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Looking into buying Land

Hello all, I am currently in the process of looking at buying some land. We've found a good plot near us up for sale about 3 acres. It's expensive but I think it will do everything we need it to. It's not been used for a very long time and whilst not super overgrown it does look like highland land with tufts if that makes sense. I've owned a couple of allotments in my time but never anything this big and have no idea where to start. If I do end up buying it, are there any suggestions on how to start managing the land, or books or anything to help. We'd be looking at a orchard, 1 acre allotment and chickens. No large amounts of livestock though I'm sure at some stage if there is space we might rescue a sheep or two. Thanks in advance.
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  • alicef
    alicef Posts: 504 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 100 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    Hello!  There's loads or resources on-line re.  planting a new orchard

    for example some basic info here:


    You haven't mentioned height of land; depth of soil; drainage; soil type; shading; water availability or how close the land is to the sea - obviously all of these things will impact what you do.

    Things I learnt from planting ours - if you need one - get your shelterbelt planted first.  If I had my time again, I would plant maidens and would graft myself.  We are on half standard rootstock - I wouldn't go any taller unless you like climbing ladders.  Be generous with your spacing.  Have a good think about what you are going to do with the fruit - we press for cider and donate/sell the earlier ripening fruit.  Are there orchard owners nearby?  If so, go and have a chat with them. 

    I think an orchard is a fabulous habitat!

    All the very best with your journey.

    Fashion on the Ration 2025  4/66   
  • twopenny
    twopenny Posts: 6,848 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    Yes, first check the type of soil and the depth. This is the most important if you want to grow fruit trees.

    I wonder what your 'land with tufts' means.......we have similar on the moors/ajacent to the moors...... down south and it's not been cultivated. I did once look up what caused the tufts but that was decades ago so can't remember. The spot I'm thinking of has never been cultivated and occasionally used for sheep.

    Alicef has brilliant info there expecially starting with the shelterbelt.
    Chickens may be next. You're going to really need some good fox proofing but the chicken manure will be producing while you dig the allotment :)
    You may also arrange your planning for the optimum time to plant the trees and stakes.

    A photo of the plot would help. And knowing the type of soil. Peaty, sandy, clay, stoney. You can nip in and dig a bit with a small trowel and see. Simple ways are to squeeze some in your hand. Falls apart sandy, sticks together clay. Rest is on the net probably

    I can rise and shine - just not at the same time!

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  • Your post is a little vague for me to be specific with advice. If land isn't contiguous with a property, there may be security issues, and any development, even a polytunnel or shed, may need planning consent. Local authorities won't mind an orchard or allotment, but these won't be a feasible option if it really is like highland land, possibly with thin soil and an iron pan, blocking drainage.
    The question you need to answer first is why the land has fallen out of use, and what the land close to it is used for. This will give you broad hints about its prospects.
    There are many books. YouTube videos on the subjects of gardening, fruit growing and smallholding. The one people used to use as their Bible was this one:

    "Money will only make you more of what you already are." T. Harv Eker
  • alicef said:
    Hello!  There's loads or resources on-line re.  planting a new orchard
    Thank you, I will look into that web page. I don't know anything about the soil, I'm unsure on what I can do to the site prior to buying it to be honest. It's got a stream at the bottom, very low nothing major. Don't know about water, couldn't see anything when we visited the site but it will be something we will be asking if we decide to progress with it.

    twopenny said:
    Yes, first check the type of soil and the depth. This is the most important if you want to grow fruit trees.
    Thank you, I was going to put a photo up but it wont let me sadly. It's hard to explain really, I think the land looks the way it does from inactivity, but we can see on the aerials its been used for hay, and we have seen either horse/donkey or cow poo so really unsure about that. We do know it's going to be work, but because land is sold of once in a blue moon (at a affordable plot size), you almost have to get what you can when it comes up.

    No foxes here (Isle of Man) just polecats, but yes I would be giving them a decent fencing to protect them as such as I can do, though I do feel like they will be a year or two down the line as want to get on top of the land first.

    No idea on the soil type, might have to get a wee bit and test it prior to buying if we decide to do so. Thank you for the link, will have a decent look at it.
    Your post is a little vague for me to be specific with advice. If land isn't contiguous with a property, there may
    Thank you, yes the site isn't connected to a property. Sadly unless I manage to find a millionaire who is going to just lend me money there is no way that I could realistically buy a house with land. Security is something that we would have to look at realistically but we tend to be low crime here, so I'm hoping having land out of the way and visiting it regularly (once a day) would stop any antisocial behaviour. 

    I follow quite a few but the tend to be next to the property, so I feel like it's different. Thank you for the book link, will have a good look at it, I've got books from both of them (Hugh was my idol as a kid). Will look at picking it up.
  •  It's got a stream at the bottom, very low nothing major. Don't know about water, couldn't see anything when we visited the site but it will be something we will be asking if we decide to progress with it.

    No foxes here (Isle of Man) just polecats,
    Your post is a little vague for me to be specific with advice. If land isn't contiguous with a property, there may
    Thank you, yes the site isn't connected to a property. Sadly unless I manage to find a millionaire who is going to just lend me money there is no way that I could realistically buy a house with land. Security is something that we would have to look at realistically but we tend to be low crime here, so I'm hoping having land out of the way and visiting it regularly (once a day) would stop any antisocial behaviour.
    This is why more info is always useful.
    A stream that runs all year is a bonus, even if small. Potentially, it means no expense in installing mains or private water, or collecting huge quantities of rainwater. We have a stream, but it doesn't run all year, so it's unavailable in the dry months. Fortunately, we have unmetered mains. A near neighbour, has no mains on her equestrian site, so needs every drop captured on her stable roof, but still runs out in droughts, so has to supplement with mains water carted from her home.
    IoM is very like where I live in terms of vandalism and petty crime; probably better, in fact. This means a reasonable expectation your plot will be left alone. I know of two plots close to busy roads here which are being developed as mini smallholdings, apparently without problems from unwelcome visitors.
    With average property prices around £350k on the IoM, I understand why buying somewhere with land is likely to be beyond many people's reach. 3 acres is a fair old size for non-animal husbandry, though!  It's also somewhat awkward for things like hay making. We have 4.5 acres under grass, and the only economical way for us  to do haymaking is to tie in with a local farmer who's harvesting a much greater area. If you still have small bale contractors over there things may be easier.

    "Money will only make you more of what you already are." T. Harv Eker
  • Dustyevsky said:

    With average property prices around £350k on the IoM, I understand why buying somewhere with land is likely to be beyond many people's reach. 3 acres is a fair old size for non-animal husbandry, though!  It's also somewhat awkward for things like hay making. We have 4.5 acres under grass, and the only economical way for us  to do haymaking is to tie in with a local farmer who's harvesting a much greater area. If you still have small bale contractors over there things may be easier.

    Thank you, we thankfully bought our wee place about 7 years ago, if we tried to buy it today we couldn't as we've been priced out of our own house! Really put's it into perspective. Hence why we think land is the way to go.

    Most likely we would never have anything further than chickens, we've got a really good glass milk delivery (we have one price over here per pint for milk from Manx producers, so if you want Manx its one price which is great), and the rest I am happy to get from a butchers, it's more about the soft fruits for us which get expensive in summer and taste awful out of any season and not worth the price. So preserving them would be best, and the food security, it would be nice to be able to have food we've grown encase anything bad happens and also we know what's been in our food which is also good. 

    I don't think we'd be growing hay of any sorts. I'd like to try my hand at quinoa or other small grains, just as an exciting side project more than anything, maybe a very small amount of wheat, but we'd be more into sunflowers and nut trees. 

    On the security side, I really do think we'd be a ok, it is ok over here. More likely to get Planning complaints than anything, on how the land looks "domestic." So that will be the one I'd have to be careful of.

    Oooooo I think this will let me finally add more photos so I will add them in a separate post

  • I am hoping this works, fingers crossed.

    This is the land.
  • twopenny
    twopenny Posts: 6,848 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    Oh wow! I'd give an arm and a leg for gardening with that view - well if I did I couldn't garden so..............
    The tufty grass looks more like couch grass that's gone over and grown a few times. Nothing like our moorland stuff.

    But you do have a 'sweeping view' in more ways than one. The wind in winter will hit that spot a treat.
    I've just checked and it's going to get quite wild over Sat & Sun so perfect for to test. Just get out there and stand, see what it's like.
    You are going to have to plant windbreaks and such but that's not a huge cost if you are prepared to wait for growth.
    Brace any fruit cages (which you will need) but they can be cheaply made.
    So pretty much working with the setting.

    I can see why you're tempted. If you can make it work it would be glorious if tough to start.
    I hope you will keep us posted with your project. There's lots of experience and advice on here (isn't there Dustsy ;))

    I know a tiny farm that works in a similar location. I'll go and investigate and try and take some photos for ideas.
    They keep chickens on a field like that. May take a while to find and ask the farmer who does that.

    I can rise and shine - just not at the same time!

    viral kindness .....kindness is contageous pass it on

    The only normal people you know are the ones you don’t know very well


  • twopenny said:
    Oh wow! I'd give an arm and a leg for gardening with that view - well if I did I couldn't garden so..............
    Yes the view is absolutely stunning isn't it, on that day it was so clear we would see Ireland! I don't know whether the view is worth the price but it will be nice to be up there on a good day and also at night because it will be so dark, we might be able to some decent stars.

    Thank you on the crouch grass, I've never heard of that before, so I will look into it. Hopefully it will be an easy-ish process to sort out the field into something useable.

    Yep, the weather isn't going to be so good over the next few days (I don't think the boat is sailing!), so we've decided to pop down on Sunday morning (as we need to measure out a certain part again to make sure it's going to work for what we want), and I'll be slightly sneaky and take some soil at the same time to test.

    Interestingly because the plot has a slope in the middle, whilst the upper part is quite open the lower part was more sheltered. We will be planting more hedgerows and trees (edible) to act as a windbreak, just to make the site better overall.

    I'd love to see photos of the small farm, any ideas would be absolutely great.

    If all our eggs hatch (haha) and we end up with the land (fingers crossed), I will definitely put up a growing diary up here, as any help would be greatly appreciated, as I haven't had an allotment for over 7 years so I feel so rusty and I have so many plans, so a post will keep me accountable. x
  • twopenny
    twopenny Posts: 6,848 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Photogenic
    Photos is on the list.........but just bought home a car new to me so I need a bit of practise before I venture onto main roads. I've had Mk 2 & 4 Fiestas most of my driving life so I've yet to master the gears :D

    Also deluge and flood last week and now more gales due.

    But the chickens are in an open field like that but have chicken houses on wheels - there's a name for that can't think of it. But they're safe out the way at night.

    I can rise and shine - just not at the same time!

    viral kindness .....kindness is contageous pass it on

    The only normal people you know are the ones you don’t know very well


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