Field

Don’t underestimate the need for getting the access right. if there’s a gateway to a main road then certain types of people may see that as an invitation to spend some time on the land and go about their itinerant ways and habits, or rubbish to be dumped or used for their recreation (motorbikes/dogging/dog fighting etc)
Ideally a plot that’s access is through an existing farm with no footpath/bridleway nearby will remove a lot of trespass issues.

Breaking news: Wealthy individual reported to have rich associates

Oh gosh, I'm up for all kinds of ridiculous. A helipad painted on a field isn't really going to have a helicopter on it 99.99% of the time, more likely to serve as an outline of a rounders pitch. If a brick pizza oven is constructed at the edge of the field, 99.99% it will be cold and empty. If people want to contribute a temporary structure as a bar and have a scrumpy area, works for me so long as everyone is respectful of others, etc. Hell, if someone with a silly car wants to level out the entrance and make it smooth enough that the low clearance of their non-4x4 can get in, whatever.

So long as everything is open to all, excludes no-one who is respectful of others, and provides a space... why the hell not?

Bothies, but as fields, communal spaces, dotted around England and Wales (places where you cannot wild camp, there are few stargazing places, where landlords are everywhere).

Unsure why you're hung up on it... it's a daft idea at this point, not an implementation, and perhaps I can entice the very people I know who are ridiculously loaded to fund some of this stuff. Besides, probably need licenses I cannot acquire for things like helipads, but if I drew a starship landing pad on the ground would that get you angry too?

I don’t understand how saying that you know people with hypercars and/or helicopters is trolling.

@Velocio I once stayed in a field on a stag do - two of us were in an old gypsy caravan and the other lads in a converted double decker bus. Was a lot of fun and I imagine pretty cheap to set up.

Cool plan! I've been looking at something similar outside of the UK. The problem is that if it's agricultural land you're not allowed to do much other with it than use it as such.

This is not far from me, you have some wellies don’t you?
https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/145871723#/?

It may attract some caravans … personally I’d go for some woodland. That way you wouldn’t/couldn’t get a helicopter landing there but maybe someone could rock up in an off road Lamborghini.
Woods are far more interesting than bare fields atmo

Turning a bare field into woods is even better

oooh I am about to buy a field and actually I might say lets get together and brainstorm some ideas.

I like this idea of a community resource. its 500m or so from the north downs way and idyllic. Mine is actually 5 titles with one having the house but there definitely is one distinct field that has the workings on for a place to wild camp, with benches and a very basic outdoor kitchen etc.

i have bought a field. (never thought i'd get to use that one!)

i bought it with a friend. i moved out of london, to somerset, where fields abound, about 3 years ago. we had grand plans including but not limited to: rewilding a section of it, using it for Bristol Bike Polo, camping, renovating the two semi-derelict shipping containers into little offices and renting them out, getting more shipping containers and converting them into fully accessible airbnbs (i'm an ex-OT and seen first hand just how many holidays are not accessible), making a little coffee shop (lots of cyclists on the somerset levels), having a section fenced off as a secure dog field, etc etc. there was much more.

we ended up selling it. it turned out the levels are subject to https://somersetdrainageboards.gov.uk/ these ridiculous people and we couldn't plant a single tree or put in any fencing or have the shipping containers (which we inherited with the land) within something like NINE METERS of the edges. given that the field was long and thin, this left us with essentially a narrow strip down the middle of usable land. infuriating and not flagged by any solicitors before exchange/completion. we'd already planted a load of trees by then, too!

anyway, that aside, i'd second the calls for keeping reasonable awareness of how much labour and equipment it will take to get long grass cut down, even if you're rewilding (and i highly recommend the book Wilding by Isabella Tree) you'll need to cut a path through. as a sickel and scythe user i can tell you it's very satisying but for a field sized plot you'll need a sit on mower. or a nice, obliging local farmer and ungulates.

tl;dr check for weird legislature and get a john deere.

i highly recommend the book Wilding by Isabella Tree

Nominative determinism thread>>>>>>>>>>>

oh god yes access. turned out the 1x2m strip connecting the field to the road (well, "drove") wasn't actually ours so more solicitors fees on that. tbh, nothing wild if you've bought any kind of house or similar in the UK. it's all a bit of a labyrinth, but there are specialist land solicitors. we used Loxley in Wooton under Edge if that helps.

as you seem to be considering all offers may i cordially suggest at some point in the future renting part of your land to a CIC? not only will there almost definitely be eg. national lottery funding available for these types of tenants, example near me: https://www.wedmorevillagefarm.co.uk/ who are doing wonders for the community and rent the land.

i will say that, as a londoner who upped sticks, please be ready for a rather provincial attitude if you buy land more than a stone's throw from where you live. i was given a series of cold shoulders about how i wasn't from 'round ere' til i pointed out i lived in the next village and was hoping to do things to give back to the community - really lead with that in your PR if possible. if you're doing anything that requires planning permission, you'll have to present to the village/parish council, have locals on board. as i said, theoretically no more political than any housing changes, but still. it's not all ordering bare root trees off the Woodland Trust site and taking lovely photos :')

good luck! happy to assist if i can.

Searching for books by Gary Helicopter now.

If you want to plant some trees
This is a good place to get ideas. https://tinyforest.earthwatch.org.uk/

I’m trying get work to set a side a plot for this at the moment. I’ve earmarked a 10m circle I think is perfect (Fingers crossed)

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Chopper-inside-Confessions-Australian-Underworlds/dp/0646065432

Ha, I'm not angry, I think the idea is wonderful - as I mentioned, I'm considering something very similar with a similar use-case myself - and everywhere possible should have a scrumpy bar. My observation was simply that it seems jarring for someone so committed to class war to be dropping in such conspicuous hyperwealth-signifiers as helipads and hypercars which seem utterly incongruous to the proposed star-gazing camping field. Anyway, I'm happy to step away from this, good luck and I will follow with interest! Maybe you should consider a polo-field in your plans? 😘

My class war is never aimed at those very few who achieved any form of social mobility within their lifetime, the number is too small to be meaningful, the wealth minor in comparison.

I'm forever bitter about those who start life in utter wealth, inheriting as they go, never knowing the poverty felt by so many.

Old money should be ended, wealth and assets taxed. I'd rather push for a 90% inheritance tax (you can't take it with you), a 50% capital gains tax, and yet to drop income tax as low as possible so that it's possible to become somewhat wealthy within your life time, though not possible for it to just accrue over generations and make wealth never-ending.

If any person on here wins the lottery, or is lucky enough to earn a stupid amount despite starting with nothing, and wants to buy the usual red Ferrari, whatever, knock yourself out, give me a ride too, and I'll be genuinely very happy for you and will defend your ability to buy a daft car. I'll also hope that come your death, that the inheritance kicks in and distributes that stuff back out to everyone.

Short of a revolution, I want the playing fields, the starting points, truly levelled.

But that's all very far from "hey, buying a field that people can use sounds like a fun idea".

interesting definition of class war that is fine with tech-bros/investment bankers who have essentially lucked into insane wealth and happy to flaunt it gratuitously and often insensitively but, as I said, I do love a nice field and stargazing so I'm out.

The old editor of the face wrote a book about his field. It was really fucking boring.

As a former farmer boy, I think you underestimate the levels of paperwork and bureaucracy involved in minor land ownership. Most of the things you listed will be verboten without the correct permissions. Basic maintenance and upkeep of your land requires equipment and knowledge. That Tree cunt is essentially harvesting subsidies on a previously badly run family estate.

Just buy a Field bicycle instead.
Are they still trading?

https://youtu.be/gpuh1WE-RVw?feature=shared

interesting definition of class war that is fine with tech-bros/investment bankers who have essentially lucked into insane wealth and happy to flaunt it gratuitously and often insensitively

Rail barons, publishers, slave traders, tech oligarchs... insane wealth.

But yet, the same 50 entities have owned the majority of the UK for hundreds of years, the same is true of a lot of countries.

But I guess we're arguing two different things... you're arguing no-one should ever have social mobility, I'm arguing to disrupt the status quo on property and wealth that has persisted for centuries.

Still... very little to do with a field.

Take drugs and watch A Field in England.

you're arguing no-one should ever have social mobility

Fuck off.

If you're asking, I would certainly advocate for a far more aggressive taxation regime with bands well beyond 50% for high earners, with a parallel redistribution via significant wage increases for teachers, dr's, nurses, community workers etc. I would also look to effectively tax corporations and inherited wealth.

But you're not asking, you're trying to flaunt your presumed moral and intellectual superiority. Inconsistently.