[pgkevet]

You need to apportion more for business since you do your accounts in the house and while you don't want to get involved in apportioning part of the house capital value as business you can apportion part of the running/cleaning costs (or could when I was working). As my accountant noted his business china was remarkable identical to the teaset at home
Remember that sitting at home thinking about work is work too...
Sod it - I'd have put the whole trailer down as business. HMRC's spies aren't gonna be counting your log collections and without the trailer you'ld have been using the wheelbarrow.

[SallyintNorth]

I’d believe a currently practising accountant rather than my clearly out of date recollections, Womble!

[arobwk]

@Womble   Your accountant is right and, like you, I always think that splitting a cost/expense is more straight forward than paying your business for personal use of, in your case, a trailer.  However, there are circumstances when "paying" for your personal use might be better:  e.g. you claimed for trailer as a 100% Annual Investment Allowance item and then use it for a once in a life-time tour of Europe - Honest John would declare that and show a biz receipt for "rental".
HMRC know/expect that small sole-trader businesses will have some shared-use assets:  therefore, because I do my own accounts/self-assessment, I make sure to summarize shared costs and adjustments etc etc on my tax return so that HMRC know (should a human actually read my return) that I know what I'm supposed to be doing and am, more than likely, applying accounting/tax rules correctly.     

[arobwk]

@Robb  I like Womble's #14 reply & advice. 

Also, depending on location/situation of your small-holding idc, there might be an option of renting-out land as allotments.  I seem to think (although I might be wrong) that planning rules for allotment "developments" are not overly onerous.

[ I can think of 2 allotment "developments" here in mid-Cornwall that one would not expect to be prime sites for such, but which have a whole load of takers over several acres !! ]

[Robb]

Hi - yes womble sumarised my positun better than I.
£100K capital plus a separte yearly income of around £12k

BTW thanks for all these comments they have given me come useful lines to think about
Thanks
Robb

[doganjo]

Hi - yes womble sumarised my positun better than I.
£100K capital plus a separte yearly income of around £12k

BTW thanks for all these comments they have given me come useful lines to think about
Thanks
Robb

My apologies, I misunderstood what you meant.  Land purchased is always a good asset to have, whether you can work it yourself or rent it out.  You are unlikely to generate profits to be honest, and the 5 year rule is generally applied by HMRC, so if you wish to register as a business you can have losses until that point is reached.  The same applies to VAT
I have always found that honesty is the best policy, and HMRC is much more approachable than it used to be.  They will be happy to offer advice.    I am no longer in commerce or general practice so my advice would not be in line with current legislation.