Locations

[antithetic]

I've just started looking for locations in my area to practice skills in. It got me thinking as to how other people approach finding a "new" area.

Obviously the safe and proper approach is to ask landowners permission. What sort of experiences have you had when approaching landowners? How do you approach establishing an owner (without using the land registry)?

Do many of you use the forgiveness is easier to get than permission approach?

Finally are any of you aware of anywhere in or around Teesside that accept or tolerate Bushcraft?

Cheers

Andy

[Thumbcrusher]

Hi Andy,

Good question(s)!

There's not a great deal around Teesside sadly as far as suitable land for bushcraft is concerned.

Eston hills is okay but the main problem there is being mown down by some twonk on a trials bike!

Most of the other local areas are owned by the forestry commission, (Guisborough forest and sheepwash near Osmotherley) and they don't seem to take to kindly to bushcrafters or wild campers.

I'd be interested to see if anyone knows of somewhere nearby myself.

[resnikov]

Brockwell Wood (http://xeno-systems.co.uk/brockwell/) while not Teeside is reasonably close in the big picture allows bush camping (hammocks, bivi bags, open fires etc) on the site, I havent been myself but mates hae and they had a great time.

I have started buy getting my local OS maps and having a look on there for places, then with the help of google try and find who the owner is. I have a list of a few owners and now I just need to go round and ask them If I can use the land.

I would make sure that when you ask you state excatlly what you want to do on it i.e camp, hunt, forage, wood work etc. They might not let you hunt if the have pheasents there but may let you camp out of pheasent season. You could also offer to pay so you could stay. This might not be with cash, it could be clearing the wood of rubbish left by others or blown in, helping them manage the wood. If they dont want anything for you to stay I would still offer to keep the woods clean as it benifits everyone. Also maybe at christmas drop the land owner a bottle of something as thanks, little actions liek this can go a logn way.

If you do get permission somewhere just make sure you follow the rules of leave no trace, that way you are not going to affect the chances of other bushcrafters using the land at a latter date.

[Ashley Cawley]

.... If you do get permission somewhere just make sure you follow the rules of leave no trace, that way you are not going to affect the chances of other bushcrafters using the land at a latter date.
Good point!

When I find a spot I like the look of I just look for the nearest buildings, whether it's on foot or if you can't see much about I might use Google Earth. Even if you knock on a nearby house that isn't the landowner chances are they will probably know who the landowner is.

Just be polite and honest, perhaps don't ask for too much at first (to get your foot in the door), show your responsible & respectful of the land. First I'll usually just ask to camp (not mentioning fires, woodcraft etc), once you've built up a rapport with them, then you can ask for more.

[antithetic]

Thanks Guys,

I've been using the OS and Google Earth approach to try to identify some places actually. Rather then buy them initially, I've been using Multimap. I don't know if you guys know but it has an OS layer.

Oddly I haven't even looked in the region of Eston Hills, thanks for that Thumbcrusher.

Ashley, that's the route I was thinking of taking. I've spotted some small areas close to farms and such. The decent sized areas close to me are mostly on the outskirts of farmland and sectioned up and sold by a specific woodlands agent (The area around Wynyard for those that know the area). So unfortunately the owners could be anywhere. I suppose I could try contacting the agent to see if they are willing to supply contact details. "Shy bairns" and all that.