oowee

Went out last night it was mega cold. Saw a few but no scores on the doors. Came home to see one sitting in the corner of my field. Set up in the kitchen and called wife over to see. Put on a few calls but fox was happy to lay there. Checked back to the bait tree and there was another wandering about. Took it at about 60m a nice sized vixen.

Thats a collection and a half from the album Mike. Some good shooting by the looks, the bottom pic looks like a busy day!! Like the NV Green rifle (.243) belongs to Bumpy looks like a custom job I think. Had a walk round today on the pheasant and partridge. Off tonight to see whats about looks like a clear night and fairly dark. Have to keep going out to fill the diary waiting for my open ticket (not that it's a chore). FEO said average person goes out once every two weeks and they open the ticket after five years. I make that about 250 trips before I can ask again

What channel do you watch? I feel sorry for the teenagers you know.

Out, with after the foxes with Bumpy last night and now trying to remember what we did. Started out about 2000 and out close to the motorway so plenty of noise in the background. Spotted one but not shootable so moved towards it and pushed it down into the fields below. Saw it again but it soon disappeared.Off to the next one and called on the hill side for 15 mins or so but nothing about. Off to the next and over some very wet and muddy fields. At last we spot one but again its not in a shootable position. Continue to call and move a little to the side and now its game on as it starts to come in the red light is on and I am waiting for the shot. A pause and nothing happens and now the fox wants out of there troting left to right. A quick bark and it stops for a moment and then its off again. Another bark and again it stops and down it goes at about 80m. We go and look for it and its gone Up and down the hedge, Definitely went down (I think) now not so sure, the doubt sets in. One last look and there she is just under the hedge. One in the bag. Notice the rifle stock. Green stain and 6 coats of lacquer, I think it looks great. Walking back up toward the farm house to the field where they are certain to be and you guessed it nothing. Then we spot one out at about 100m not shootable so we move up the field to narrow the angle and a quick shot sees it down. Bot shots looked to be a little low so may have to check out that zero.

that looksmore like my DIY intentions. Start off with a plan and oooops

Great result for both you guys. Tonka, looking at the size of that gate he looks a big boy Sorry to hear about your back. Racing Snake welcome to the club. An opening bag of two and i must say a great picture. There are extra points for pictures particularly well composed ones :good:Where you from? We were out last night and bagged a couple with a fair bit of effort pics (my usual dismal effort ) and write up to follow.

Great stuff Mike. Three in a night is a great start and plenty more to go at by the sound of things. Picture is awesome, lots of snow in Wales I guess A bit more definition for the picture competition.

Do it in 5th you wont have to break the speed limit.

The National economy is run differently from home finances. Whilst most of us would be horrified to have so much debt for a country (within limits) its not such a bad thing. Weakening the currency is the most obvious benefit. That's one of the reasons Germany is laughing all the way to the bank with the Euro sharing. Economic growth and inflation help manage the debt for us. Its a bit like house buying. How many of us could afford to buy the house we live in today?

mmmmmm lovely gun.

Too early for the man love stuff.

Its a good reason to put in for something else

Lucky escape, It all happens up north.

Heart or head family or business what an interesting mix. I would be thinking of a succession plan to get the ownership transferred. I would then look for an agent and development partner to push through the plan process to get the scheme in the plan. Whilst on paper doing your own scheme has more margin, in practice upfront commitment costs met by a partner are likely to deliver earlier and larger rewards. I did a scheme with St Mods in the Black Country where they optioned the land 10 years ahead of development and then worked on getting the land into the plan and development to follow. The owner walked away with £250k up front and a 40% share of the profit down the line. Left to himself it would still be a very similar site to the one you describe. Whatever you decide to do good luck.

Worth looking at a foreign bank account depending on the currency.

Lovely stuff. There is no end to the talent on here from rebuilding land rovers to making tractors and knives and now works of art in steel. to you all.

Well done all on this page. I like the dog Daieye and good result. Great pictures and results Foxhunter. That big dog fox is something else. I would have the tape measure on that one. Nice pair Dougy and double quick time too. Out on wednesday

This will be negotiable through s106, offset, tenure blind and pepper pot.

Engineering firms are best at engineering. They mainly work 'for' the developers. You should choose your developer who in turn will choose their engineers. A 'chat with planning' is not the way to go on large development projects. Far better to open discussions from a position of strength for a development of this size. When the discussions start you want to be taking planning officer through the process of how you will be bringing forward the development. You will be taking them through the national planning guidance and local planning position and how it applies to your site, not the other way around. Planning staff will not have the experience or knowledge of the team that you take in. If this site were in MK it would be worth net £2m an acre. If you loose an acre of development to non use that's a lot of money to loose. Hence you tell them how its going to be.

For the kitchen, I price compared Howdens and Wren and then bought from Wren. I was impressed when the guy stood in inside the drawers at Wren and there was some saving on price. The work tops are square cut and can be butt jointed. I have just yesterday bought a utility fit out from them as the stuff is working well three years in. I like the product but don't like endless negotiation on the price, having to check each piece in the order to make sure its needed. I had £300 worth of stuff left over from the kitchen which will now be used in the utility.

The Council process the app, they dont acre about your profit. Specialist advice from the outset (which is expensive but covered by the uplift). Vast fees are paid from better profits which arrive earlier. You can sort it yourself but if you don't have the knowledge you will end up with a smaller pie. Don't do this ^. We are talking development first not building. The best schemes will be finance led, planning backed. The Architect and builder is down the line. On a scheme of this size you need the planning politics in place. The best planners are not in the LA.

I would agree with these points except in the case of large scale development. In the case of a ten acre resi site i would want to be directing the planning authority in how it should be dealt with.

It may be the case that the principle argument is no, but that does not mean its correct. It may well be a political view point either the officers or the elected rep's. If you speak to planning without knowledge chances are you will be directed (encouraged to look) from there perspective not from a development angle. The first contact is often critical. The approach may be key to setting their frame of mind in line with your thoughts. If you go in vague and its not in the plan (which you would imagine its not as no one s knocking the door down) you will alert the authority and may get an answer that is not 'best value'. Once a train of thought is started it may be costly to unpick.

A specialist property agent such as JLL Harris Lamb, Grimley etc. Local agents will know what works in locale and be cheaper national agents will have greater reach. Which to choose will depend on site, personality development stage and deal on offer.They will deal with developers all day long and will know how to negotiate OP end of the deal. They will evaluate the scheme potential and development stage and then find a development partner once you have agreed their terms. Without someone acting on OP's behalf he will be ripped off day one. Even when a deal is struck the agent will advise and ensure that the development sticks to the agreement. Particularly with the s106 obligations and inevitable scheme changes resulting from the ground and planning variables.

Don't go down the DIY route if you don't have the experience. Appoint an agent to act on your behalf. Architects will not have a clue about maximising value. They will have pet developers you dont want. You will need some development partnership to get the most from it. If its not in the plan then it could take a long term arrangement (Partnership) to get it there with shared risk arrangement. The agent will be there to hold your hand for mutual benefit. I would suggest you do some basics on checking the local plan then a beauty parade of specialist agents.