What to do with 2 acres???

[JRD553]

Hi All,

Thanks for stopping by and having a look at my post, this is my 1st post on this site so forgive me if it is in the wrong place...

I have just purchased 2 acres of agricultural land in a 'greenbelt' area about 2 miles outside of the town I live in. I hope it will be an investment for the future as I'm fairly confident that within the next few years, planning laws will be relaxed in the area (Northern Ireland) and my wife and I will be able to build the house of our dreams.

I must now sit on it until that day arrives so I am wondering now what I can do with a 2 acre field that would even generate enough to cover the mortgage, which is approx £300/month.

Any ideas would be greatly received please...???

 

[Deleted member 61074]

Plant trees

 

[JRD553]

Hi Dunerider,

Could you please explain a bit more how you can get a return from growing trees?

 

[kate1]

Hi there I have two acres also, have had the land for over 30 years. We will never be able to build on it so the council have said, as its outside the village envelope.

So I too have been thinking about what to do with it. I would really like to get some polytunnels and maybe just grow herbs.

Could you rent to people who have horses?

 

[khalid1]

Rent it to a farmer

Rent space for horses or livestock

Grow your own crops

 

[Homer J Simpson]

Is it by a busy road ? If so, you might be able to advertise on the side of a trailer or something (like you see by the side of motorways these days).

 

[GeorgeStrait]

Two acres of land will get you no more than £20 a week letting it out for horses.

 

[obscure]

What to do with two acres???

I would recommend an ice pack.

- sorry, I'll get my coat.

 

[kate1]

Taxi for Dan!!

 

[incredibleschalk]

Buy a couple of hay bails or inflatable "scenery", and some paintball guns, masks, overalls and paintballs. You can charge pretty decent amounts, especially if theres nothing else in the area, especially high markup reselling the ammo balls.

Come up with a couple of interesting games (capture the flag, king of the hill, save the president) and marketing can be pretty minimal (a couple of signs around the area, word of mouth, online business listings esp. Google, and maybe experiment with Facebook ads, they're pretty good at segmenting the market). Considering the resell value of the guns and scenery, its not too bad a way to make some moolah.

 

[Homer J Simpson]

2 acres is a lot for building a house, but tiny for paintballing.......

 

[BustersDogs]

If I were local I'd want it for dog training, possibly dog daycare if I could have a small building on it for bad weather.

If it's fully enclosed you might get people with dogs who can't normally come off lead paying to use it, Greyhound owners often want somewhere safe, or people with dogs with aggression problems just want to be able to let their dogs off the lead, so you might be able to rent it out for dog groups. Tracking, trailing search and rescue practice, etc.

 

[Psl]

Ask your local planning dept if you can put up a wind turbine on the land.If you can, get one installed and reap the rewards.

 

[1in40]

2 acre pond stocked well with fish, charge as you see fit , going rate is £6 day £10 per night .

 

[CompactCleaning]

I was going to say build some houses but maybe not haha!

Depending on where it is maybe a car park? If its near any bus markets, vilages etc

I like the idea of the walking aggressive dogs or dogs that will run away?

The pond idea is a pretty good idea but you would have to have someone going round checking that the fishers are allowed to be there? Otherwise you could be loosing out on money.

could you turn it into allotments?

Howard

 

[Baz Watkins]

Rent it as allotments, depending on where you live you can charge a decent premium. I don't know how many you can fit into 2 acres, maybe 10 or so, charge each allotment owner between £30 and £50 a month, and you will cover your rent, maybe even turn a profit.

The only issue is when the land gets planning, then build 3 houses and sell two, that way you have a home, and you could make a small fortune on the others, especially if it is a great area.

 

[Homer J Simpson]

2 acres is 8,094 m squared so you could easily get 100 very big allotments or even 200 decent size ones.

 

[GeorgeStrait]

Allotments go for a few pounds a year, not hundreds!!

 

[Christine Hough]

garden centre.
or plant Nursery

Or turn it into a more family friendly allotment area with a park for the children and cafe.
Giving the family something to do while a parent is doing the gardening could up the income.

karting

archery

family farm

Mostly people are putting forward leisure pursuits and as you are on the outskirts of a town, that sounds ideal.

At Christmas have a winter wonderland ... properly done people seem to flock to it!

 

[Christine Hough]

Used to live next door to a market gardener who grew tomatoes and kept chickens for eggs.
He used about 1 acre and supported a family with 5 children.

but that was a few decades ago.

 

[chalkie99]

At Christmas have a winter wonderland ... properly done people seem to flock to it!

LOL - remember this?


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1367555/-land-brothers-jailed-1m-Winter-wonderland-theme-park-scam.html

 

[Davek0974]

LOL - remember this?


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...led-1m-Winter-wonderland-theme-park-scam.html

LOL, yes, could possibly be done a little better:redface:

 

[Christine Hough]

Well there's a market, just do it right!!

 

[K-rado]

Hi All,

Thanks for stopping by and having a look at my post, this is my 1st post on this site so forgive me if it is in the wrong place...

I have just purchased 2 acres of agricultural land in a 'greenbelt' area about 2 miles outside of the town I live in. I hope it will be an investment for the future as I'm fairly confident that within the next few years, planning laws will be relaxed in the area (Northern Ireland) and my wife and I will be able to build the house of our dreams.

I must now sit on it until that day arrives so I am wondering now what I can do with a 2 acre field that would even generate enough to cover the mortgage, which is approx £300/month.

Any ideas would be greatly received please...???

Dear JRD553.

You will note that I have highlighted a few of your choice words.
I do not know your piece of land, the local planning laws or indeed your local planners. But I do know a bit about Land, Planning Laws and the mindset of Planners. Do you think you could grow Coffee Plants? Then some day you may wake up and smell the coffee.

I am gob smacked that you managed to secure a mortgage on that piece of land. @ £300/month, sounds like you paid close on £75,000/per acre? A lot when you consider good agri land is going for 5 or 10k/acre. I surmise that you secured a mortgage on another property and used the cash proceeds to buy this land? Does it have any building or structure on the 2 acre plot? Has there ever been a structure of any sort on the plot? If you can answered these couple of questions then I may be able to suggest something for you.

Generally, planning is required for anything that constitutes development, on, under or over the land and anything that deviates from its current use, and in this case Agriculture, will require a change of use.

I hope I do not sound offish, but if any of my friends told me that they bought a piece of farm land at an over inflated price, with unqualified confidence and hope that the law would change, maybe in a couple of years in order to build a dream house, I would tell them that they were MAD. K.

 

[kate1]

I had thought about a little wildlife type centre, cafe etc. But there were issues with the kind of building the cafe would be and once again no pp, they were saying no, to not even a temporary/movable type building

 

[davek17]

Open source your land!!

Give it away for free to people who will use it to grow food and then make your money by being the glue that helps them sell it. You take a commission for being the webshop, or going to market etc etc.

You could also charge for services like training or classes, sell everything the growers need like tools, sheds or seeds and you could effectively pave the way to a new kind of Mesh business.

You'd get loads of media for being free and innovative and you could effectively have a framework that the supermarkets couldn't live with.

You might not be super rich but you'll be happy!!

 

[roydmoorian]

Activities approved within green-belt other than agriculture are somewhat limited but can include use as a cemetary (fairly permanent ) and certain leisure / sports activities. Paintball is a prime example.

The planners initial reaction to any suggestions from you will be negative, however if you set up within the basic rules and let them find out about your activites from some other busybody then they may have difficulty in shutting you down - Highways issues will probably be the most difficult to overcome.

Or to get permission for a dwelling you WILL need to show that your livestock require 24 hour care and can support you financially from that 2 acres over a period of a couple of years whilst living in a caravan. DEFRA could help you find an advisor who could create a suitable (fairy-story) businsess plan :|

If you cannot afford the £300 a month mortgage from your existing employment then I would suggest that you need to visit a local agricultural estate agent with a view to putting this 2 acres back on the market - maybe someone "saw you coming" ?

 

[puffin]

start a car boot on it?

 

[GeorgeStrait]

OP - I have just over 2 and a half acres, happy to kick Mrs Straits horses off for £75k an acre if your interested, I'll even chuck in the half acre for free.

Note to Sift, if this comes off I'll pay for full membership as I will have had good value from the forum

 

[roydmoorian]

Just as a point of interest arable farming is currently on a "high" and if you had 200 acres to let out on a 5 year farm business tenancy I would expect that you would get a certain amount of interest at around £150 per acre per YEAR :redface:

 

[missdetermination]

Hire out for dog competitions...i.e flyball or agility? You will need to ask around as i've not been to Ireland competiting but in England people pay between £300-£500 for a weekend. They bring there own equipment, and there's usually camping but good grounds and locations get booked up often as word gets around. Oh some people may pay for weekly training clubs there too? Will need no where near the 2 acre either!

If not or as well as...caravan storage. Think we were told £30 per month...they get packed together prrettty tight too

 

[incredibleschalk]

Divide it into about 80/100 subplots, and rent them out to locals? Would work especially well if theres an estate (many people, no gardens) nearby.

 

[nzt48]

start a car boot on it?

My thoughts exactly. Could be lucrative if there isnt one already in your local area.

 

[Digital Ark]

Don't know if it would be allowed or if you have the access. If you can make it secure, storage of caravans, motor boats, etc can be a good income. People will pay £400 - £500 a year.