Owning a house with woodland

amyr

We're at the early stage of purchasing a property which comes with around 1/4 acre of woodland. It's an added bonus for us, but not something we set out to have. The woodland is on the same plot as the house, is not fenced off and is backed on to by woodland owned by other houses. 

While there's an awful lot online about buying woodland in isolation, there's relatively little about what to do if this is part of a house sale. 

Does anyone know of any resources which could be helpful - or any general advice on potential pitfalls or things to be mindful of? Do you need to have a survey done on woodland as part of conveyancing? 

Any advice gratefully received!

[Edit to add image]

Slithery

A quarter of an acre isn't a 'woodland' in anyone's books. It's just a few trees.

tacpot12

I would suggest that you do get a survey done, just so that you know if there are any trees that might pose a danger to anyone or to the house. I guess it would make sense to have this done before exchanging contracts just in case something is found that alters your perception of the value of the property. The arbourculturalist that does the survey should be able to tell you a bit more about what it is that you are buying, and how to manage the woodland. I think you are very lucky to have such a resource as part of the property. 

user1977

I think that's just "a big garden with lots of trees" rather than "woodland" really.

amyr

If I need to clarify, I'm saying 'woodland' as in 'ground covered by trees'. I'm certainly not calling it a forest! It's around 40 - 50 very mature trees in total which is part of a much larger woodland with patches owned by several different houses. 

tacpot12 said:

I would suggest that you do get a survey done, just so that you know if there are any trees that might pose a danger to anyone or to the house. I guess it would make sense to have this done before exchanging contracts just in case something is found that alters your perception of the value of the property. The arbourculturalist that does the survey should be able to tell you a bit more about what it is that you are buying, and how to manage the woodland. I think you are very lucky to have such a resource as part of the property. 

Thank you - I'd not heard of an arboriculturalist so this is really helpful. It's very new for us.

deannagone

I don't know if anyone else has noticed this, but whenever we've lived surrounded by trees (more than a couple) we've found we get more moths in the house than when we don't.  Great if you like them, but my son is terrified of them so glad to be living in a house with no trees now, still get the occasional moth but not as many as in the previous two houses.

AdrianC

amyr said:

Thank you - I'd not heard of an arboriculturalist so this is really helpful.

It's a posh name for a tree surgeon...

If you're worried about the trees, I'd just get a tree surgeon to come and look. No need for a formal survey. But, tbh, you can get a decent idea of what they're like just by looking at them yourself. Do they look healthy?

What sort and size of trees are we talking about? 40-50 trees in a quarter of an acre is packed fairly solid.

amyr

deannagone said:

I don't know if anyone else has noticed this, but whenever we've lived surrounded by trees (more than a couple) we've found we get more moths in the house than when we don't.  Great if you like them, but my son is terrified of them so glad to be living in a house with no trees now, still get the occasional moth but not as many as in the previous two houses.

Interesting - we'll have to watch out for that!

AdrianC said:

amyr said:

Thank you - I'd not heard of an arboriculturalist so this is really helpful.

It's a posh name for a tree surgeon...

If you're worried about the trees, I'd just get a tree surgeon to come and look. No need for a formal survey. But, tbh, you can get a decent idea of what they're like just by looking at them yourself. Do they look healthy?

What sort and size of trees are we talking about? 40-50 trees in a quarter of an acre is packed fairly solid.

Thank you - I've added an image to my first post to try and illustrate. It's very tightly packed in places but the trees vary - some are larger more mature trees (mainly beech and sycamore with some ash) plus several thinner which I'm utterly clueless about. Good to know about the tree surgeon too. A quick google now I have the name of the trade I need shows there are some nuances between the two - we'll do some more desk research.

canaldumidi

https://www.trees.org.uk/Find-a-professional

https://www.charteredforesters.org/

amyr

canaldumidi said:

https://www.trees.org.uk/Find-a-professional

https://www.charteredforesters.org/

Thank you! This is very helpful. 

AdrianC

Ash - look very carefully at the tips of all the branches, as best you can with them all packed in that densely. If they're looking like they're thinning and going threadbare, that's probably the early stages of dieback. It doesn't hang around once it's in. But it's the absolute best firewood around... (which is just as well, because I've got a bloody ton of it, after taking two big dying-back ashes out a few months back)

Looks just from that pic like there's probably some previously coppiced stuff that's growing back - which it will... That's ongoing fun.

Sycamore's a pain in the backside. There's nothing quite so prolific at spreading itself around.

Get yourself a good pair of loppers and a chainsaw AND GET ON A CHAINSAW COURSE.