ok so I lasted a night!

We had to unload the car of prunings from the garden this morning at the village mobile garden refuse van and so had a quick look at the wood before breakfast. Sadly the message did not get through about leaving the felled trees at full length, but on a brighter note they have done a huge amount of work for us and we can now see the path of the stream which is flowing quite a lot faster than it first appeared. The primroses are making way for yellow archangels and the bluebells looked to be in full colour, although hunger and rain forced us to look only on the west side and not on the East where they are most abundant.

must be patient, must be patient...

Sun's out and so tempting to go up there and have a look at what they've been up to. I received another email about another portion of Blackfold going up for sale again today, "Ousebeck Wood". Still more expensive than ours and still less than 5 acres, so I think we really did get the best deal going first. Although I also noticed that the second piece, Flourish Wood, next door to ours has already sold too.
Managed to pass the time completing an Alpine garden for my new patio with an old shallow stone sink kindly donated by a friend of mine. Looks good although obviously a bit "fresh" still. Hopefully the plants I have chosen and arranged will fill out in the right directions and provide some cover in all seasons, but I guess it will take some years before the plants trail over the side and cover the odd colouring of the sink; (who has a yellow sink anyway!?).  Also cleared the front pots of spring plants and put in new summer bedding so a few more weeks and we should have a brighter patio to come home to.

Clearing of the Wayleave

Second day back after Easter and a long boring drive in hideous traffic to Oxford means I couldn’t answer a call on my personal mobile.

I got to my destination and discovered it was a call from the agents saying the electricity company were on site clearing the felled trees in the wayleave! I tried to call back but had to leave a message. Obviously their email to the contractors about not bothering and letting us do it ourselves did not get through! I left a garbled message about leaving the wood as long as possible and stacking the brash along the southern border but could do no more as I was already late for my meeting.

4 hours later I got back in the car and managed to get through to the agent to explain what we wanted and he assured me he would get in touch with the electricity company and relay the message.

So right now we have no idea if the wayleave is as we wanted or if it has been decimated and the wood chopped into nothing but firewood. The Captain is understandably disappointed and I am desperate to go visit and assess the damage. I can’t believe I am concerned about the poor Foxgloves and I’m not even their legal guardian yet!
 

Happy Easter

Thankfully a manic long Easter weekend has taken my mind off the woodland for a few days. I have a painful burst blister on my hand from weeding in the garden frantically trying to remove bindweed roots, and am now worried it wont heal in time for netball on Monday, but hey, the sun is shining, the birds are singing and the wood purchase is slowly progressing. With any luck the searches will be back by Friday and we can sign contracts and things next week. I told my brother on Friday, my sister on Saturday, my Dad on Sunday and a few more friends on bank holiday Monday - I couldn't help it, as everyone keeps asking - they have known we were looking for so long. Still they all seem pleased and most are keen to help out too which is nice.

The outline steps of buying a woodland - we have reached number 8 already!

A step-by-step guide to the legal process for England and Wales as copied from the sellers website....

1. You tell us which woodland you want to buy, and you give us the name and address of your lawyer. 
2. We take the woodland off the market, i.e. we clearly mark it as sold on our website, and we do not offer it for sale to anyone else.
3. We send your lawyer a letter confirming that we are selling the woodland to you, and giving our lawyer/conveyancer’s name and address. You get a copy of this letter with a copy of the plan showing the boundaries of the wood you are buying.
4. You send your lawyer : a cheque for 10% of the purchase price, the name(s) in which you want the wood registered, queries about any matters regarding rights and title that you want checked up on.
5. Our lawyer/conveyancer sends your lawyer a “draft contract” and a copy of our Land Registry title to the land.
6. Your lawyer sends our conveyancer a questionnaire called “pre-contract enquiries” together with the other queries you had (if these have not already been covered by phone).
7. Our lawyer/conveyancer with our help completes the questionnaire and returns it to your solicitor.
8. Meanwhile, your lawyer does a “local search”, asking the local authority about planning, rights of way, etc.
9. Your lawyer sends you the contract with an attached plan showing the piece of land you are buying, and the other tracks over which you will have right of way. You sign this and return it to him/her.
10. Our lawyer/conveyancer sends us an identical contract, etc., and we sign and return it.
11. You tell your lawyer that you will have the rest of the money available for the completion on an agreed date and authorise the exchange.
12. The lawyers/conveyancers agree a date up to four weeks ahead for completion. Your lawyer retains the deposit that your lawyer has sent him as “stakeholder”.
13. The two lawyers/conveyancers exchange the signed contracts.
14. You send your lawyer the balance of the money, also payable to their “client account”. Allow time for the cheque to clear well before the completion date.
15. Your lawyer draws up another document, very like the contract. This is called the transfer, and its function is to notify the Land Registry of the transaction, and authorise the issue of a Land Certificate in your name.
16. The transfer is checked by our lawyer/conveyancer, signed by you and witnessed, signed by us, and sent back to your lawyer, who sends it to the Land Registry.
17. On the completion date, your lawyer sends the balance of the money, and the woodland now belongs to you.

What will a Local Authority Search tell us?

• Whether the roads and footpaths adjoining the property are publicly maintained.
• Whether the council have in place any major road schemes close to the property and minor schemes affecting the property.
• All planning decisions affecting the property.
• Contaminated land in or around the property.
• Whether the property is in a conservation area, has a tree preservation order or compulsory purchase order over it.
• Enforcement notices for violation of planning permissions or other known breaches.
• Whether there are any charges/debts owing to the local authority in respect of the property (such as right to buy reduction) that will need to be paid off.

Legal jargon... stolen from the conveyancing dictionary

Incumbrance
A term used often in conveyancing transactions an incumbrance is most often a legal charge mortgage or secured loan on a property but can also include a registered or unregistered land charge a planning charge or condition or a restrictive covenant. Conveyancing solicitors acting for purchasing conveyancing clients will check for incumbrances affecting a property by raising conveyancing enquiries with the seller’s conveyancing solicitors and obtaining copy deeds and checking the results of conveyancing searches as part of their conveyancing duties. Purchasing conveyancing clients will be informed by their conveyancing solicitors of any incumbrances affecting the property with conveyancing reports sent as part of the conveyancing process by their conveyancing solicitors.

Tenants In Common
In conveyancing terms the phrase Tenants In Common refers to a way for joint purchasers to hold the property of trust for themselves. Unlike beneficial joint tenants, tenants in common hold the property in shares specified by the purchasing conveyancing clients on trust for themselves. In the event of the death of one of the Tenants in Common their share in the property will revert to their estate and be distributed in accordance with the terms of their Will or the intestacy rules if no Will exists. Conveyancing Solicitors acting on behalf of jointly purchasing conveyancing clients will explain the two ways the purchasing conveyancing clients may choose to hold the property and obtain their formal instructions. The conveyancing solicitors will then incorporate the conveyancing clients preferred way of holding the property into the Transfer or Purchase Deed and deal with the registration of the property in this way as part of their post completion conveyancing duties.

Chattels
This term is used in conveyancing by conveyancing solicitors to describe items of personal property that may be included within the sale price of a property and will usually be detailed on an accompanying form called the fittings and contents list which will form part of the conveyancing contract. Not all conveyancing contracts will include chattels. The Fittings and Contents List is sent by the selling conveyancing solicitors to be completed by the selling conveyancing client at the start of the sale conveyancing process. The Fittings and Contents List will then form part of the conveyancing contract documents issued to the buyer’s conveyancing solicitors by the seller’s conveyancing solicitors. The List will then be included within the conveyancing contract for the purchase. Any Chattels price shown on the conveyancing contract or conveyancing agreement for the sale of the property will be completed with a sum by the seller’s conveyancing solicitors when additional items are being purchased by the purchasing conveyancing clients where their cost is not included in the sale price of the property.

Contract Rate
Contract rate is shown as an interest rate on the first page of most conveyancing contracts or agreements. It sets out the rate of interest payable on the contract should either party to the conveyancing transaction fail to complete the contract on the completion date as agreed during the conveyancing process.

Covenant
A covenant is a term used in conveyancing and is a legally binding agreement or promise to do something or NOT to do something which can be incorporated into a conveyancing contract conveyance or lease for a property. Covenants can be either positive and detail something that must be done or restrictive and detail something that must NOT be done. Restrictive covenants in freehold conveyancing transactions run with the land unless they are deemed to be acquiesced and no longer enforceable due to time lapse from the start of the breach. When purchasing a property subject to covenants a purchaser’s conveyancing solicitors will require sight of copies of any deeds containing covenants that affect the property. These copies will be requested from the seller’s conveyancing solicitors by the purchasers conveyancing solicitors during the conveyancing title investigation and enquiries stage. The purchaser’ conveyancing solicitors will supply copies of documents to the purchasers during the conveyancing process to ensure they are aware of the covenants to which they will be subject if the purchase proceeds to legal completion. The purchaser’s conveyancing solicitors will also check with the seller’s conveyancing solicitors that none of the covenants have been breached as a part of their duties in a conveyancing transaction.

Whoo hooo paperwork has arrived from solicitors!

Ok so all that fretting asking ourselves, "have they even started yet?" was a waste of energy (as per usual); it turns out our amazing man Alan Oakley received all the necessary paperwork yesterday from the sellers solicitors and turned it round in an afternoon and put it back in the post to be waiting on the doorstep for us when we got home; plans, contract, land registry (TP1), previous grant applications and access road covenants. Very happy bunny. The covenants are to our liking too - can't use for motorsports, clay pigeon shooting or as a commercial campsite, nor can we put up signboards or be a general nuisance to the neighbours - all these things of course will apply to the people who purchase the plot next door too - so more than happy with that.

It's a lot to go through and we have some long legal phrases to translate, but on the whole there are no surprises and everything we expected. We have a few questions to ask tomorrow and, subject to satisfactory answers, we are happy to sign. 

The vendors (Woodlands.co.uk or more accurately Forests.co.uk) thankfully got the seller to complete a "frequently asked questions" table too which is useful as most of the questions we already had noted down were answered on there. There are a couple of key ones missing though;

1. How much has been spent in recent years on the access road? is there anything outstanding to pay? We need to establish what might be the likely charges for us in the coming years as we will have to pay a share of its upkeep as it is a private road and not public highway.
2. Which boundaries are we responsible for maintaining and to what standard? etc.

The East-West track, marked on the plan, is a little misleading too as it's non-existent and unless you fancy hacking your way through the overgrowth, there's no way you will ever recreate it! The streams are also drawn a fair while ago and have now created new and multiple paths through the trees - which is much better than shown.

Yet again, too excited to sleep and now that I have completely depleted 12 AA Duracell ultras by putting the wildlife trigger-cam on the wrong settings, I will have to wait until the borrowed rechargeable batteries have some juice before I can attempt it again!

Third visit in glorious sunshine

Camera charged, sun shining and wellies on - time to visit the wood one last time before ownership.
I arrived about noon and noticed the pheasant feeder had gone from the entrance. Followed the "path" down the bank and clambered over the fallen tree to get down into the wood. I decided to take photos of the bark of trees first and then the leaves (where possible) so that when I got home I might have a better chance of identifying them correctly. This worked until I reached what I think are chestnuts - which have not produced any leaves yet and those that are budding are so far above me I had no chance of making out even an outline. I also decided I was going to walk the boundary whatever it took - well I'm glad I did - despite the scratches, the whipped face and the amount of times I landed on my arse down muddy banks! The North West corner of Rais is hugely overgrown with Rhodos, mainly made up of youngish Birch and difficult to navigate, but then as you burst into the clearing made by the stream on the western border, you are rewarded with another massive ancient yew tree.
I tried to follow the stream south, but failed - banks were too steep and way too muddy - lost my sun glasses, lost my sense of balance and sweated like a pig, but eventually I made it to the southern border and the now familiar orange painted boundary posts.
I could hear two men shouting instructions at each other from further south and kept along the border desperately trying to see what was going on through the trees. Trouble was, I kept getting distracted by Orange tip and Brimstone butterflies and endless primroses along the banks and at the foot of moss-covered tree trunks. I eventually caught a glimpse through the trees of a guy moving an orange post about 6ft nearer to me - seemingly shrinking my soon-to-be-owned land! I tried to creep, (but ended up crashing) through the bushes to get a better look when I stumbled on another orange post right in front of me - they appeared to be staking out the plot next door, by leaving a strip of no-mans land in between! result. :-)
Now unfazed by their actions, I followed the lower stream back up to the cable clearing and took some more wildflower photos before heading over to the East side to free the last sapling from it's choking protective plastic collar.
Hot, sweaty and very happy I headed back to the car along the track on the eastern border and was passed by a teenage lad in a buggy-come-truck type off road vehicle. His name is James, the son of the neighbour on the Eastern border and keeper of the pheasants. He had spent all day yesterday removing all the pheasant pens and feeders and so we chatted for a while and I told him of our plans and it turns out that although his family don't own Rais wood, they have been renting it for game shoots for a few years now - hah - not any longer!
He did confirm though that Woodcocks do indeed stop here for the winter from high in the Arctic and he tries not to shoot them as they are "so pretty". He is interested in photography too and so was pleased to hear I would be putting hides in and trying to manage the wood for wildlife. He has lived there all his life and it was his family that put in the little bridges and handrails years ago when he was a kid. Nice lad. I would guess maybe 15 years old - but maybe more.
Only saw one deer today, but plenty of male and female pheasants and a shed load of bunnies.
The bracken is starting to produce new shoots through the bed of trampled dead ferns of last year and I'm guessing it won't be long before it reaches hip height and the place will look massively different again. Not sure I will last without another visit before exchange -especially now I know the current owners do not even visit it!

Not for bedtime reading!

Dug this out from my collection and started reading again last night.... what a mistake that was - I read until 1am and then couldn't sleep until at least 4am - mind racing with ideas and questions - the next 5 weeks simply cannot go fast enough. The Captain understandably feels that visiting Rais again before we own it would feel like trespassing - and when I think about it, the owner has one last month with it, and should probably be left in peace to enjoy it - I know I would if I was in his position. But perhaps one last quick trip with the camera tomorrow will be ok. It won't be long before the leaves will open and shade the woodland floor, changing the lighting and the entire feel of the place. I called the sales agent, Bob, again yesterday to check that there was nothing they were waiting on me for and he confirmed that no it was just waiting for the vendors solicitor to send his paperwork to ours. So today I decided that to take my mind off the wait I would tidy up my own garden at home. I managed to mow the lawn, trim the edges, turn the compost, weed a couple of beds and replant my stonecrop basket which I lined with fresh moss from under the apple tree - which is showing an abundance of deep pink flowers. Spring is most definitely in the air. I think I will setup the infra-red motion camera this evening to see what visits the garden tonight (but mainly to practise for when I can use it at Rais!).

Only 5 days gone - how will I last?

This is ridiculous - I can't even cope with 5 working days at the office - how will I last up to 8 weeks before it's ours? They say be careful what you wish for... I'm pretty sure there was a day not so long ago when I muttered the words "God, I wish I was more patient" - I supposed God really does have sick a sense of humour - what a way to teach me!
But thankfully I can visit Rais tomorrow and with any luck the sun will be shining and I can take my camera and have all day naming trees, listening to birds and generally seeing how spring is progressing.

First payment made for searches

Reviewed and amended the paperwork, dashed to The Captain's workplace in my lunch hour to get his all important signatures, then back to the office to scan in and send to the solicitors. I also had to transfer the first payment to allow searches to be conducted into the land and any plans that might be on the horizon. Total fees amount to;

			VAT
			20%	Total
Solicitors fees		£500.00	£100.00	£600.00
Telegraphic transfer		£35.00	£7.00	£42.00
Tax return admin		£50.00	£10.00	£60.00
Land Registry		£40.00		£40.00
Search fees		£350.00		£350.00
purchase		£48,000.00		£48,000.00
Total				£49,092.00
Bargain!

Home to first set of paperwork..... Mr Phillips!

Haha - just arrived home after a couple of days working in Europe, to paperwork from the solicitors addressed to me and Mr Phillips; I guess my voice was not so clear on the mobile from France! I will have to sort it out with them tomorrow - don't want anything to hold it up :-)
Did some research into the Rhodo problem last night too, and found a fantastic guide produced by the Forestry Commission - Managing and Controlling Invasive Rhododendron. It's going to take a lot of work for sure, but I can't wait to get started. I know that when they are cleared, and light can get to the soil beneath, then dormant seeds will certainly germinate. Foxgloves are already struggling to make it through the felled trees under the cables, so the sooner we get those trees cleared, the sooner the foxgloves can soak up the sun.

Solicitor Instructed

Oh crikey it's actually started! I rang the solicitor today and instructed them to act for us and to expect contact from Bob at Woodlands. She will send over the paperwork for completing and signing along with an outline of the charges. Can't quite believe it's really happening. She asked me some serious questions about rights of access and public rights of way as well as something about fencing issues. Which is odd as it is also the question Joe the Irish neighbour asked too. I think I will telephone Bob again when I return to the UK on Wednesday - poor bloke - by then I expect I'll have a list of questions for him. My solicitor assures me these things are covered by the searches that will be conducted and questionnaires to be sent, but forewarned is fore-armed so they say. I really don't want any disappointing surprises at the last minute - my heart couldn't take it. I have read horror stories where people have bought woodland and then been told they can only access it during the winter months and on certain days of the week due to limited access rights and others where people cannot get to the land at all except by trespassing across others!

Second visit on an overcast Spring day

I couldn't resist going back today after realising I hadn't really taken many useful photos yesterday, so I collected my Mum (and photography business partner) and we set out after lunch. My mind is so messed up with excitement at the moment I discovered my camera wasn't even charged, so had to borrow Mum's little automatic - so unlike me!
We'd had rain last night, so I was expecting it to be boggy, and it certainly was - we slipped and slid our way up and down banks and were rewarded with newly appeared fungi that look like old man's ears - will need to check my book for the name, but have a vague recollection of them being something related to jelly fungus. We investigated the white plastic tub which we now think is a pheasant feeder, protected from deer behind the wire mesh fencing. We also found chestnut trees on the Eastern border and am delighted that they are Sweet (edible when roasted) and not Horse (which simply produce conkers).
On our way back to the car, the neighbour, Joe, made an appearance through the Rhododendron hedge with his friend John. We chatted about the area and our plans, and he told us about his land and activities which include monthly clay pigeon shoots on Sunday mornings which he is considering stopping on account of the noise and his Iranian neighbour who is also fond of loud guns. Joe also has a very useful machine which makes light work of Rhododendron bushes and their roots and explained that he and his machine are both available to hire when we get started. We will certainly be needing it - they are everywhere you look and can grow to monstrous sizes if left. I know that there are Woodland Improvement Grants (WIGs) available, which cover the eradication of these non-native, rampant evergreens, so will be doing some research over Easter.

Within an hour of making the phone call.....

God bless you Bob Liles! He called me back just five minutes after receiving my answerphone message - and with "The Captain" (my better half) en route to Tescos having left his mobile at home, I had a whole hour to wait to deliver the good news that we were soon to be Rais' new guardians. An hour that I mostly spent skidding up and down the wooden floor in my slippers like a 6 year old going to Disney.

The First Visit

So after a very late night at our local village pub, we arrived a little later than planned at around 10:30am, but still the first there. We found it no problem, the sun was shining and we were immediately impressed by the secluded location and the quality of the private access lane - we both commented what a deterrent its location might be to fly tippers (something Pinks wood had an ongoing problem with). 

We parked up in the lay-by marked on the map and wandered down to the treeline where we found a brand new wooden post with the name of the wood cleanly carved out vertically. I was already grinning at this point and I don't think I've stopped all day!

At our entry point (there didn't appear to be an obvious entrance and certainly no locked gate as many woods today have), we found the first huge Holly tree with what appeared to be a huge, white, plastic, sealed paint tub suspended on metal stakes underneath, about a foot above the ground and fenced by a metre high square of chicken wire - no idea what or why?

Passing an ancient yew tree, we decided to walk the boundary line first. We didn't actually manage it in the end as it was clear Rais has been left to grow un-managed for many years - a good thing for wildlife, but not so good for the slightly hungover adventurer wearing thin leggings and wellies. Storm fallen trees had been left precariously balanced against thin, but still living, trees, and at places poor Rais seemed quite dangerous to be clambering around. But we battled on and found many animal tracks, mammal pathways and a network of clogged streams which will be incredible once cleared of obstructions and redefined.

So many ideas and thoughts raced around my head as we pushed on to the electricity pylon which stands inside the northern border on the edge of the meadow and has rabbit-nibbled smooth grass hummocks beneath; reminded me so much of the relay race switch point in Watership Down!
There's a huge range of broad-leaved trees and some prize Holly specimens, as well as flowering Gorse and a diverse collection of wildflowers carpeting the many clearings left by fallen trees.
Due to the lack of maintenance though there is a worrying amount of back-breaking work needed to clear Rhododendrons, create paths and make Rais a safe place to relax and explore. The good news is that there is plenty of already-felled wood available for use as shelter and hide-building materials, fires and seating.
We scrambled up banks, climbed over felled trees, paused to listen to woodpeckers busy drilling holes and tested the many derelict bridges spanning parts of the stream. After a good hour, both of us were sold. The possibilities far outweigh the mammoth workload Rais will take. Being close to Gatwick, we listened for aeroplanes: nothing. We couldn't even make out much of the M23 which is also not too far off to the west. As soon as the decision was made to go for it, we made our way back through the emerging bluebells and drove home - we had a life-changing phone call to make.