Although timber prices and land values have increased in recent years most of our buyers are looking for a woodland they can enjoy and conserve and they are often reluctant to fell trees. Despite this, owners of conservation woodlands have seen steady increases in values as more people recognise the attraction of owning their own woodland: those who have had to sell their woods have usually crystallised a good profit - almost always by selling to others with a similar vision of owning a woodland that they can enjoy, look after and call their own.

The UK government is keen for people to own and manage British woodlands so they've created these useful tax breaks for woodland owners:

• income from the sale of timber is always tax-free
• when you sell your woodland you don't pay any tax on the increase in value that's arisen from timber growth
• any gains from selling a woodland will benefit from using your capital gains allowance so that a couple can make a gain of more than £24,000 before they pay any tax on the gain
• as long as you can show that a woodland is managed commercially, there won't be any inheritance tax on it when you pass it on (the wood must also have been owned for at least 2 years before the transfer)
• as woodland purchases are almost always below the stamp duty threshold, there is no buyer's tax when you buy a small woodland.

If you, as an owner, choose to sell some of your timber you will be well-placed to do so: you are not under time pressure and you can find the right buyer. By selling directly to a user - whether it's a wood-turner or a small firewood processor - you should get good prices for your mature trees. In fact some buyers use the timber themselves for woodworking or for their own wood burners. Many buyers sell timber as part of a process of improving biodiversity - some have felled and sold conifers to replace them with newly-planted deciduous trees, such as oak and cherry.

The beauty of a woodland as an investment is that the trees grow year-in, year-out and the value of land tends to keep pace with inflation, or better - if recent trends continue. Perhaps the biggest dividend from woodland ownership is that you can actually use your wood and enjoy spending time outdoors.