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I am looking to buy a house that comes with an acre of agricultural land (gf is going to keep her pony on it). The council have said it has agricultural status for aesthetic reasons so as to ensure it maintains the rural appearance (it can't be a manicured lawn or built on etc). Has anyone had any issues with this sort of thing, or is it straight forward? Anything I should be wary of?
Thanks
get your subsidy claim in!
Good point!
Some people buy a bit of an adjacent field and then try to make it into an extension to their garden. Sometimes they get away with it, sometimes not, but as you only plan to use it for the purposes for which it is intended you'll be fine.
Is the pony going to be out in the weather at all times or is the GF hoping to build a field shelter/stables? A shelter on skids should be OK but you may have planning trouble with a stable, unless there's something there already?
Keeping a pony on it is not agricultural useage.
Any rights of way on the land? Presumably also upkeep of the fences/hedges/walls around it. But otherwise it's like having a big garden that's, er, a field.
Pump track!
We'll be looking to put up small shelter for the pony - spoke to the council earlier and they said it will need planning permission, but shouldn't be a problem.
I've got a very similar setup. I keep the grass chopped down low (ride on mower) as I don't have a large grass cutter / silage maker so it'll struggle if it get knee high. Prior to me, the last guy kept it like a front lawn, I chop it down every couple of weeks and leave the cut grass on top. I've also put up a couple of fences between my actual lawn and the field to differentiate and stop the horse pooing on the proper garden.
Recently I had an inspector come round, because of a dispute a couple of doors down with their land. Although I didn't meet the guy, he apparently said that we clearly kept the field in too good a condition and was using it as residential land. Firstly, that's rubbish, it's a field you need to top any field a horse is on (and collect cuttings where you allow grazing), secondly nothing whatsoever has come of it. This is over a year ago now.
So, wouldn't have though there will be an issue.
My parents have a field at the top of their garden, rent it out to someone who keeps Shetlands, no problems at all. When there's no ponies on it the local farmer mows it to keep it in good nick and takes the hay away. No buildings though.
I didn't think you needed planning for a 'temporary structure' on agricultural land? What sort of stable are you planning?
Make sure it doesn't have any ragwort in it or you'll not be keeping your pony there!
Am now wishing I had a pony, maybe this is a good excuse. 😉
I was just going to put a mobile field shelter on but the council guy said that most 'mobile' shelters remain permanent so permission would be needed. So probably going to build a small permanent one. Thanks for the advice all.
Keeping a pony on it is not agricultural useage.
True - but we get into the fine distinction between "keeping" horses and just "grazing" them
Keeping a pony on it is not agricultural useage.
True - but we get into the fine distinction between "keeping" horses and just "grazing" them
And erecting a stable might just tip the balance. It all depends on the neighbours' nimbyness.
One of my friends had a tie from his house to the land, saying that the house could only exist if the land was being used for agricultural purposes - in his case keeping alpaca.
Do you have to justify the ongoing existance of the house through the usage of the land for agricultural purposes ?
If so, I'd probably buy a couple of sheep to keep the grass short each summer, parking said sheep in the freezer each autumn...
Do what everyone on the edge of our village is currently doing, put planning permission in and cash in on previously agricultural or greenbelt land and build lots of houses on it.
Then watch as the people who own the field next door get excited about the potential money and do the same.
What's this subsidy lark? The in-laws have a large field and may be interested...
An acre is sod all good for a pony if you have even the slightest pretensions of looking after the land. It will end up like every other bit of land that was once farm land and has now been taken over by horses. Eaten bare, flattened and clumps of nettles bordered by scruffy white tape. Spotted my personal gripe? 😀
More to the point that doesn't always count as agricultural as that's just keeping a big pet. Quite what the LA could do about it I am not sure but there have been instances of this being so.
What plans do you have for keeping the horse elsewhere as well? That grass will need time to recover.
It will end up like every other bit of land that was once farm land and has now been taken over by horses. Eaten bare, flattened and clumps of nettles bordered by scruffy white tape. Spotted my personal gripe?
+1
people buying agricultural land for horses has pushed up land prices from £10k/acre to £20k/acre by us which as left us screwed as far as buying some land. We've recently had a case with some AONB land that was previously very pretty and used for cows and sheep but is now strewn with electric tape (a 2.5 acre plot split into at least 8 zones!), put in a gravel parking area, gravel drive and a 4 horse stables (on 2.5 acres - ie not enough land for 4 horses) and park their horse box, set up jumps etc. They don't live near the land so they don't give a crap that it looks a mess.
Don't get me wrong, I've always planned to have horses when I have room and I help out with disabled kids riding but a lot of what horsey folk do annoys me. You tend to find the ones who have the yard at their house and take real pride in them have them kept immaculate but the ones who don't live by the land just don't care and you end up with buckets dumped everywhere, rubbish untidy fences, horse boxes dumped etc etc.
On the plus side most of our grazing land is from people who let people use it for horses but got fed up of the mess and the damage they cause to the land.
But to help you out my understanding is:
If you will be bringing food for the horse on site (ie buying in hay) then you need change of use. Temporary grazing of the grass is fine and best combined with something like a couple of sheep. Stabling would need to be moveable so on sleds. It would be a very good idea to find someone with a couple of sheep or buy some lambs down at market every year and graze them over the summer with the horses and then eat them in the winter. Sheep and horses compliment each other, something to do with the worms IIRC.
1 acre will not be enough though with sheep as well so you will most likely need to bring in feed for the winter.
I suspect planning won't be a problem though and then you can put up a decent stable with a hay store and a bunded manure store (give it away to locals or a farmer).
You would be best employing a system to look after the ground better though either with alternative grazing or a bit more land so you can have 2 or 3 areas of decent size (not like the example above were the plots each horse is being kept in is tiny).
Thanks for all of the info. The gf has been into ponies and had one for years - so there shouldn't be anything unexpected there. My main concern whether anyone has had any issues with any agricultural clauses - such as having to farm the land etc
A section 106 Agricultural Tie will limit mortgage lenders if finance is required.
I know this has nothing to do with your question, both horses and ponies are herd animals, they benefit from being with other equine species. I guess your gf already knows this.
My grandparents have quite a few acres behind their house, bought mostly as the boundary of the village was beginning to creep so they bought it to protect their view.
Their garden's been extended 15-20m back into it, I guess it would depend how NIMBY the neighbours are, but they do keep chickens.
They rent the bulk of it back to a farmer who keeps sheep on it.
Their garden's been extended 15-20m back into it, I guess it would depend how NIMBY the neighbours are, but they do keep chickens.
Exactly that. My neighbours have the same size plot as we do, a couple of acres. They have had the local planning / land officer (not sure of the exact name) come round as some others in the village complained that they were using land as a garden. This was because they had in complained about incessant barking from a pair of alsatians. This is the same time, as I posted earlier, that the guy said that I kept my field too neat.
Mind you, it's had my daughters pony in it for a few weeks - it doesn't look as tidy anymore....!
A friend has a similar field that came "attached" to the house he bought. The plan was to keep it that way. End of. However, his sister told me recently that he plans to split it in half and have developers come in and build 3-4 big houses. Not sure of the legalities myself but can imagine him pulling it off unless the law states 100% he can't.