Questions about land

[Bagpuss]

on the other hand
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/liv...n_page_id=1770

[Chugnut]

One acre is about 64 metres x 64 metres so not that big really? I like it when a house is described to be on a 0.1 acre plot. flip all innit?

If land is described as a paddock, what does this mean in legal terms? If a house comes with a paddock, can this be used at a garden, can it be landscaped and plated with trees? What are the rules on paddocks? Can I have a lake put on it?

Our neighbour bought a strip of agricultural land and applied for change of use to residential / garden. They were told to get rooted. They are now using it as a paddock, so I guess it's still classified as agricultural.

We did the same, bought a strip of land and have been advised that we wouldn't get change of use to residential so don't even bother applying. We weren't fussed; liked the idea of an orchard anyway.

We made the mistake of putting a garden table and chairs on it shortly after making a hole in the hedge to access the strip from our garden. It was only temporary and I hadn't got around to moving them back to the garden. Within 2 weeks, we had a visit from a council bod saying they'd been a complaint about the table and chairs. Council bod thought it was a bit petty that the complaint had been made so soon but basically we had to stop treating the land as garden (i.e. putting a table and chairs on it).

Basically Dim, if you treat the paddock as garden, expect a visit. If you build on (unless agricultural building I think) expect a kicking. If you want to build a lake on it, I'm not sure, but probably not, planning permission needed for any spoil removal from site though. Expect limitless levels of petty beaurocracy at all times.

Alternatively, plant a hedge. Do what you want and hope the council don't have helicopters.

HTH

[DaveB]

A paddock is usually a fenced area adjacent of very near to stables and primarily used for grazing horses. Usually only used as temporary grazing since a paddock is usually deemed to be too small to use for regular grazing.

As a rule of thumb allow 1.2 acres ( 0.5 Hectare ) per horse on good quality grazing. The worse the grazing the more acreage needed per horse. Most land used for grazing horses or ponies can only manage half this density, ie 2.4 acre per horse.

Anything over an acre normally qualifies as a field.

[Marina]

You may be able to earn a bit grazing other peoples' horses. But be careful of poisonous plants if you don't want the RSPCA, Ministry of Agriculture, and the animals' owners, and God knows who else on your case (literally).

[DimPrawn]

You may be able to earn a bit grazing other peoples' horses. But be careful of poisonous plants if you don't want the RSPCA, Ministry of Agriculture, and the animals' owners, and God knows who else on your case (literally).

Thanks Marina. If I ever move to Ohio and buy a horse, I'll bare this in mind.

[ASB]

Our neighbour bought a strip of agricultural land and applied for change of use to residential / garden. They were told to get rooted. They are now using it as a paddock, so I guess it's still classified as agricultural.

<Pedant> Though they are almost certainly ok there are restrictions on equine use of agricultural land. Major ones are related to ESA tier 1 and tier 2. These are probably pretty much all expired with the movement to the single payment scheme but there are some still around. If they are covered by these then the horses cannot be the prime users. If they incidental to other grazing OK otherwise it's a breach of the ESA agreement and this, as I found out, can get fairly expensive.

[ASB]

As a rule of thumb allow 1.2 acres ( 0.5 Hectare ) per horse on good quality grazing. The worse the grazing the more acreage needed per horse. Most land used for grazing horses or ponies can only manage half this density, ie 2.4 acre per horse.

YMMV but that seems a bit high for most of the year. We keep 4 in about 4 acres over winter and they still get a bit fat. Spring/Summrer/Autumn they are in about 1.5 acres together and we generally still have to strip graze.