New land owner indeed of advice and guidance

[D14]

what's done is done, the guy does not need reminding, even if it was a rip off and it is impossible to say that as no one has a clue as to the amount of handwork involved. Anyone quoting had no idea what he was facing in that field of rubbish 3 feet high etc.
I bet there is no one here ( in their right mind ) would take a job on like that cheaply. How many tales on the machinery threads of people wrecking their kit on a large lump of concrete or steel unexpectedly found in a ploughed field yet alone a mini jungle. just one stake running through a large tyre can cost the best part of thousand pounds forgetting the time lost!
Remember as a child a local contractor took on a job for us, ploughing a previously uncultivated field ( certainly since the Victorians ) It was on a very steep bank. He had a very large Cat and 4 furrow stump jumping plough. Sadly it was not up to the job and with the weight of the crawler behind it the plough hit rock and disintegrated on its first pass

As said we do these kind of jobs. Basically we are £600/day all in to do it but by actually walking the site properly you can get an idea of what its all about. If you don't walk it or even look at it then you have either massively over charged or its going to cost you in damage.
However never have I ever not been able to give an idea of total cost due to the timescale so the OP's family have paid well over the odds for this but I suspect its a landscaping company and not a farm contractor. On jobs like this we want to make 35% profit otherwise its not worth the hassle factor but then you get some nice little add ons like having the wood etc. But £5000 from the pictures is just silly.

 

[Lazy Sod]

FFS stop arguing about what he spent, it's done, end of. He only joined us to ask for advice. I hope he stays and reports on what he's doing. There's a lot of good people offering good advice on TFF, but regrettably some tw4ts as well.

 

[toquark]

I rent a 30ac block which looks very similar to this and for 3-4 months of the year sheep can't go near it due to the flies (for the OP, flies love trees and love sheep even more). I pay £5/ac for it and keep the dykes right at my cost. Its a handy block for wintering sheep as the trees give them shelter but its not a lot of use in the summer time.

Going by the photos, you'd be looking to spend £5-10k on fencing and who knows on water, ideally there's a natural source somewhere which could be piped and troughed, but if not, that'll be another significant cost to get it fit to graze. All for a return of maximum a few hundred quid a year (less agent's fees...). In short, Unless you particularly want to do it, I don't think grazing would be a very sensible financial proposal.

For what its worth, were it mine, it would be sold and the money reinvested more locally.

 

[Will Wilson]

A shame this thread has been derailed about the price of mowing etc- I think the general gist is that you need to find some local advice and that a land agent would be the first stop.

 

[Sid]

A shame this thread has been derailed about the price of mowing etc- I think the general gist is that you need to find some local advice and that a land agent would be the first stop.

Or a local farmer with some knowledge without a vested interest

 

[Jones wales]

Another option too is to ask a glamping letting agency like Quality unearthed to come out and see the place and see what there thoughts are. They do a site visit free of charge . Nothing to loose and you can throw as many questions as you like at them and they can give you some decent advice and give a guide at the best way forward if glamping is something that might be of interest.