Best way to inquire about renting a field?

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Dumbo

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Won't waffle on about the situation - just wondering how I should approach someone to inquire about grass livery when it hasn't been offered?

I want to move my horse to my village temporarily and there are several fields that would be suitable. I know of the owners but not sure if it is best to write, call or walk over and ask face to face?

I am expecting them all to say no seeing as they aren't advertising livery but the fields are sat empty and life would be fab if it worked out!
 
My advice would be a very polite letter. Don't doorstep people. You catch them off guard, some people will think it cheeky anyway to cold call, and you may get them at a bad time.

A letter gives them time to think about it. But it would be worth ending with something like "I'd be so grateful if you would let me know either way". Some people will just mothball a letter and then forget it.

I've seen this from both angles. a girl turned up during a big family lunch we were hosting, unannounced, wanting grazing (and for free!). On the other hand, a girl I knew wrote to a local farmer asking if he would consider renting some land (He never had before), and she got a lovely reply and has been on his farm ever since. Good luck!
 
I have some land and often get people knocking on my door asking for livery of various sorts. I find it quite annoying when people knock on my door and then try to persuade me to do livery and have a preset sales pitch of why they would be a good livery. I find it hard to get rid of the most persistent and feel I need to hide from one woman who asks me every time she hacks past.

The ones I don't mind are those who have asked via my farrier or another friend or contact or those who have put a polite note through my door with a short description of what they are looking for and what they do with their horse. I can then if I am interested contact them.

It really is uncomfortable to feel under pressure at all and anyone too forceful would not be considered even if I was planning to do livery. If someone just stops and says hi and has a quick no pressure chat when I am in the garden or outside doing the horses then I would be far more receptive than when I am on the end of a pleading sales pitch.

Good luck
 
I went to see the people that I rented my summer grazing from a couple of years ago. I knew they had stopped renting it out many years before; so I approached them to say I knew this, but if they were considering renting it out again, I would love to be their tenant. I also said that I knew I'd put them in an awkward position by asking, so left them my number & asked them to call when they'd had a chance to mull it over.

Personally, I think a letter would be weird :p
 
Ask the person who owns the most desirable field first. If you send letters all at once and the least suitable replies positively then you would have a hard decision to make and hedging your bets by asking them to hang on while you wait for other replies could end up in no land at all!

I door knocked tp find the owner of my rented field then phoned and left a phone message. Two weeks later he called back - he was on holiday and we had given up all hope of the field in the meantime so it's worth bearing with people
 
Whatever you decide to do, if you hear nothing, make a personal approach after a week or ten days.

Choose the time you call carefully. After meal times, not during! Dress casually but neatly. Don't dive in with your question but make some brief small talk -- "Oh, what lovely flowers you have in your garden!" or something. Don't waffle, just give them time to look you over before wading in with your questions.

Then continue, "I was looking for some grazing for my horse and you may have got a letter/phone call/visit from me a while back. I was wondering if you have had time to think about it? Or perhaps you can advise me who might be able to help me?" Some times the mention of rent can get their attention!

Nothing worse than having people interrupt a meal when you are working hard! And that comes from a busy farmer! Approached properly, I might say "yes". A letter would go straight in the bin, a phone call would get an immediate "no" (hate the phone!), a personal approach could work with me -- but it all depends. I'd be impressed if I was offered details in writing -- name, address, telephone number, type of horse, personal references, etc. but not vital.
 
I would prefer a letter or email and would strongly dislike anything else. However I am also the type who would reply with an answer so wouldn't leave someone wondering.

We have a ruined cottage and a local lassie wrote asking to buy it. Altho we have our own plans for it (it has since gained PP for restoration and extension) I wrote back to her thanking her for enquiring and explaining why it wasn't for sale.

If she had phoned I would have given short shrift, I'm pretty telephobic according to OH and I hate being doorstepped.

Oh and make sure the spelling and grammar are good, too, not everyone cares about that but those of us who do, really do :-)))

But you probably won't want to rent off old bags like me anyway :-)))
 
I think a note or short informal sort of letter along the lines that you are looking for grazing for however many horses and would be really grateful if they would either be willing to rent any land or if they could put you in touch with anyone they know who might, and leave all your contact details.

If there is any chance they might recognise you then a phone call or short 'passing' visit might be more appropriate, just because it is hard to describe how you might have met in a letter without sounding awfully long winded! E.g. in my parents village I'd probably to make a link in 2 minutes of conversation, but in a letter not so much! People are probably more willing to accommodate people they know (a friend of mine got hold of a very sought after bit of land here just because the guy knew she'd had horses in the village for years so probably seemed ok).

I'd also put a wanted ad in any local shops, that's how I got one field, although I ended up moving to another once I was there!
 
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