[Roxy]

There were some parcels of land up for sale in a nearby village. I did go and have a look before the auction.  There was a local outcry, as this field has been used for years by dog walkers, there is a footpath through it, but seemingly people walked all over the field, and were in uproar that it may be built on.  A developer had tried before for planning.

See for yourself what a group of villagers did to saveguard the field from being built on.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1305700/Derbyshire-villagers-raise-120-000-buy-field-halt-housing-development.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

[doganjo]

That is brilliant.  I want to buy a bit of woodland nearby that I can fence off fro community walking, but haven't found anything suitable yet that's near enough.

[Roxy]

Good luck, Annie!!  I see quite a bit of woodland for sale up here while out riding.  There is a website specially selling woodland and its all on there, but I was surprised at how expensive it was - as much as a field!!

[doganjo]

Good luck, Annie!!  I see quite a bit of woodland for sale up here while out riding.  There is a website specially selling woodland and its all on there, but I was surprised at how expensive it was - as much as a field!!

Yes woodlands.co.uk - watch it all the time.

[ser3dan]

Hi Annie,
not to put a damper on buying some woodland for community walking, but be careful of public liability. My Dad was going to buy some land opposite his house in France, mostly for the family to camp on when we go to visit but also for the rest of the community to use. He told the Mairie ( sp? local government official ) what he was going to do as was told that he would have to insure the land as if anyone fell over and hurt themselves they could sue. The only other way I could think of to get around it would be to put signs up at all the entry points saying that although the field was private property people could use it at their own risk.
Sorry to be boring, but have just had another thought come into my head, you also need to be careful to close the access once a year for a day to prevent people having a legal right of way over your land in case you want or need to sell it in the future.
Sorry for being such a harbinger of doom 

[doganjo]

Hi Annie,
not to put a damper on buying some woodland for community walking, but be careful of public liability. My Dad was going to buy some land opposite his house in France, mostly for the family to camp on when we go to visit but also for the rest of the community to use. He told the Mairie ( sp? local government official ) what he was going to do as was told that he would have to insure the land as if anyone fell over and hurt themselves they could sue. The only other way I could think of to get around it would be to put signs up at all the entry points saying that although the field was private property people could use it at their own risk.
Sorry to be boring, but have just had another thought come into my head, you also need to be careful to close the access once a year for a day to prevent people having a legal right of way over your land in case you want or need to sell it in the future.
Sorry for being such a harbinger of doom 

Thanks for that, it had crossed my mind - and also our Scottish laws have their own little quirks so would have looked into those too.  It may never happen with the prices they are asking - apparently many large forests are being divided up and sold off in smaller parcels to take in much need cash for other projects.  I went to see a few recently that were absolutely useless - even my dogs had difficulty climbing through the thick undergrowth and the steep angles.  One wood I went to I reckon was almost vertical!   It was 2 acres and they wanted £15000 for it.