Hi
Exactly Pixie.
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An argument that is always brought up but the litterers and the vandals are in general the exception to the rule By far the majority of people who come to the countryside treat it with respect. For those that donāt, how will people they ever learn the code of the countryside, how to behave in nature, if they cannot regularly experience it in practice? If people continue to be cut off from the beauty of nature, how will they ever care about how it is treated? Nature must be experienced from an early age and enjoyed to be respected.
They should be taught the country code in schools .
In Scotland where there is a right to roam they have found that signs explaining the country code very effective .
The right to roam campaign wants to create a culture where people are much more aware of their responsibility to the land, to nature, and the communities who live in the countryside .
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For the most part yes, but the popular tourist spot of Loch Lomond, for example, has been blocked off to campers, and the people who flock to it for the day, cause chaos with their parking and litter. I feel for the locals who live there, it must be horrendous. People donāt look at signsā¦they think it doesnāt apply to them 
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Hi
Good to hear that signs work well in Scotland.
Unfortunately, setting fire to cars on the street is considered good fun at weekends and school holidays in many parts of the UK.
My sister suffered from that last week, a deliberate fire setting which spread to 4 other properties, including hers.
I can see this from both POV as a land owner and keen walker.
Until summer 2021 I owned a right of way over a our small farm ā¦in a National Park .
It was a limited agricultural for animals and machinery right of way . It went through the courtyard right in front of our property !
Making it exempt from the right to roam.
However did it stop so called ramblers ā¦course not ,on occasions Iād find people in my garden.
Most were apologetic however that wasnāt always the case.
Seriously? You think that pointing out that you actually meant the opposite of what you originally proclaimed is nitpicking?
If you were a pollie it would be described as a U turn or a backflip.
So often the footpath actually goes across the field . The thinking farmer leave a pathway through his crop or signs another way around the headland .Often walkers following a footpath that disappears into a field of wheat donāt know which way to go .
This can be tricky I went on a walk a couple of years ago with a walking group that passed right through a farmyard .It was not only knee deep in slurry but was full of cows and two young bulls .He had also put their feeding troughs in there I love cows but some people elderly and not quick were nervous.There was no alternative way around yet the route was clearly marked public footpath . No need for this sort of thing because cows docile as they seem are large animals and can hurt people .I am very wary of trespassing on peoples property and I donāt like to pass near someoneās house.Some people are friendly and helpful one chap seeing me hesitate called yes you are alright come in but had he not been there it would have been impossible to see the route through his garden.
sound like ya a bit of a rambler then Muddy ? - youāve been rambling up and down and across the topic for a while? - any firm recommendations yet that we all could agree on?
Yes take a pair of secateurs with you to clear any overgrown brambles for stiles .
I am with Swimmy on this!
I have fields all round my house, but they are not mine a farmer has use of them.
Over the years I have lived here I have asked people to leave, or keep their dog on a lead, because the farmer used to bring his cows, that were in calf, to have their young here. He did this mainly because they didnāt need milking and I would phone him if I saw one giving birth.
Teenagers would come and sit on the land, in the summer to eat their Macdonalds & drink a can of beer, then leave all the wrappings & cans for somebody else to clear.
There were sometimes horses on the field , so if people didnāt shut the gate they could escape onto the road & so could the cows.
Not everybody that wants to be in the countryside, is decent & caring so I believe that the land owners should have the right to decide who walks on their landā¦ especially when it could cause harm to the animals they have there.
Believe me , if the people who were there without permission & were harmed by an animal they would have no hesitation in seeking compensation.
There are lots of beautiful parks where people can stroll or they could politely ask if it was alright to walk on farmland. Most Farmers are very accommodating, but it is their land so should have the right to refuse!
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There are always teenagers that leave a mess but for everyone that does there are hundreds of people that donāt .I donāt put my dog on the lead with cows . One because he is well trained and does not worry animals two because more people have been killed by having their dog on a lead as cows are curious and will chase dogs .Dogs can outrun cows but humans canāt .Of course if you have big stock molesting dogs the farmer has the right to shoot them but I have never seen this and I live in a rural village were everyone has a dog or three !
I have never heard of anyone claiming compensation by being attacked by a farm animal nevertheless if a footpath runs through a field the farmer should not put a dangerous animal in the field . Most bulls free in a field are not dangerous . The dangerous ones eg jerseys bulls ( dairy bulls are more aggressive ) are generally not turned out where there is a public footpath .
Horses are inquisitive too and may approach pedestrians but rarely do them harm in an open environment .
Excepted land
On access land some areas remain private (āexcepted landā). You do not have the right to access these areas, even if they appear on a map of open access land.
The farmyard could fallen into that. category
Me I wouldnāt have continued to walk through a herd of cattle heifers can be dangerous beastsā¦
Also the rule dogs must be kept on short leads often gets forgotten by walkers
Excepted land includes:
I enjoy walking Iāve up my steps to 12k
Iāve done 3miles this morning ā¦
- houses, buildings and the land theyāre on (such as courtyards)
- land used to grow crops
- building sites and land thatās being developed
- parks and gardens
- golf courses and racecourses
- railways and tramways
- working quarries
I think itās fatal to keep your dog on a short lead unless it worries cows .If it does dont cross the field
Cows can be dangerous and generally they are not afraid of dogs and may just be curious or can chase them and run the owner down .
No itās not fatal itās a 2 m lead not one of those extending leads
Those extending leads are lethal to anyone passing .
Ripple the cows around here are very big and they are not nervous on the contrary they are very confident with humans and think nothing of strolling over en masse . Fortunately the huge bull that is with them is usually lying down too exhausted by his duties and keeping his frisky girls in order heās too tired to chase anything .
On private land dogs should be kept on a 2 m leadā¦ not allowed to roam free The worst scenario attacking sheep ,causing what could be a lethal situation with with cattle and killing ground nesting birds .
I always put my dog ( a border collie ) on the lead with sheep in the U.K. .
In Spain I donāt as big flocks walk along the road and in the country he ignores them completely .
One mounted shepherd wanted me to give him to him as he was just what he wanted !
There are not really any ground nesting birds in Wiltshire and as we have lots of foxes they will have got them first .
However in the breeding season for ducks / peasants etc one puts one dog on the lead .
I do know about cows being as I lived on a farm, the farm was in a national park where cattle are allowed to roam free. Every year in The New Forest dogs are killed by heifers , I lived there for approx 30 years in that time I know of dog walkers killed by young heifers roaming free. Cows are inquisitive animals.
I wouldnāt ploughed through the farmyard full of cattle even if it did form part of a right of way
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For that reason the farmer was being an a***e. . the actual footpath was in the corner of his yard a simple rope across it would have given anyone passing room to get by.
So they are not all bluff and well meaning .