Looking for advice!
Myself and some friends are looking for smallish plots of land/woodland (about 2-5 acres) to buy for hutting, ideally not more than 2 hours from Glasgow. We're just in the early stages of research and are trying to work out the best approaches for finding land.
So far, we've got a sense that more formal woodlands sites (woodlands.co.uk / woods4sale.co.uk) are maybe not the best option in terms of value for money, and are anticipating having to go down more non-conventional routes to find affordable land - e.g. approaching farmers directly (although not sure what the best way to do this is).
However, we're not sure where to start! Any suggestions or advice would be really appreciated - especially how to find out who owns land and how to best let them know I'm looking. As well as any interesting stories of what your experiences were like looking for land!
I kept an eye on farm sales around Edinburgh (Savills, On the Market etc), looking for a bit of roadside woodland. I made a successful offer on 3 acres of woodland which formed part of a lot in West Lothian for a little over the rate I estimated they were looking for. It was a lot cheaper than woodlands.co.uk etc
Thanks @ChrisG - I think we’ve had a similar experience to you. Not keen to buy on the open market, so trying to speak to farmers basically! We also viewed a few that were advertised online, as although we couldnt really afford them, we learned a lot from visibly them (similar things to you). We’ve also met some farmers who just wouldn’t really be interested in the effort to sell such small plots of land, or who overvalued their land massively (one was pushing for £40k per acre for a small woodland next to a main road!)
Thank, and good luck to you too!
I wasn't sure what was best but reckoned I was going to be paying inflated prices on the open market so decided the best place to start was with a knock on a farmers door. I haven't had any success so far but it has also helped me to form ideas about what I'm actually looking for. eg. mature woodland or bare ground for planting, close to a village or in the middle of knowhere, access for a vehicle or accessible only on foot. I would suggest going in with some backup questions about anywhere they could suggest you try, such as neighbours. I encountered a lot of folks for whom it would just be too much hassle and not worthwhile to sell a small area so be prepared for that. Others won't want a new and unknown neighbour. You also want to focus on landowners not tenants. I found a combination of Registers of Scotland, Who Owns Scotland and Google gave me a good idea of areas of land under a single owner and you can then focus on area on the margins that are perhaps more likely to be available. Good luck!