woodlands

[Eric_Methven]

Redflex, that's the whole point of getting together. Firstly for a brainstorm then a recce, so we can come up with some ideas. Then, when we have some idea of which ways we can go with this, we can have a meeting for all interested parties. Nobody will be expected to part with money until whichever plan we adopt is set up and perfectly legal. Then everyone knows where they stand when they sign on the dotted line.

As far as shares, or multiple shares and how much say people have goes, well, that's something to be discussed at a subsequent meeting - however, all options will be examined.

Eric

 

[tedw]

Being a sad case, I was thinking about this last night instead of sleeping! It's obvious lots of people are very interested in the idea as most of us are desperate to find a good location that would allow us to do bushcraft properly. It would need to be a pretty big area of deciduous/mixed woodland, ideally with a water source and private so we don’t get Joe Public messing with our stuff or complaining to the papers about nutters running round with axes! That probably puts it in a remote part of the country, but IMHO that should not be a problem as I’d be prepared to travel to get a full week of woodland living. However, it's equally obvious that there are a load of legal/management issues that will have to be sorted out - any bushcrafting lawyers/estate agents/charity workers out there who can give us informed advice?

As an alternative, I was wondering if there was another way of achieving the objective without the hassle of having to manage the woodlands ourselves. Would one of the bushcraft schools be interested in running this on our behalf as an agency for the bushcraft trust? They’d get the advantage of a good area for training at low cost and we trust members would get to use it instead of running it.

Or, could the trust get some sort of lease arrangement with some big private landowner for access to their woodlands with the licence to do bushcraft but with the estate doing all the management c**p?

Dunno, maybe it’s best kept small. Interested to see how this develops, anyway.

Ted W

 

[fa11en ange1]

Not wishing to be a party pooper but has anyone considered the mechanics of the whole system? Aside from the fact it will only be of limited interest in terms of the catchment area (I certainly wouldn't travel as far as the example woods) there is also the issue with congestion on site. For example say you have a five acre wood shared by 300 people. These 300 want to use the wood at least once a month (although if I owned a wood I would like it to be more often), that's roughly 69 people per week. If only half use the weekend that's still around 35. The alternative is that you get time allocated on the basis of money input, for which you would get (based on the examples) roughly 1.2 days a year for every £100 spent, with no guarantee of getting a good day. When you really look at it, it is not such a good deal. To make such a scheme truly viable you probably need to look at an investment of around £1000 each as a minimum.

 

[Dennis Mapletoft]

a few years ago a couple of friends and i rented about 60 acres of mixed wood land from forest enterprise, it cost us aprox 120 pounds a year, we had free run of the place, BUT the first manager from the forestry said we couldnt have any fire, he was replaced after 6 months, the second guy said we could have fires providing we took precautions etc. we used the wood for Field Archery, it was just off the A1 near Colsterworth ( Grantham ) i dont know if this is any help to anyone.... Yours Den

 

[JoshG]

Benkowle wood is right near me!
But that's a fantastic idea Spoony, good job. If we're all serious about doing something like this then count me in!

 

[Bushpig]

This is all a great idea, I have been looking into buying woodland for sometime myself but of course you need to be pretty loaded to do it alone!

My first bit of advice from someone that has been looking into this for a few years now is DO NOT GO WITH WOODLANDSFORSALE.CO.UK they are a rip off and theres far better prices on land elsewhere. Google john clegg woodlands for instance. The other way is to approach farmers yourself and see if they are interested in selling some disused woodland...you may strike it lucky!

As for distribution...it could be a plan to make several area's...so like a south west group etc and see how many folks can fall into each area and then see what the realistic fundage available is ?

As for looking after the woods, I am very into my sustainable woodland management and would love to be involved in a south west woodland purchase....and hey...it doesn't even have to be woodland, we could go for agriculturual land, and there are loads of grants available to re forest and area. Bushcraft/conservation/permaclture project.

my 2 cents

Booosh

 

[JoshG]

a few years ago a couple of friends and i rented about 60 acres of mixed wood land from forest enterprise, it cost us aprox 120 pounds a year, we had free run of the place, BUT the first manager from the forestry said we couldnt have any fire, he was replaced after 6 months, the second guy said we could have fires providing we took precautions etc. we used the wood for Field Archery, it was just off the A1 near Colsterworth ( Grantham ) i dont know if this is any help to anyone.... Yours Den

That's a great idea, man! Assuming the manager lets us have our fires!

 

[outdoorgirl]

We are also interested in this kind of thing - it's come up many times before and has always fizzled out, but if something does get going - we'd be most interested in a South West location...

ODG

 

[redflex]

Well I think there is clearly the interest and demand,

So how about setting date for get together to discuss plans ideas etc,

Hopefully that way we can take it of the forum and start moving it forward into action.

 

[jerv]

I know this bushcraft UK but does the woodland have to be in the UK. I am really keen on this idea but it may make more sense to buy a cheaper (or bigger) plot of land in france or scandinavia. For many members it would be as easy to get to norway rather than middlesborough for a weekend. would the woodland be able to support the amount of people using it. I think we may be better of forming an organisation and trying to work for "bushcrafting access" on state and forestry commission land.

 

[Razorstrop]

Its becoming clear that the obvious is happening, and was always going to happen. Location being the major initial issue.
I don't think I am speaking out of term when I say I think this is going to be a northern wood......now theres nothing to say people South of Brum cant buy in and use it, but there is going to be obvious travelling problems for anyone from say Dartmoor.
So lets look at the whole project from a slightly different angle.
Of course one wood was never going to be enough,so why dosent someone south of the Watford Gap step up and pull the strings like Spoony is doing for this wood purchase? And what about someone from the valleys stepping up and doing the same? Or even just to sit back and see where this purchase of the first wood goes and then deciding that it is a good idea and doing something closer to where you live?

Back to the thread though I believe a management plan is being formed and am sure it will be up here very shortly because everyone would want to know what exactely it is they are getting into and how easy it would be to get out of etc etc

So lets see where it goes
Mr Strop

 

[Bushpig]

Well im in the south west and would be very eager to get a discussion going with others in the southwest.....feel free to PM me or reply here and we can discuss things furthur


Booosh

 

[Razorstrop]

Go Bushpig go!

Seriously though as a network of people we can make this really work, one or two more people taking charge of the situation in thier area and BCUK members/shareholders will have 2/3 private woods at thier disposal.

If everyone pulls in on this it could well be BCUK's crowning glory.

Encouraged
Mr Strop

 

[mark a.]

It's a great idea, although I personally wouldn't be interested. Hope it works.

Just a word of warning, though. I've seen several instances on several forums where great ideas get mooted, everyone agrees, the viability study looks great, so the project goes ahead. Then when people need to start putting money where their mouth is, interest magically disappears, people start throwing excuses around ("I thought it would be pink with purple spots, but you've made it purple with pink spots so I'm no longer interested") and suddenly the idea falls down, often with some people out of pocket.

My rule of thumb would be to take the number of "Yes" votes, and divide by about 4 to get a slightly more realistic number.

 

[JoshG]

Well i'm all for it, with all the money I can possibly spare, which isn't alot considering I have no job But if everyone is serious about this, and I know a fair few of us are... then this could be a brilliant thing. Let's just hope the idea takes flight.

 

[Dennis Mapletoft]

Im in the same boat as you Josh ( no job) but i would be willing to add what i had spare, i am just sat here watching this thread and every few minutes press re-fresh on the pc and a new message pops up, beat watching tv Yours Den

 

[Pablo]

I've had a good experience of a forum clubbing together to buy something, but the idea is to initially overprice the item (as a fall back) and then give money back to investors (in case someone drops out).

I love the principle of this, although I couldn't commit myself to it - I move about too much, but what about asking for smaller "share" donations? I would donate something (even if it wasn't a lot) just to protect some British woodland (and have the option of popping in as a guest.

 

[Razorstrop]

Pablo, good idea about initially overpricing the wood. ANd yes am sure folks will be able to give a random small donation to the project once it gets moving, the more the merrier in fact

Good thinking
Mr Strop

 

[jerv]

I don't have a job either! what's going on?

 

[Spacemonkey]

I think the idea of renting woods seems a better idea. This would cost significantly less and thus more sites could be setup through out the country. Of course, fire rights, with necessary precautions, would have to be negotiated, and some kind of insurance against destroying the forest maybe? A good site with various types of flora and land types would be nice!