Question for the farmers out there...

[Gem13]

A house we are trying to buy has land with it - a couple of acres. It currently has wheat growing in it and is part of a bigger field belonging to the nearby farm. Conditions of the sale are that the new owner will put up a stock proof fence along the field. The description of this fence was quite specific and included the words 'pig proof netting'.

My question is, is this a term simply for specifying the type of fence or does it sound like the farmer is going to be changing from arable to pigs?

Obviously (and no offence if you are a pig farmer) there is a difference between living next to a wheat field and lots of pigs!

I'm going to get in touch with Planning on Monday but just wondered if any mumsnetters knew in the meantime.

TIA.

Any farmers?

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Thanks for getting back to me robinw.

There isn't a water supply so that looks hopeful. I don't mind pigs (and it would be great for the children!) but lots of them would affect the value of the house and part of the deal with us buying the house is that it is an investment. Also, my parents used to live in a town 1.5 miles away from a pig farm and there was often a smell hanging over the town. I think that was due to the food rather than the pigs themselves but it was pretty gross.

I'll keep my eyes peeled for tigger!

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Crikey - we hadn't thought of that! I'd just presumed as it was being sold with the house it was ours to do what we liked.

No plans for a pony, but I did have designs for a garden, DH for a swimming pool and DS might want a cricket pitch/ football pitch/ later on...

Another question for the Planning dept.

Thanks for your help.

I agree, agricultural land is protected and you may well be refused permission to turn it into anything else. My dh's parents have a farm with a lot of agricultural land, and though it is their land, they cannot use it for anything other than agricultural purposes. As for the pig farm, well that's what happens in the country I'm afraid! My dh's parents used to do crop-rotation and every now and then a field would be left to the cows for year before the crops would be allowed to grow on it again. So even though it is being used for wheat now, it won't always have that usage and the likelihood is that there will be animals on it at some stage.

I would talk to your planners if I were you! Have a word with your neighbour too, see if you can find out what he intends to do with the field. Does no harm to get on good terms with them!