Woodland for sale

Clydesdale Wood - 5 ¾ acres

Clydesdale Wood is a manageable sweet chestnut coppiced woodland. It has great access off a quiet country lane and a stoned track leads to the wood itself. A convenient timber stacking area by the main gates will be shared with other woodland owners here.

A wooden bench has been situated in an extremely private small clearing in the wood. Here a new owner can sit and enjoy the peace and quiet, away from the trappings of modern life.

Clydesdale Wood is situated about 5 miles north-east of Maidstone in Kent. It is within the Kent Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB). It is part of a larger woodland known as Newlands Wood. The whole woodland is within a Kent Wildlife Trust Local Wildlife Site. Privately owned woodlands are to the north, west and south and with paddocks to the east of Clydesdale Wood.

It is worth noting that woodland owners may be able to get relief from Inheritance Tax and Capital Gains Tax. There may be adjacent woodland available here. If this is of interest, please contact the area managers for this region - [use Contact Agent Button]

The purchasers of the woodland will be asked to enter into a covenant to ensure the quiet and peaceful enjoyment of adjoining woodlands and meadows.

Clydesdale Wood comprises sweet chestnut coppice, with ash, hazel, willow, hornbeam, birch, holly and oak. The chestnut was last coppiced between 2015 and 2018, therefore will be at full maturity in 10 – 12 years’ time. There are some small pockets of mature sweet chestnut, and the occasional mature ash. Some ash near the ride stop entrance was recently cut and stacked. This will season well and provide firewood for a wood burner. In the coming years this woodland has enormous potential to provide a steady and sustainable supply of excellent firewood.

It is worth noting that Woodlands.co.uk offer £300 towards a course for a new owner. This would provide the opportunity to learn the skills required to resume coppicing in the future. The wood could be used for green wood working - working with unseasoned wood to make walking sticks, wooden mallets, door stops, spoons – or for the more ambitious, chairs! The practice of making chairs from green wood is known as bodging.

Clydesdale Wood has been designated as Ancient Semi-Natural Woodland (ASNW) by Natural England. This is woodland that has been under constant tree cover since at least 1600AD. It is valued as a rich reserve of biodiversity. There is a draft Management Plan for Newlands Wood (of which Clydesdale Wood is a part) – details of this are available upon request. It is noted in management plan that stands are generally well stocked; the chestnut is of good quality, and they would lend themselves to management on a relatively short rotation, providing timber for either commercial or private use.

Wildlife

There is plenty of opportunity to enhance the habitat for wildlife here, from the simple provision of bird and bat boxes to the management of the tree cover and ground flora.

Access, tracks and footpaths

Access to Clydesdale Wood is via double metal gates off Court Lane (an owner will be provided a key for this locked gate). A stoned track leads to the ride stop entrance to Clydesdale Wood. Here owners are able to drive in and park a car within the wood itself.

There are no public footpaths within the wood. The North Downs Way is accessible approx. 1 mile from the wood.

Rights and covenants

The wood is sold with the sporting rights.

The owner of Clydesdale Wood will be asked to enter a covenant to ensure the quiet and peaceful enjoyment of the wood.

Activities

For anyone looking for a bolthole to escape modern life, Clydesdale Wood offers an easily manageable woodland ideal for the family woodland owner. Family camping, making dens, building campfires, bushcraft, small scale timber production are all activities that could be enjoyed in the woodland. The simple act of spending time in a wood you own is relaxing. Away from the toil of everyday life it is easy just to sit and be calm. Woods grow slowly, there is no rush.

Local area and history

It seems likely that what would have originally been an oak woodland with hornbeam coppice was converted to mainly sweet chestnut coppice in the late 19th century (as there are not many very large coppice stools in evidence).

The wood is approx. 1 mile from the Kent Showground, home to the annual Kent County Show. Held in July, this well-established show includes animals, horses, vintage vehicles and retail stands for a celebration of the best in the county. Maidstone is approximately 5 miles south-west of the wood.

Directions

Please note, for satellite navigation, use the post code ME14 3HF. This will take you to within approx. 0.5 miles of the main entrance gates to Newlands Wood (of which Clydesdale Wood is a part) as shown by the red dot on the map. Coordinates to the main gates leading to Clydesdale Wood (off Court Lane) are: N51.313599, E0.584996. To find the wood follow the instructions below.

- Leave the M20 at Junction 7 head north on the A249, Detling Hill / Sittingbourne Road.

- Pass under the pedestrian bridge (Jade’s Bridge) and after approx. 0.5 mile take the right turn onto Scragged Oak Road.

- Continue for approx. 1 mile (past the Kent Showground) until you reach Court Lane on your left. Turn down this road and continue for approx.350 meters.

- You will reach a set of double metal gates on the right-hand side with a ‘Woodlands for Sale’ sign on it.

Once you arrive at the gates:

- Park in front of the metal gates (leaving space for people to get in and out the gates) and walk round the side of the gate and up the track.

- Follow the main track approx. 625 meters (you will pass 2 tracks on the right but stay on the main track). The ride stop entrance to Clydesdale Wood is on the right-hand side of the main track with its boundaries marked in BLUE.

- Sat Nav note: The post code ME14 3HF is for the point shown on the location map by the red dot.