Timeshare of Woodland for Camping

[Skewif]

I love to wild camp but in the crowded SE it's not easy to find a secure, reliable, quiet place to just pop to for a mid week or weekend stopover and where the dog can also run free. Been thinking for a while about buying a small woodland somewhere within an hour or two's drive from Brighton. It must be away from any roads, be very quiet, have or can make a clearing (for vans solar) and preferably have nice nearby trails to walk/cycle along (to a pub or beach?).

There are plenty for sale and a couple of friends have also bought. One has theirs near Lewis and have built a little wood store, a hidden composting toilet, have enough space to pitch an additional tent, have a fire pit and a couple swings from the trees, it's a beautiful place to stay, their children love it and I want one! Here is an example: http://www.woodlands.co.uk/buying-a-wood/south-east-england/short-wood/

I have seen nice woods for £30k-£45k and could buy on my own but feel this would make a perfect time share with maybe one or two others as most of the time it will be unused. Anyone fancy going Dutch on a wood?

 

[Martin]

I would avoid the ones on Woodlands for sale as they are vastly over priced and they put loads of restrictions on them for what you can and cant't do. Where we live you can buy a private woodland for around £6-7k per acre but the same one with woodlands for sale would be double that.
This one near us sold recently http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-68102054.html I realise the South East is a bit more expensive but I would not pay more than £10k per acre.

We also have a private Woodland at the end of our drive where they applied for a Freedom camping licence to allow them to charge to rent it out for holidays and it was full for most of the summer so there is certianly a market for it.

Great idea, maybe we should build up a network across the UK for Cali owners to use.

 

[MattBW]

Where I live unfortunately its around the 10k an acre we have thought about it for some time and maybe one day we will. Somerset had some of the best value for money we found but we never went through with it yet.

 

[T6 CFO]

Very interesting. Something worth exploring. We would be interested in a plot within easy reach from Bristol.

Mike


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[Billy]

I am also very interested in this too, could be a small investment with the benefit of free camping, rather invest £10k in something to enjoy than have it sitting in the bank.

 

[Jay586]

It's called psychic income, when you can see the thing you own.

We nearly bought a house, a modern one where the owner had bought the wooded spare land from the developer. But it had rubbish access for dealing with the trees, some which overhung other houses. Proper wood managing would be a fair bit of effort, but come the apocalypse, you would be able to coppice!

 

[Skewif]

I would avoid the ones on Woodlands for sale as they are vastly over priced and they put loads of restrictions on them for what you can and cant't do. Where we live you can buy a private woodland for around £6-7k per acre but the same one with woodlands for sale would be double that.
This one near us sold recently http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-68102054.html I realise the South East is a bit more expensive but I would not pay more than £10k per acre.

We also have a private Woodland at the end of our drive where they applied for a Freedom camping licence to allow them to charge to rent it out for holidays and it was full for most of the summer so there is certianly a market for it.

Great idea, maybe we should build up a network across the UK for Cali owners to use.

I agree that many are overpriced but I’m not in a rush and happy to wait for the right one. Just love the idea your own private wood to escape to.

 

[Skewif]

I would avoid the ones on Woodlands for sale as they are vastly over priced and they put loads of restrictions on them for what you can and cant't do. Where we live you can buy a private woodland for around £6-7k per acre but the same one with woodlands for sale would be double that.
This one near us sold recently http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-68102054.html I realise the South East is a bit more expensive but I would not pay more than £10k per acre.

We also have a private Woodland at the end of our drive where they applied for a Freedom camping licence to allow them to charge to rent it out for holidays and it was full for most of the summer so there is certianly a market for it.

Great idea, maybe we should build up a network across the UK for Cali owners to use.

I was also thinking there must be loads of people with nice plots that might be up for a weekend swap.

 

[CALI FATE]

Good idea - got me doing a bit of woodland for sale googling - my brother had an idea of operating a humanist / composting natural burial ground

 

[Skewif]

Good idea - got me doing a bit of woodland for sale googling - my brother had an idea of operating a humanist / composting natural burial ground

How about a Cali burial ground, where they bury you in your van so you can RIP and comfort?

 

[Jay586]

I know the weirdest stuff...

Was once told to value land for a cemetery in the days when I had a proper job! It has an income stream, so can be valued properly.

Someone I know set up a burial ground, he also does Wagyu beef, not connected but he has planted a lot of trees! Green Lane Burial Ground.

 

[jts46]

Plenty of woodlands for sale in rural France for €10,000 upwards

 

[Skewif]

Mmm. France would be nice. Could the club buy a couple at perfect intivals for stopping off at on the way down to the Alps?

 

[Skewif]

It might be worth a show of hands from anyone who might have an interest in acquiring a plot of land? Could be someone else in your area. Time share legal contracts are readily available. Booking/ allocation would be easy on a simple google doc. Can sell your share if needed etc. It’s becoming increasingly common for the likes of yacht ownership.

 

[johnyboy]

I've been looking locally for years - £10k an acre feels like a dream from what I have seen this far.

 

[Billy]

How about a poll of some area's ? I dont mind travelling up to 2 hours.

 

[andyinluton]

Unless you get planning permission to use it as a campsite you are restricted to a maximum of 28 days use per year.

Biggest problem could be security & fly tipping - I was involved with a development site recently that was left unlocked and unattended over a lunchtime, it cost getting on for £1/2million to clear the flytipping!

 

[parrot2]

I owned a 21/2 acre wood it was away from my house and security was an issue also the local parish council was very difficult they complained about everything they could do ie mud being left on the road even though it was only minor and on a country rd. It was also very time consuming keeping it in a fit state to enjoy.That said its a nice idea. The land I owned was in west sussex.

 

[Annik]

If you are using it for personal use ( which I timeshare would be) the 28 day rule is the maximum amount of time you can spend on it in anyone one go, you can also get a Certified campsite licence if required like the ones issued from Freedom camping.

 

[andyinluton]

Just to clarify, the 28 day limit is the total number of days per year it could be camped on i.e. timeshare between 4 couples gets you a week each. Not per person or per visit.

Turn it into a Certified Location - which needs planning permission it could change to 28 days per person per vist.

An unattended nice place to park a camper van is also a nice place to park a caravan towed by a transit pick up for a good honest hardworking tarmac driveway specialist!

 

[Billy]

Certified locations do not need planning permission: https://www.caravanclub.co.uk/run-your-own-certificated-location/

 

[andyinluton]

Yes but to become a CL you need the certificate - to get that from Camping and Caravan Club you need to meet the basic requirements, you've gone from owning a little bit of woodland where you can park to actually running a campsite.

So what are the ‘Basic Requirements’?

In terms of your land, we’ll need:

• At least half an acre available for the site, this needs to be fairly level land.
• Safe access – based on an unrestricted view either side of your egress point. If the approach road to the site is fairly narrow or single track, there should be enough passing places to ensure the safety of all road users. Very importantly, we will need the written agreement of all parties that have ownership rights on the access road.

Before you are issued with a Certificate, we’ll need you to provide (within 100 metres of the camping area, and not across any roads):

• 1 x drinking water tap with a non-return valve
• 1 x rinsing water tap (for rinsing out the toilet cassettes after emptying). *These two taps need to have a good, clear distance between them and signed accordingly
• A chemical disposal point (CDP) for emptying toilet cassettes into; there’s more information about what a CDP is at the back of this guide.
• Dry waste disposal – this can be something as simple as a dustbin that is emptied regularly, or you may wish to take this a step further by providing separate recycling bins.
• Public Liability Insurance; you may already be covered for the site on your existing policy (if you have one) so it’s worth checking this, but if not, we can provide you with the contact details of our own Club Care Insurance services who offer tailor made policies from as little as £67.30 a year.
• You’ll need to display a sign (provided by the Club) at the entrance of your site.

 

[Skewif]

As you can tend your woods for as many days a year you wish I take it is 28 nights a year? So 28 weekends if you only stay Saturday night. That’s more than half the year and that assumes someone is counting. So between 2 owners that’s way more weekends than I could ever do.
The woods my good friends have is within a forest and no one would know you are even there. They nor any of the other 13 plot owners have ever had a problem with travellers. Maybe not enough space for 10 caravans, transit vans and road rollers. As for fly tipping if it was really that bad then all the woods I walk in each week would be full of builders rubble and old fridges... but there’re not.

 

[Annik]

28 days is more than enough, its just a place to escape to for the odd weekend or overnighter, even between three people that is around ten nights per year and if you did go over the 28 you would be very unlucky to get caught, who ever was going to grass you up would have to have CCTV set up on your entrance 365 days per year for it to stick in court. From what i have read the 28 day policy is just to stop people living there!

 

[CYCLOPATH]

I would avoid the ones on Woodlands for sale as they are vastly over priced and they put loads of restrictions on them for what you can and cant't do. Where we live you can buy a private woodland for around £6-7k per acre but the same one with woodlands for sale would be double that.
This one near us sold recently http://www.rightmove.co.uk/property-for-sale/property-68102054.html I realise the South East is a bit more expensive but I would not pay more than £10k per acre.

We also have a private Woodland at the end of our drive where they applied for a Freedom camping licence to allow them to charge to rent it out for holidays and it was full for most of the summer so there is certianly a market for it.

Great idea, maybe we should build up a network across the UK for Cali owners to use.

I agree martin....I have looked on and off for years, Woodland .co.uk is just ridiculously overpriced. I think they have an interesting business model where they buy and manage the woodland , and make the usual profits from that, but then parcel small bits at ridiculous prices , and if someone is silly enough to pay it, they sell. Some of there woods have been in the market for decades.
If you look in rural estate agent, and agricultural sites, you see much more reasonable prices....