the daydream fund challenge thread

COOLTRIKERCHICK

Lotus-eater wrote: »

Well you can look at it another way too. If you don't get planning permission, you can walk away from something that would be worth a fraction of the price you would have paid.

If you go this route, then I would have thought you need to get a contract drawn up which doesn't enable him to drop you as the buyer (when you get permission and he gets a plot worth alot more.... know what I mean) without large penalties.

Best of luck. That ruin is going to cost an arm, a leg and most of your other bits too, to do up.

If you can get planning, then I'm not sure if you also have to apply for permission to have a static caravan on site. Which may enable you to rent out your present house, to get some sort of a income.

Oh and check the costs of getting utilities to the new house. It can truly be astronomical and a real deal breaker.

they said this before they decided to go to sealed bids, by all accounts a few years ago it was alued at 150k without planning:eek: then they were told by the current agent it was only worth around 50k with planning, so basically at the moment it is only a 'pony paddock' I feel if planning was going to be straight forward the owners would have applied for it allready to increase the value of the land, but i might be totally wrong, so maybe they have had a quiet word with planning to ask about the possiblities of it having planning permission...

lostinrates

Davesnave wrote: »

, but with a certain council, not so very far from you, employing one of those and using the vernacular style still doesn't guarantee their approval.

Is it mine? Is it your rel who is a builder? If he's near by we might have work for him.

If its this council I have very very little good to say about them.


Had a frustrating day...the sun was interspersed with rain, and in the first bout we left to look for a pump we need....about 15 mins from home the sun was blazing and the pump wasn;t to be found...we came back...it rained....we wnet out the sun shone. nothing big achieved but plenty of pottering.

alfie_1

hi, a friends ex husband [amicable] had a small farm with lots of barns and outbuildings, one being an old dairy parlour [small] it had a sort of office above. he restored it all, not altering the exterior apart from tarting it up...new windows, doors etc. inside he plastered and used it as a decent office/storage [def NOT a living arrangement] neighbour complained [having not got permission for extension and really wanting some of his land !!] and council turned up ,rubbing thier hands with glee! he was told he was not allowed to touch the building but could apply for retrospective planning permission. they turned it down !! AND ordered him to demolish the whole building ?? he fought and fought this until he couldnt afford to any longer and had no choice so eventually had to knock down...[me thinks neighbour had connections as this now leaves a plot adjacent to his ,ideal for expansion !!] SO he sold the farm BUT kept all the land adjacent to the neighbour and 2 barns just to p**s them off !! it cost him a total of £50,000 for the dairy for doing up and knocking down with all the plans and legal fees !! that was dorset council......

just an example.... never judge a planning officer by his 1st words....

Davesnave

lostinrates wrote: »

Is it mine? Is it your rel who is a builder? If he's near by we might have work for him.
If its this council I have very very little good to say about them.

No not your council, though I did have some dealings with them in 2006 and they weren't very special. (Think of males that dip!)

And yes, it's my building rel, but he's a contracts manager for a large company, not a self-employed builder. I don't know exactly what they do, but big jobs, like converting factories & refurbishing government buildings etc. Salient point is that they're still in business!

alfie_1 wrote: »

-that was dorset council......
never judge a planning officer by his 1st words....

Quote from Dorset Council, "...And if you don't comply exactly with the agricultural tie, we'll get you out!"

I was only making a preliminary enquiry.

I have nothing but praise for my local planning officer, and the one on this site is pretty helpful too.

Rummer

Evening

I'm afraid I have no idea about planning permission etc but I did think I would pop on and tell you what I got done in the garden today!

I weeded and topped up all the pots with fresh compost and weeded part of the herb garden, also collected another pile of rubbish from around the garden and planted a few things that had been in temp pots and are now where they will be staying. It is all starting to look a lot more organised! Also cleared a space for our fourth raised bed so I just need to convince OH to build it now!

COOLTRIKERCHICK

We got told we could have a pitch at a vintage fashion fair in Bristol tomorrow, so we have been sorting out things to take with us...

so i made sure i have a good range of prices and eras, taking my supply of 40's clothes too. Because i know i got to get up early, i will not be able to sleep properly tonight:rotfl: Also got my supply of redbull, no vodka though..lol..

lostinrates

COOLTRIKERCHICK wrote: »

We got told we could have a pitch at a vintage fashion fair in Bristol tomorrow, so we have been sorting out things to take with us...

so i made sure i have a good range of prices and eras, taking my supply of 40's clothes too. Because i know i got to get up early, i will not be able to sleep properly tonight:rotfl: Also got my supply of redbull, no vodka though..lol..

Oh, I hope its good. A friend asked me if I wanted to go to a vintage fair in Bristol today and I said we'd be too busy here...now I'm regretting that!


Besides which its ruddy miserable here again....March type weather....this rain. Its meant to be wintery again next week though so.....

And my back is yelling blue murder from that ''pottering'' yesterday....the idea of doing more in the rain is not best pleasing...but it has to be done!

I'm really missing feral cat. Someone ate the food we put out last night at the front of the house where she used to visit (we put stuff out the back in barns for the others who don't come to the front), but ofcourse have no idea who ate it really.

Davesnave

Having a quiet day today, and not just because of the weather.

Yesterday, I managed to get the first batch of toms, lettuces and cucumbers pricked-out, the cues being more of an experiment. Then our friend with the digger arrived, so the rest of the day was pretty full-on.

We now have all the stumps out from the old tree hedge I cut down, and a trench dug between us and the neighbours ready to take a new hedge, 40' back from the old one. This means we have a new, usable garden about 40'x80' but it does contain two septic tanks. Much as I like the neighbours, their garden, complete with trampoline, huge plastic wishing well and 3 piece suite, doesn't really complement any planting scheme I can think of.....:eek:Besides, as it's a rental, there's no telling who we might get next. Prepared is what I'd like to be!

After the stump clearance, we relocated an oddly-positioned rowan into the new garden, removed a fallen apple tree and then replaced it with another filbert nut tree, which was also in the wrong place. After our bumper harvest last year, I'm keen to have a line of these as a windbreak for the chicken run.

Finally, it was on to the fruit garden, which is also being relocated. There, we pulled up all the rhubarb and all the currants and gooseberries. Now I realise this might distress some of you, but with mats of couch and nettle running all through these, there was no practical long-term solution. Last year, we struck cuttings of all the bushes we wanted to keep, so we shall be starting with new, vigorous stock when we plant up the new fruit area.

Anyway, as you can guess, it's a bit of a war zone out there now, so the naff weather isn't entirely unwelcome....It could be clearing though, but my stiff back isn't!

rhiwfield

CTC, watching whats going on with interest, fingers crossed!

Rummer, well done

Davesnave, having a digger to do the donkey work is a godsend. Makes you wonder what we'd do without machinery nowadays, saw a quote recently that said the energy used to transport a tourist flight from the states to Egypt and back is the same as was used to build a pyramid.

Anyhow, after the lucky escape with our water supply pipework, and having our stoptap replaced with new, got to thinking about water bills and realised we should save a fair bit of money by having a meter fitted, free to do now but maybe chargeable soon. So paperwork sent off, and planned a trip to Wilko this morning to pick up 2 more water butts to link up to main house roof downpipes.

But last night was reading a sarah beeny book and she mentioned not to do it if you have lead flashing, which we have for 4 roof valleys. Checked it out this morning and found this paper. So a bit like using driftwood on the woodburner, its just not worth the risk

One of the problems of retrofitting is that its often too late to design in desired features and you're left with making the best of whats feasible. In this case it'll be a mix of more mulching plus working out how to use the (unleaded) garage roof to fill up remote butts close to the main growing area

rhiwfield

Winged_one wrote: »

Actually, I also have a couple of bags of shredded paperwork (no longer needed so was going to be sent for recycling anyway) to bring home this weekend too. I am planning on making a couple of trenches for my borlotti and french beans on the plot, putting in a load of shredded paper into both, and using this as a water reserve in the summer (that the paper will absorb whatever rain falls as the soil is bad at keeping it and watering by can is not really an option for everything).

Is this daft, or do I actually have a decent plan?
(I ask because I, yet again, got rolled eyes from OH when I brought home a bag yesterday).

Winged one, remember my dad using a mattress dug in to form his runner bean trench and hold in the moisture. Most years I use veg peelings and paper and close off the trench in march, then plant in May. Guess your paper will hold moisture but wondering if it will reduce fertility temporarily, maybe pour some urine on it as well?