David

[Toots]

hi, my wife and I are thinking of a smal holding at somepoint in the not too distant future. We would like to rent where we could plant apple/fruit trees have bees and chickens and maybe a goat or two. How do you find small holdings to buy or rent? I have found a lot of land to buy where i can build a house but not to small hold

[Lesley]

I don't know about renting but for buying take a look at Rural Scene - the one we bought was being sold through them. You could also try Farmers' Weekly magazine?

[LisaP]

Try greenshifters.co.uk - they have a rental section as well as smallholdings for sale.

 

Good luck

 

Lisa P

[Toots]

thanks guys,

 

Maybe i am looking for the wrong thing, i just want the field/land not a property as well?

[LisaP]

Ah I see, maybe uklandandfarms.co.uk might be worth a go then.

 

I skulk around the property sites in moments of daydreaming because that's where my smallholding is - in my dreams

 

Lisa P

[chelsea]

Look at local estate agents, our estate agents down here have a "agricultural" section selling land/farm and also renting land/paddocks. Depends on the area you are looking in really.

 

Put an ad in a local paper?

[Toots]

it is a bit of a dream really i suppose. I would just love to have an auchard eventually wirh chickens and pigs running around, then several hives. I cound make cider, honey, mead etc.

 

oh and i am in langly (ok slough but langley sounds better) so any time out of the grey concrete sets me thinking!

[DominicJ]

Growing Trees on rented land is an iffy proposition at best.

You cant exactly take them with you if you stop renting, and I read somewhere that the owner could charge you for the cost of removing them.

 

Not living on the site is ok for trees and bees, and doable for chickens, but not really for pigs.

Live stock needs to be checked at least once and preferably twice a day.

 

If one of your pigs takes a tumble and breaks its leg, and someone reports it, and an animal welfare officer/vet comes out and takes it to be treated, and then the next day you report a stolen pig to the police, your going to be in big trouble.

[chickenanne]

I think most livestock would be ruled out if you weren't around to keep an eye out. And I agree with Dominic again that any long-term crops (trees especially, but all types) would be tricky. Am no expert, but I think most agri-leases are either long term (for large areas, which would give you agri-tennancy rights/responsibilities), or 364 day leases (so you don't get agri tennants rights) or for equestiran use.

 

However, renting a smaller (2 acres say) area on a short-term renewable lease and using it for veggies,bees, and potentialy poultry could be an option?

 

Have you had a look for alltoment, or a landshare plot? It might not be your ideal, but it would be a good start.

[Redwing]

We rent three acres and a stable block

 

We were very lucky as its just behind our house and we saw that it was empty and asked around until we found who owned it and contacted him to ask if we could rent it

 

As its essentially an equestrian set up we do pay a reasonable amount in rent but its totally worth it

 

When the idea of renting a field first came up we did decide that we didnt want to have to drive to it, this restricted us rather but we were glad we made the decision as its just a short amble from the house

 

Try agricultural merchants and equestrian shops to see if there is a notice board where paddocks for rent are advertised

 

Small plots of land especially in striking distance of London are sought after by the horsey set so be prepared for the rent to be quite high

 

Another option is to approach a local farm and ask if you can rent a corner of their land

 

Bear in mind water availibility, our field doesnt have any so we use waterbutts and supplement that by doing a weekly run in the car with water barrels - the lack of water made it a little more unattractive to the horsey people though as horses drink a lot more than chickens and sheep!

 

Our landlord has been excellent and has let us build chicken runs etc but others may not be so generous, bees may put them off and trees may well be a no-no