[langdon]

ive been woundering the other night(pls dont laugh,i dont know, i want to know,im going to ask!!)
for smallholdings is there any grants at all available.
as said pls dont laugh! you neva know!

[Roxy]

We won't laugh - thats a sensible question.

Off the top of my head, there is the stewardship scheme, which I looked into.  It is all about management of your land.  We decided not to bother, because there were too many rules.  They would not pay if your gate ways got poached, or if you fed hay etc. out in the field.  We, and our animals would basically be too untidy to claim the money on this!!

There is the single payment scheme, but not sure what the minimum land requirement is.

My neighbour has just got a grant for rebuilding dry stone walls, which I did not know you could get ......could do with that one myself.

To get most of these grants you would probably need to be a registered smallholding, and have a certain amount of land which you could prove was used for farming.

I suggest you look at the DEFRA website, where there may be information and details on how to claim any grants going.

[scattybiker1972]

search grants for on internet .were doing stuff with schools and charities,for veggy gardens wildlife areas and trees.theres lots to trawl through

[little blue]

I suggest you look at the DEFRA website, where there may be information and details on how to claim any grants going.

Or the 'Rural Payments Agency'  (see if you can understand any of it !)

[shetlandpaul]

we would have been intitled to the single farm payment thing but a previous owner never bothered applying so we can't get it. it would have only have been a few hundred but it would have helped. it depends were you are. as we are a croft we can get grants for 50% of the cost of fencing ditches  and some building but the rules are pretty tough.

[langdon]

thanks roxy for reply and not laughing
i looked at defra website, talk about trying to confuse people!!
why cant they just put it all plain and simple for people to find and read
anyway as said, thanks for reply i thought it would be worth finding out

[Norfolk Newby]

Our attempts at getting grants for fencing, drainage and trees have just been a waste of time. It's a similar story to getting one of the current crop of home improvement grants for heating and insulation. there are so many restrictions and conditions that you just spend all your time jumping through hoops and never get anything. Often the scheme has just ended or has run out of money itself.

My advice would be plan on funding everything yourself. IF a grant turns up trumps, it's a bonus but don't plan the work assuming you will get anything.

NN

[shetlandpaul]

thats true. we spoke to the energy people and they want us to put up either external insulation or internal. it would cost us 50 quid a metre to do so about 4x the cost of any heating system. they are not set up to deal with the older style hoses which is daft because they are usually the worst in energy wastage.

[doganjo]

I got a roof insulation grant last year - no hassle at all.  Found a company online that did the work, got the grant and charged me the difference.  I checked the Govt regs and this company had it spot on.  Only criteria was that I had 4 inches or less insulation already.  I know have 10 inches. Cost me £475 altogether and a surveyor came a few months later to check the work.