Beginnings.

"As an ook cometh of a litel spyr"


I wanted to begin a blog about my experiences of woodland ownership way back in the late Autumn of 2011, when my wife and I first began to seriously consider purchasing woodland. Of course, back then, there seemed to be an innumerable amount of obstacles to block the path to our intended goal; such as building a deposit, securing further finance, choosing a solicitor, finding the land, making an offer etc. At the time the list seemed endless, and almost every conversation we had about woodland began with "If we're ever lucky enough to buy woodland....". The future seemed so uncertain, not only because the recession had bitten deep and money was not readily available as it was pre-financial crisis, but also because little information in the form of blogs, websites etc were available that documented woodland ownership from conception to management and beyond.

In the beginning, we found a brochure from an agent in the midlands advertising a four individual woods, the smallest of which was fourteen acres. We valued the land, by comparison with other woodlands around the country, at £4000 per acre and made a bid for seven acres. After much to'ing and fro'ing, we settled on a three and a half acre section of one of the woodlands at nearer £5000 per acre, and felt a little sore to say the least. The agent and the vendor seemed in no rush to negotiate or communicate with us, and generally projected the feeling to us that the sale was an inconvenience. Fair enough! Looking from a different angle than our own, they were the vendors and it was their land, therefore they could do as they wished. In this world, those with the money/assets can do or act as they please, or that's the way it seemed.

The initial sale negotiations drew to a close and the solicitors were 'given the nod' to begin drawing up contracts in June, approximately four months since we first saw the brochure. The first draft of contracts arrived a couple of weeks later (our solicitor was very good at her job!) but we noticed a clause stating that we were responsible for paying the vendors fees; nearly £500! This was the penultimate nail in the coffin of this particular negotiation, and we decided to hedge our bets and look elsewhere whilst still progressing, at a diminshed pace, with the sale.

Within a couple of days we had found and planned a visit to see another wood, a little further away to the south of Derbyshire, not far from Swadlincote, within the National Forest. On paper, the woodland looked a bit lacking if I'm brutally honest. It had been planted as part of the National Forest woodland creation scheme back in 1998 and was comprised of blocks of species with a mixture of sixty percent broadleaf and forty percent coniferous and was lacking any form of topographic feature. It wasn't great, but it was reasonably priced.

Upon setting foot upon the land, I can safely say we had no 'thunderbolt' moment that others speak of; there was no sense of feeling 'right' or belonging, just a feeling of calm and the smell of woodland and grassland in equal measure. As we investigated further, we noticed a parcel of 4.5 acres which contained about half an acre of grassland, situated atop a sandy bank (complete with huge badger sett and rabbit warren, overlooking a shallow valley and farmland below.....This was to become 'it'.....Badger's Holt Wood.

Negotiations began and a deal was struck that was both favourable and rapid, and the agents of the first plot were politely informed where to get off. Recalling from memory, I think the whole sale negotation period for Badger's Holt lasted less that three weeks, I wish the same could have been applied once terms had been agreed!

From August, up until completion at the end of May the following year a lot happened, but given the time scale it seemed to drag considerably, mainly due to the nature of the purchase, whereby a larger wood was being fragmented and sold off. Searches and access permissions took longer than normal, and the contracts were written, re-written, and re-written several times more. At first it seemed that despite a clear field entry from a farm track to the wood, we were only at liberty to cross the access on foot or by horse!! However our excellent solicitor advised us to pursue vehicular access for 'Forestry, Agricultural and Amenity' purposes, which was finally agreed by the vendor. Further complcations arose when our initial woodland mortage offer expired and had to be applied for in full again, but fortunately our solicitor and the wonderful folks at Ecology sorted this in short order. Completion and exchange of contracts came in the last week of May, and the fun began in earnest the following weekend.