Canal at Bottom of the Garden

[ej2096]

Hiya

 

Greetings from the BCN network over in Tipton.

 

Purchased a house a few months ago which has the canal aright at the bottom of the garden. (No towpath my side)

 

As it was like an over grown jungle (And for some reason the previous owner had cut down conifers and left just the stumps which have now been removed)

 

Looking for ideas as what to do with it on the canal bank.

 

Not a fan of decking..

 

Was thinking of build it up slightly with soil off the garden as its not level.

 

(no i dont fish either)

[Tony Brooks]

First of all make sure CaRT don't own a ransom strip at the canal edge, they usually do, and it may take a lot of digging in historic document to find out. If you ask the there is every chance the answer will be yes, even though that might not be so. BW/CaRT have been registering land alongside canals that they arguably had no entitlement to do so.

 

The reason this is important is that they may try to get an annual payment off you if you do anything on or to their land.

[Bacchus]

Get on a little boat, tootle along the canal, and see what others have done...

[Tracy D'arth]

Almost certainly you do not own the canal bank.  There is generally an access strip of 6' or so that C&RT have rights to, they will consign you a yearly lease so that you can use this land, no building allowed, but they always have access rights. Last I heard it was £150 pa with £100 admin fee for setting up.

If you moor a boat there they will demand that you register and pay a fee of 50% of the local mooring rate, there is an admin fee too.

[dmr]

1 hour ago, Bacchus said:

Get on a little boat, tootle along the canal, and see what others have done...

 

Or even easier (but less fun) just walk some of the towpath and have a look at other gardens to get some good ideas. There are a huge range of canalside gardens, its fascinating, everything from med style patios to total jungles, and a few bars complete with handpumps.

 

From my perspective as a boater something that is generally in keeping with the local character of the canal is good, but a little ecentricity never hurts.

[David Schweizer]

Check the deeds of your new property. Whether C&RT have any rights will depend on how the land was initially sold for housing, and what it's former status was. I know of several sites where the land was sold to include historical mooring rights, those rights were contained within the deeds, which also transferred the mooring rights to any new owner, so it is worth spending some time on the research.

[Tracy D'arth]

C&RT have told me that all mooring agreements are cancelled when a property changes hands. New owners have to apply.

[matty40s]

40 minutes ago, Tracy D'arth said:

C&RT have told me that all mooring agreements are cancelled when a property changes hands. New owners have to apply.

C&RT tell us lots of things that stretch the truth or hope that you dont investigate further and find out that they were incorrect.

 

[Bacchus]

2 hours ago, Tracy D'arth said:

C&RT have told me that all mooring agreements are cancelled when a property changes hands. New owners have to apply.

 

I bought a house in Reading with an EOG and had mooring/fishing rights "automatically". Maybe things have changed, or maybe it was because it was on a river part of the K and A. As far as the OP is concerned, a good place to go for ideas (although perhaps a little far...) - plenty of variety, including what looks like an old narrowboat being used as some kind of garden building.

[David Schweizer]

3 hours ago, Tracy D'arth said:

C&RT have told me that all mooring agreements are cancelled when a property changes hands. New owners have to apply.

 

The cases which I referred to are not "mooring agrements" but legally enforceable entitlements enshrined in the deeds of the property, which cannot be cancelled.

[BWM]

It may be better to keep level, or slightly lower as you will feel less on show when sitting there. A mixture of iris or similar reed like plants, along with some that tumble down to the water will give a natural feel and allow glimpses of canal and boats.

[ej2096]

Cleared most of the rubbish and weeds now, going to level it out and grass the bugger with as suggested above reed plants etc.

 

(And the amount of plastic bottles was shocking)

 

 

[dmr]

4 hours ago, ej2096 said:

Cleared most of the rubbish and weeds now, going to level it out and grass the bugger with as suggested above reed plants etc.

 

(And the amount of plastic bottles was shocking)

 

 

Speak to somebody who knows about these things. Some reads/grasses can be good, and  might even make a home for a water vole. Others can take over the canal and so be really destructive.

[Hammersmith99]

You could tidy up the area, level it out, and plant some reeds to create a nice, natural look by the canal.

Edited Thursday at 06:05 by Hammersmith99

[ej2096]

thats the plan, The level has dropped also i assume due to boat traffic and locks moving water around... Saddens me though the amount of rubbish people just chuck in there

[matty40s]

Hammersmith is a bot

[ej2096]

I don't have a select the traffic lights in picture to confuse him

[Jen-in-Wellies]

Please refrain from debating the humanity of users on the forum. A report has been raised and the moderators are investigating.

[BWM]

On 08/04/2024 at 15:50, dmr said:

Speak to somebody who knows about these things. Some reads/grasses can be good, and  might even make a home for a water vole. Others can take over the canal and so be really destructive.

That's why I suggested Reed type plants, Yellow flag iris is useful if the soil isn't too dry but there is plenty of choice along that theme.