The main annual cost is insurance, public liability mainly and that's just under £200 a year IIRC.

It's not there to make money but it will provide me with many things that I'd otherwise have to pay for. I have loads of ideas, some obvious like providing my own firewood, and some less so such as placing bees on some of the more open areas. So far I've just enjoyed it and camped their a few times, seeing what's growing and what about. I've collected loads of nuts and there's plenty of deer that need some control.

It helps to have a reasonable understanding of woodland uses. Mine might look a rather poor scrubby patch to those use to towering pine plantations but it has a good mix of trees and is ideal for my personal needs.

 

[Bushwhacker]

I know a lot of people who own a lot of land (woodland that is) and if it was viable to make money from doing so, they'd be doing it already. Their attitude is that they're just happy to have something that supports wildlife.

 

[treadlightly]

If you just want to enjoy it, a small woodland does not cost much once you have got the purchase price out of the way. Like previous posters, I find it difficult to see how you can make money out of it though.

One rural agent which occasionally has small woods for sale is John Clegg, based in Oxfordshire. Google the name and you'll get the website. Worth a look to compare prices with the newer woodland agents which are springing up.