Hello mate. Fortunate to have just found your site, so subscribed immmmediately, lol, as am on the same journey myself now and it's always excitingti see someone reading off the same page. Almost bought a couple of places in the last week or so but patience is required ( not an excited knee-jerk reaction🤣) for the right spot, as I'm sure you know. You've certainly got a lovely place there. Was that luck or just alot of searching? Take It easy dude. Good to see the whole family thriving on it all.
Hello nick. Thanks for subscribing, yes don’t go rushing into buying just any plot of land! But on the other hand land comes to the market so infrequently you’ll just have to buy what’s on offer and make it work as long as it ticks some of the boxes. It was mostly luck that I managed to get the plot we have, although I had been searching for land on and off for about 10years!😅. I have done a video all about how I got my land it could be a good watch for you. Good luck on your journey I’m sure you’ll find the right piece of land soon enough 👍🏻
good luck Benj and family with your plans. The bracket fungus at the bottom of the large Ash tree (sometimes edible) are good for stroping knives, so don't discard them.
Hi Benj, ref your request for feedback, I'm enjoying your channel. Will be soon moving into our very first smallholding on the Welsh border. So Im finding you channel most informative. Possible an episode on how you came to fing your property and your plans regards living there would be good to know. Keep up the good work, it is appreciated. Basil ,👍
no there isn't a dwelling on the property at the moment. but its defiantly something ill be looking to build when time/money permit. But living and working on the land is the main goal.
can i ask how you went about getting informed on land and all the aspects of buying land , iv recently been looking and there seems like there are so many aspects of buying land ,like planning permission, borders , taxes , maintenance etc that i dont know where to start
Once I had found the piece of land I wanted to purchase I then went through the paperwork, if there was something I wasn’t sure about I would do my research. But as with all property purchases within the uk you need to use a solicitor and they would make things clear if you are still unsure of anything. Basically I jump in with both feet and figured it out as I went.
That doesn't look like a dense forest to me. (I'm used to the boreal/Taiga Forests). IMO the best move is to wander the forest looking for trees that are no longer growing. Take out the dying trees first. Leave the perfectly healthy trees standing.
Fab stuff mate! Looking forward to doing the same with my family myself. You said in your video that you'd like to build a dwelling in the woodland, obviously UK law doesn't allow people to do that, easily as living in agricultural land using different systems like 4years 1 day rule, and living on agricultural land is easier to justify like looking after livestock and so on... Be it on a cabin, but much easier option, you got land that appears to be for agricultural with woodland, so why don't you take that option instead of a near impossible woodland dwelling, even though that's possible if you hide for 10years... Just curious of your thought process.... Looking forward to more videos mate.
Thank you for your comment. I’ve been doing a lot of research into this and think that getting the right to build for agricultural reasons will be the easiest way. So have set up a business on the land for the farming side and once we have enough years books proving it’s a growing/successful business we’ll apply for planning to live on site. That way they shouldn’t be able to say no!
@@doingoutdoors875 I see. I have read and heard that you are better off moving onto the farm land as soon as you have some livestock there, and build a cabin for you family to live in or caravan for that matter of fact, that way after 4years 1day you have the automatic right to build a dwelling if you wished to do so, I will be content with a large wooden modern cabin - large enough for my family of 5, two toilets, a large open garage for my cars and farm vehicles, and some office space. My project will be all off grid so I am not concerned with the mains connections and etc.... But if I wanted to build a brick and mortar cabin I have that option too later on. There are few drawbacks with building a business and then applying for the planning application.... For example, your build dwelling size will be determined by how much money you are making in the books, is there a long term growth possibility of the business, scalability, and affordability of building the dwelling from the income generated from the business itself.... Therefore, if you show shed loads you'll get crazy tax, it's like a double edged sword..... But looking forward to seeing your project coming to blossom. There is a dude on UA-cam called, The small farmer life, he has some genuine and good advice on these sorts of issues....
Also, if you are in England and your land is over 12acre which allows you to build a cabin without planning permission, in Wales you have the One Planet scheme.... I will go down the one planet approach.
A large shed would do me! As long as it’s warm and dry I’d be happy, the kids might want more than a shed tho! It sounds like you’ve got it all planned out for when you get some land and I hope it all pans out as you imagine. I’ll be building a off grid cabin sometime this year for us to stay in whilst taking advantage of the 28 days your allowed to stay. 😉.
@@doingoutdoors875 yeah mate, would have bought some land right now as I found something perfect, close to family and etc, but invested money on another property few months back, didn't have this farm idea in my head back then lol. Saying that, I am looking to flip that property so soon after that a land will be mine. I will upload it onto my channel and take my channel seriously. I do look forward to seeing your progress in the meantime. Do keep us posted.
I thought that if you have 4 acres or more land you CAN have a permeant dwelling erected if you are running a forestry related business offsite, so you could sell firewood or such like things :)
Shelters can go up straight away, storage of tools and shelter from weather doesnt come under planning rules,keep it 3 sided,ie open at the front and be paying council tax on a dwelling in your name and its fine.Residential permission for a dwelling will never happen,even people who own woodland to work it very very rarely get manage it.Planning have reduced the reasons you can apply for residential use of woodland recently,charcoal burning is now not allowed.The 4 year rule is also going through parliament to be removed,although it will be a few years before it becomes legislation.
Hi bud, wanted to ask how can I get a plot of land, my plan is selling my house, live in container home, live off grid, but I need to know where to start, what's your advice bud?
Hi John. I don’t think there’s any fast route into buying land. My advice would be to look in all the usual places like Rightmove , onthemarket etc… also find out who the local land agent is for the area you want to buy land and let them know exactly what your looking for. Also just driving round the area you want land to check for sale signs. The land I have wasn’t on any mainstream sites but just by chance I drove past the gate and I noticed the for sale sign. Right place right time situation! There’s another UA-cam channel called the small farmer life and he has covered this topic quite a bit. Good luck with your search. 👍🏻
I think this guy may have an answer to your hurdle with regards to permitted development ua-cam.com/video/SKU7GWsZ51E/v-deo.html You have more than 12 acres AND, importantly, you have *woodland*, so you might not need filing a planning application, to build a shepherd's-shed or woodland-caretaker's-cabin, just need to file a notice, and Bob's your uncle.
Thanks, I have just watched this video and if everything he said is correct I should have no problem building a place to live on my place! I was already aware of permitted development on sites 5 hectare and over but hadn’t read much into the woodland side of things. Thanks again for pointing this video out. 👍🏻
permitted development is related to storage not dwelling, anything more than 28 days a year of over night stays will put you in breach of planning which after lots of expensive court action will find you evicted.These kind of comments drive me mad.This is peoples lives, you cannot "advise" people to do things without a full understanding of UK planning law.Almost no one in the UK will gain the residential right to live in UK woodland in a new dwelling.Old dwellings within woodland cost hundreds of thousands, going up to millions of pounds.
I was lucky enough to find this land local to my home. But had looked all over the uk on Rightmove, onthemarket etc. finding the land was the easy bit, now it’s hard work trying to get it all in shape and working how I want it to. Wouldn’t have it any other way though!
@@doingoutdoors875 their used for hurley making, the root and the first four feet of the tree if the die back is gone to far their no good ,the timber has to be still alive.
If there's old foundation or things like that. I know a farmer who had a separate set of buildings up a track, he was refused planning permission. Then I think it was the architect that said it. Don't know how they proved it, but it was lived in, in Victorian times, had a big walled garden and everything. Just something I've heard along the way, so just a thought for you if any good
Hi - From what I’ve seen , larger acreage bought ,less per acre ,8-12k for over 5 acres , depending on area , type of woodland , smaller areas .75 ( rare !) to 3 acres tend to be 11- 18k per acre
Don't know if this is any help. But go to local library and research maps and history within the area of your wood. Ask local vicar for parish records. Be careful clearing away the bricks because that might be evidence of a home of being there in the past.
I hadn’t thought of looking at the church records! Thanks for the tip 👍🏻. I’ve got no plans to clear any of the foundations just in case it helps to get planning in the future.
I drove past an old ww2 airbase in Derbyshire that had a brick building that looked almost identical. but there’s definitely no runway unless it was a grass runway? I plan to metal detect the area, should hopefully shed some light.
@@doingoutdoors875 I was looking at some land in Doncaster that was all woodland and had the remains of buildings just like that. Someone local would know, or even a search through old maps maybe?
Mate this lifestyle is for free-spirited people .. not someone who’s worried about all the rules etc . You have a sizeable wood .. u have permitted development .. get your shed up mate and stay there if u want .. who’s watching?
You could not actually live of grid with kids in England under 16 - Law on education , social services sniffing about, surly. Travelor children are of interest to the system., anyone not in communities.
You can definitely live off grid with kids, a lot of people do. We would still be part of a community, it’s just we wouldn’t really on any external sources for fuel/energy/water etc. Home education for the kids wouldn’t be a problem either or keep them in school if that’s where they’re happiest. I think most people have their own idea on what off grid really means.👍🏻
I live off grid with children in the UK,it just means we dont have utilities connected !!! My husband goes to work,my children go to the local village school.My house is council tax band D, higher band than when we lived on grid and a higher band than all my neighbouring houses.I used to home educate my children when I live on grid,home education is fully legal in the UK,no matter the setting.I could home educate my children off grid if I so wished but our local village school is lovely.We have many friends in our village,have childrens birthday parties where the whole village comes,social services wouldn't be interested in us at all,in fact one of our good friends here is a social worker.My husband is Romany gypsy and my children and I come under the gypsy and traveller act.You could not be more wrong about off grid life !
Just discovered your channel Benj. Fantastic, thanks for sharing and allowing us into your world 👍
No problem. Thanks for tuning in! 👍🏻
Great vid, cant wait to follow your journey
best of luck. just discovered your channel & subscribed.
Hello mate. Fortunate to have just found your site, so subscribed immmmediately, lol, as am on the same journey myself now and it's always excitingti see someone reading off the same page. Almost bought a couple of places in the last week or so but patience is required ( not an excited knee-jerk reaction🤣) for the right spot, as I'm sure you know. You've certainly got a lovely place there. Was that luck or just alot of searching? Take It easy dude. Good to see the whole family thriving on it all.
Hello nick. Thanks for subscribing, yes don’t go rushing into buying just any plot of land! But on the other hand land comes to the market so infrequently you’ll just have to buy what’s on offer and make it work as long as it ticks some of the boxes. It was mostly luck that I managed to get the plot we have, although I had been searching for land on and off for about 10years!😅. I have done a video all about how I got my land it could be a good watch for you. Good luck on your journey I’m sure you’ll find the right piece of land soon enough 👍🏻
There should be a petition for people to live off grid
good luck Benj and family with your plans. The bracket fungus at the bottom of the large Ash tree (sometimes edible) are good for stroping knives, so don't discard them.
Thanks for the advice. I’ll give that a try 👍🏻
Also some fungus are good for fuel & firestarting, also herbal medicines. Defo worth look in to fungi xoxoxo
Good luck with yoour project...hope all is going well.
Thanks. All is well, progress is slow but progress is progress. 😅
Benj I feel your pain brother the beard sticking up on the jacket had the same problem fishing yesterday!!!
Ahhh man! Absolutely does my head in, I’ve contemplated cutting it off just because of this! 😂
I'd buy ship container (s) and put a compost toilet in an outhouse and move in(gather rainwater) it's fab!
Its something I’ve considered but The hill is pretty steep to get onto the land, I’m not sure I’ll get a truck up there?
Hi Beng. Your living the dream goodluck mate. Regards from Jon the Vanisher
Thanks Jon. 👍🏻
I wish I was 10 yrs younger to be able to do this. Looking forward to your journey 😀
then do now the thing your future self in 10 years wish they would have done :)
My mum says "how old will you be in 10 years time if you DON'T follow your dreams"?
I would love to do this! Very cool!
I would love to do this! One day!!!
Hi Benj, ref your request for feedback, I'm enjoying your channel. Will be soon moving into our very first smallholding on the Welsh border. So Im finding you channel most informative. Possible an episode on how you came to fing your property and your plans regards living there would be good to know. Keep up the good work, it is appreciated. Basil ,👍
Thanks Basil. Good suggestion. Wishing you all the best with your new venture.
All the best in your project 👌 from Ireland 🍻
Is there a dwelling on the land
no there isn't a dwelling on the property at the moment. but its defiantly something ill be looking to build when time/money permit. But living and working on the land is the main goal.
Wonderful may the power of the universe bless you all and your land with prosperity 🙏🏴😀👍
Best of luck with your land .. it has loads of potential by the looks of it.
Warm regards from Ireland
Thanks Malcolm. It’s definitely got potential! I Just need to put the time in to get the best out the place. 👍🏻
We are doing a similar project over 60 acres ..10 year's in and still load's to do... Bit by bit eh.
Really great to know about your project and future plans. Wish you all the best!
Great channel 👏 great video great family 👪 👍 great man 👨
can i ask how you went about getting informed on land and all the aspects of buying land , iv recently been looking and there seems like there are so many aspects of buying land ,like planning permission, borders , taxes , maintenance etc that i dont know where to start
Once I had found the piece of land I wanted to purchase I then went through the paperwork, if there was something I wasn’t sure about I would do my research. But as with all property purchases within the uk you need to use a solicitor and they would make things clear if you are still unsure of anything. Basically I jump in with both feet and figured it out as I went.
That doesn't look like a dense forest to me. (I'm used to the boreal/Taiga Forests). IMO the best move is to wander the forest looking for trees that are no longer growing. Take out the dying trees first. Leave the perfectly healthy trees standing.
Would love to do this, maybe one day. Good luck on your adventure , )
Thanks!
Stunning video. Is it roe deer that pass
Thanks. We have roe and muntjac passing through regularly.
@@doingoutdoors875 lovely mate. Nice meat for the table.
@@richardhughes1076 definitely! 🍖🍗🍔
Fab stuff mate! Looking forward to doing the same with my family myself. You said in your video that you'd like to build a dwelling in the woodland, obviously UK law doesn't allow people to do that, easily as living in agricultural land using different systems like 4years 1 day rule, and living on agricultural land is easier to justify like looking after livestock and so on... Be it on a cabin, but much easier option, you got land that appears to be for agricultural with woodland, so why don't you take that option instead of a near impossible woodland dwelling, even though that's possible if you hide for 10years... Just curious of your thought process.... Looking forward to more videos mate.
Thank you for your comment. I’ve been doing a lot of research into this and think that getting the right to build for agricultural reasons will be the easiest way. So have set up a business on the land for the farming side and once we have enough years books proving it’s a growing/successful business we’ll apply for planning to live on site. That way they shouldn’t be able to say no!
@@doingoutdoors875 I see. I have read and heard that you are better off moving onto the farm land as soon as you have some livestock there, and build a cabin for you family to live in or caravan for that matter of fact, that way after 4years 1day you have the automatic right to build a dwelling if you wished to do so, I will be content with a large wooden modern cabin - large enough for my family of 5, two toilets, a large open garage for my cars and farm vehicles, and some office space. My project will be all off grid so I am not concerned with the mains connections and etc.... But if I wanted to build a brick and mortar cabin I have that option too later on. There are few drawbacks with building a business and then applying for the planning application.... For example, your build dwelling size will be determined by how much money you are making in the books, is there a long term growth possibility of the business, scalability, and affordability of building the dwelling from the income generated from the business itself.... Therefore, if you show shed loads you'll get crazy tax, it's like a double edged sword..... But looking forward to seeing your project coming to blossom.
There is a dude on UA-cam called, The small farmer life, he has some genuine and good advice on these sorts of issues....
Also, if you are in England and your land is over 12acre which allows you to build a cabin without planning permission, in Wales you have the One Planet scheme.... I will go down the one planet approach.
A large shed would do me! As long as it’s warm and dry I’d be happy, the kids might want more than a shed tho! It sounds like you’ve got it all planned out for when you get some land and I hope it all pans out as you imagine. I’ll be building a off grid cabin sometime this year for us to stay in whilst taking advantage of the 28 days your allowed to stay. 😉.
@@doingoutdoors875 yeah mate, would have bought some land right now as I found something perfect, close to family and etc, but invested money on another property few months back, didn't have this farm idea in my head back then lol. Saying that, I am looking to flip that property so soon after that a land will be mine. I will upload it onto my channel and take my channel seriously. I do look forward to seeing your progress in the meantime. Do keep us posted.
I thought that if you have 4 acres or more land you CAN have a permeant dwelling erected if you are running a forestry related business offsite, so you could sell firewood or such like things :)
I’ve not heard that one. I’ll try and do some research to see if that’s right. It would make things easier if so. 👍🏻
Congrats mate on getting ur land
Thanks 👍🏻
lovely woodland
Probably my favourite part of the property!
@@doingoutdoors875 I can imagine
I thought the black walnut trees prevent anything from growing around a wide radius of themselves?
I didn’t know this when I planted the black walnut, but I believe you are right. I’ll move any black walnut out of the orchard this winter.
Shelters can go up straight away, storage of tools and shelter from weather doesnt come under planning rules,keep it 3 sided,ie open at the front and be paying council tax on a dwelling in your name and its fine.Residential permission for a dwelling will never happen,even people who own woodland to work it very very rarely get manage it.Planning have reduced the reasons you can apply for residential use of woodland recently,charcoal burning is now not allowed.The 4 year rule is also going through parliament to be removed,although it will be a few years before it becomes legislation.
Hi bud, wanted to ask how can I get a plot of land, my plan is selling my house, live in container home, live off grid, but I need to know where to start, what's your advice bud?
Hi John. I don’t think there’s any fast route into buying land. My advice would be to look in all the usual places like Rightmove , onthemarket etc… also find out who the local land agent is for the area you want to buy land and let them know exactly what your looking for. Also just driving round the area you want land to check for sale signs. The land I have wasn’t on any mainstream sites but just by chance I drove past the gate and I noticed the for sale sign. Right place right time situation! There’s another UA-cam channel called the small farmer life and he has covered this topic quite a bit. Good luck with your search. 👍🏻
How do we link up
I think this guy may have an answer to your hurdle with regards to permitted development ua-cam.com/video/SKU7GWsZ51E/v-deo.html You have more than 12 acres AND, importantly, you have *woodland*, so you might not need filing a planning application, to build a shepherd's-shed or woodland-caretaker's-cabin, just need to file a notice, and Bob's your uncle.
Thanks, I have just watched this video and if everything he said is correct I should have no problem building a place to live on my place! I was already aware of permitted development on sites 5 hectare and over but hadn’t read much into the woodland side of things. Thanks again for pointing this video out. 👍🏻
permitted development is related to storage not dwelling, anything more than 28 days a year of over night stays will put you in breach of planning which after lots of expensive court action will find you evicted.These kind of comments drive me mad.This is peoples lives, you cannot "advise" people to do things without a full understanding of UK planning law.Almost no one in the UK will gain the residential right to live in UK woodland in a new dwelling.Old dwellings within woodland cost hundreds of thousands, going up to millions of pounds.
Where did you go to find the land and how easy is this to do
I was lucky enough to find this land local to my home. But had looked all over the uk on Rightmove, onthemarket etc. finding the land was the easy bit, now it’s hard work trying to get it all in shape and working how I want it to. Wouldn’t have it any other way though!
Are you selling the ash roots.
I didn’t know there was any value in the roots? What are they used for?
@@doingoutdoors875 their used for hurley making, the root and the first four feet of the tree if the die back is gone to far their no good ,the timber has to be still alive.
If you can prove someone used to live there your on to a winner
How could you prove that someone lived there?? There is stories of a man living there in the 50’s but I wouldn’t know where to look to find proof??
If there's old foundation or things like that. I know a farmer who had a separate set of buildings up a track, he was refused planning permission. Then I think it was the architect that said it. Don't know how they proved it, but it was lived in, in Victorian times, had a big walled garden and everything. Just something I've heard along the way, so just a thought for you if any good
@@andrewhoughton-py1hq definitely an idea worth exploring. Thanks 😊
@@doingoutdoors875 👍
how much did you pay for this 5 1/2 acres? i own woodland also and am interested in the price
I bought the whole parcel of land which comprises 7 1/2 acres of pasture and 5 1/2 acres of woodland for 130K. Break’s down to £10,000 per acre.
Hi - From what I’ve seen , larger acreage bought ,less per acre ,8-12k for over 5 acres , depending on area , type of woodland , smaller areas .75 ( rare !) to 3 acres tend to be 11- 18k per acre
How many acres altogether
13 all together
Don't know if this is any help. But go to local library and research maps and history within the area of your wood. Ask local vicar for parish records. Be careful clearing away the bricks because that might be evidence of a home of being there in the past.
I hadn’t thought of looking at the church records! Thanks for the tip 👍🏻.
I’ve got no plans to clear any of the foundations just in case it helps to get planning in the future.
Not smart to plant trees in lines. Difficult cutting them down without them getting stuck in each other.
You can get land and live off it research
looks like you are on an old air base?
I drove past an old ww2 airbase in Derbyshire that had a brick building that looked almost identical. but there’s definitely no runway unless it was a grass runway? I plan to metal detect the area, should hopefully shed some light.
@@doingoutdoors875 I was looking at some land in Doncaster that was all woodland and had the remains of buildings just like that. Someone local would know, or even a search through old maps maybe?
at 11:00 you mean last year
Must feel good to own a bit of your own wilderness!
Feel’s like I’ve won the lottery!
i cant hear
?
Mate this lifestyle is for free-spirited people .. not someone who’s worried about all the rules etc . You have a sizeable wood .. u have permitted development .. get your shed up mate and stay there if u want .. who’s watching?
Between me and you that’s probably what I’ll do! 😉
@@doingoutdoors875 😉🙌🏼
just don't put it on youtube or post about it on a public domain :P
All the chemtrails are killing trees
You could not actually live of grid with kids in England under 16 - Law on education , social services sniffing about, surly. Travelor children are of interest to the system., anyone not in communities.
You can definitely live off grid with kids, a lot of people do. We would still be part of a community, it’s just we wouldn’t really on any external sources for fuel/energy/water etc. Home education for the kids wouldn’t be a problem either or keep them in school if that’s where they’re happiest. I think most people have their own idea on what off grid really means.👍🏻
I live off grid with children in the UK,it just means we dont have utilities connected !!! My husband goes to work,my children go to the local village school.My house is council tax band D, higher band than when we lived on grid and a higher band than all my neighbouring houses.I used to home educate my children when I live on grid,home education is fully legal in the UK,no matter the setting.I could home educate my children off grid if I so wished but our local village school is lovely.We have many friends in our village,have childrens birthday parties where the whole village comes,social services wouldn't be interested in us at all,in fact one of our good friends here is a social worker.My husband is Romany gypsy and my children and I come under the gypsy and traveller act.You could not be more wrong about off grid life !