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.