What to do with .25 acre additional land?

[NurseNancyandDoctorDavid]

Good afternoon clever green fingered mumsnetters.
We have the chance to buy .25 acre of arable land at the back of our garden. We already have this size garden, mostly lawn, bushes, couple of apple trees.
We would have access through the back of the garden, it would be behind a stone wall. At the mo' it is a blank canvas, backs onto a paddock with three horses in.
I've grown a few things through lockdown this year, but not sure about raised beds. DC are older so don't. need trampolines etc.
What are your ideas?
Thank you!

I would put in an orchard with a duck pond.

I would have a wildflower meadow, with maybe a few fruit trees.

You can mow paths through the wildflowers so you can get to the trees.

Can you take down the wall to make the view and whole thing bigger? I agree with pp about wild flower meadow and some fruit trees. And somewhere lovely to sit

Yes, a small orchard, wildflower meadow, possibly a small glade of trees and excavate a wildlife pond - all things I intend to do if I can buy the field adjoining my garden🤞

Keep chickens!

You will need change of land use permission to turn a portion of arable field into your garden. It will be OK to keep it as separate from the rest of your garden and treat it as a very small field, but you won't be able to take the wall down and just turn it into one continuous garden. Worth just doing a little bit of research to make sure you don't breach any rules.

I would create a pond as others have said but also have a small orchard. I would want a covered paved area for comfortable seating and a decent bbq /outdoor kitchen etc for family get togethers.

I’d have a wildflower meadow and some new hives.

Bee hives even

🐝 🐝

Thank you, some great ideas here. We won't be taking the wall down, it's dry stone and we had it repaired and rebuilt 5 years ago, so access will be through some hazel trees at the back.
I had thought of a wildflower meadow too, but hadn't thought of a paved covered area, I love it!

What backinthebox said. You’ll need permission for change of use before doing anything much

Orchard are with the rest as a meadow with a pond if that's all possible.
A wild-life haven hopefully!

What I'm fitting in just over that much space:

A big veggie garden.

An orchard with apples, pears, quinces, plums, cherries. For the first five years, till the trees get established, underplant them with strawberries, raspberries, red, white and blackcurrants, blackberries, gooseberries, rhubarb, herbs and perennial flowers for pollinators.

Chickens for fresh eggs and manure for the garden and orchard.

A pond for frogs and other wildlife, or for ducks (it's one or the other, not both!).

@backinthebox

You will need change of land use permission to turn a portion of arable field into your garden. It will be OK to keep it as separate from the rest of your garden and treat it as a very small field, but you won't be able to take the wall down and just turn it into one continuous garden. Worth just doing a little bit of research to make sure you don't breach any rules.

This. Work colleague bought his dream house in the countryside with large garden. Then he applied for planning permission to extend, at which point the planning department realised that the garden extended over arable land, and no planning permission had been obtained. They required him to reinstate the arable land - he reckoned he could now touch the garden boundary from his back door.

Turn it into an orchard. Still counts as arable then, as you are using it to grow food.

Check change of use FIRST
then go for orchard / fruit / veg

Id turn it, or at least a good chunk of it, into an ARK (act of restorative kindness) and allow nature to reclaim it. Look up Mary Reynolds if you'd like more info on it

Our garden is 0.25 acre but has a small fence across a third of it (it’s long and thin). My plan for the bottom 2/3 is similar to what everyone has said here about an orchard and wildflower area. However, if funds were more readily available (and I was able to keep up with the maintenance), I would build a stone wall between the two parts, as you have, and try to create the secret garden. So I’d be looking at having hedges for privacy and then looking at a cottage style garden, stepping stones through it and a small area in the middle to sit and enjoy the garden.

We used to have a garden that was beyond a lane. So quite a long garden then an even longer garden across the lane. The reality was it was never really used. If we wanted to bbq/have a drink/have a cup of tea it was far easier to be near the house. We had a pond and a shed that I had as my den from about aged 7 to about 14. My teenage self loved that bit of distance.

So if the kids are a bit older maybe a teenager's shed/den. Handy for noisy sleepovers.

If I had the extra land now I'd grow vegetables (I have an allotment but would much rather have veg at home), fruit trees, a wild life pond, a bee space, a massive compost bin and a greenhouse.