[Kelly]

I thought this might be the best place to post this but feel free to move me if not
I have 10 acres of land (well nearly 12 if you count what is around the house (my veggie garden etc). Now we have horses but we still have land coming out of our ears and the job of maintaining it in good repair (fences, de-ragworting etc) is soul destroying when you get littel from it.
Obviously it would be great to do a John Symore but in reality its not practical...I have enough land out back to keep my family in veg and give away surplus, we don't eat meat or dairy so have no need for additional grazing land.
What I am thinking of looking into is setting up some private allotments for the village residents to use. I'm thinking I could charge as much (or less even) than the council to cover costs (parking, extra drainage, the building of a allotmenters hut, water etc) but I'm not sure where to start?
Should I contact aberdeenshire council? Or is there an official allotment body? Anyone know of anyone know of anyone in the shire who already does this and can help me through the minefield?
I know personaly of 5 families who are very interested and I feel it would be a great addition to my local community, seed sharing, harvest party, surplus swapping etc....
What do you think??
Any ideas...??
Thanks for listening to the rambling

[Forget-me-Not]

Not sure of whether they cover Scotland but:

www.nsalg.org.uk National Society of Allotment and Leisure Gardeners

www.farmgarden.org.uk Federation of City Farms and Community Gardens

www.farmgarden.org.uk The allotment regeneration inniative

If you're near Insch, I'd be interested.

Good luck.

[Smooth Hound]

this wont be your area, but it maybe a good starting point,

http://www.geocities.com/stonehavenallotments/Home.html

and good on you its a shame more people arent of the same spirit

ive been trying to persuade my dad that he should do it with the 4 acres spare land he has, which hasnt been used for over 20 yrs.   to not much avail

[JamesB]

if anyone near Ellon / Mintlaw is looking for an allotment then I'd happily let someone use some space on our land. PM if interested

James

p.s sadly I wonder what the insurance implication is? I hope we dont need 3rd party insurance.

[Smooth Hound]

maybe if there was no money involved , but a mutual barter, then it would be different, on the insurance , liability side that is

[Kelly]

Smoothhound...so if I didn't charge and  just said "heres some land, knock yourself out." and let them get on with it without being an "official allotment" I wouldn't need insurance?
Reading some of those links its scary how much money people had to raise to make an official allotment...maybe land sharing is the way to go??
I could still get some community spirit going couldn';t I

[lachlanandmarcus]

not sure if there are pitfalls either way - do it officially and costs of insurance are ££££, do it unofficially and in theory you might find it hard to reclaim your own land in the future - esp in Scotland, you might find a secure tenancy has been created without you realising!).

I think its a great idea, if going the low key route check out any consequences first, but maybe safer to have proper agreements. One way might be to consider getting parish council or simialr insured body to oversee it?

[IainC]

I'd definitely check the legal implications (purely so you don't get someone abusing you) first.

It could be that by letting someone grow stuff on your land, would be seen as you "employing them" to work your land, but getting paid in the veg that they grow.

Might also be worth double checking the length of time you can let someone use the land without them getting tennants rights, etc. I know with animals there is something about not letting someone have their animals on your land for an entire year (ie you make them get out for one day at least) otherwise they end up with rights on the land and it can be a comeplete 'mare to get shot of them (knew someone who had this happen to them and it was VERY stressful to say the least to get shot of the "tennant").

As long as you know at the start, what can/can't be done to your land, then you'll know who you can let  onto it.

[Smooth Hound]

sounds very complicated all this sounds like you will need to check it out.

[wildgarlic]

It might be worth asking the people at Clatt as they've just done a landsharing thing - they may be interested in more land and will probably know some of the answers to your questions.

Contact Lucy via http://lucyaykroyd.co.uk/

[Welly]

I have to say I think this is a fantastic idea if you have spare land and there are people that would like to make use of it.

I agree with everything said about checking the legal situation regarding 'tenancy'.

I also think that insurance would be necessary (and prudent) regardless.  I believe that as a landowner (or property owner) you are responsible for anything that happens on your property whether permission is given to be there or not.  I don't know for sure, but extrapolating that it would be reasonable to assume that whether you have a formal contract or not, you become responsible for anyone on your property.

You may actually find that it is a small addition to your existing farm/smallholding/buildings insurance, and I don't think it unreasonable to ask those using the plot to contribute.

Worth checking out, for sure.

Its a real shame that such a fantastic, selfless idea has to be bogged down with beaurocracy and red tape, but there we are.  Those are unfortunately the times we live in.

Welly

[Maria]