To think this woman was rude as hell??

YABU. Her field. You were the rude one. Repeatedly.

So you’re happy for people to trample through your garden to avoid walking in the road?

She put up a fence…you climbed over it. She put up a sign…you ignored it. There’s only one CF here!

First port of call might be to check Ordnance Survey maps online, say Bing Maps and opt for map view - to know if it’s accessible or not.

You are the person being rude here. She put up a fence which you climbed over, she put up a sign which wasn’t professional enough for you & you think not being able to walk on her private property spoils your walk?! Seriously check yourself, entitled woman

If it’s a private field then YABU. You have no right to walk through it, no matter what it’s used for. I can’t believe you ignored a fence and a sign. Not surprised the woman was angry.

Look on an ordnance survey map and that will tell you the rights of way in the area. You can then check this one. As she seems adamant it’s private then it probably is and it’s her right to stop people using it

the fields in the countryside are not free access for anyone (unless in Scotland I understand). Farmers/land owners have a living to make and plants crops/use fields for animals and why should they cater for a member of the public who seems to think its ok

you can still do a walk, you need to get over your entitlement

Are you in England or Scotland? Trespass laws are different...

She shouldn’t have shouted but I can understand her frustration after she put up a fence and a sign to prevent this from happening. You did also admit you asked around in the village and they said the middle field was private. She tried her bit to ensure people knew it was her private land. So yes avoid it from now on and that’s that. I’m sure there are other walking strokes you can explore. :)

I’m all for free access to public footpaths (and permissive paths not being removed unnecessarily) but you are very much in the wrong here.
The walk skirts around the fields via the village. That’s the walk.
There are lots of lovely areas I would like to walk through, but they don’t have a public footpath so I don’t, just because it’s a prettier walk!
She tried a fence. She tried a sign. You knew there wasn’t a public footpath (or you could have checked) yet still you walked across her property. YABVVU.

I mean surely you would have hot home after the fence or sign went up and actually checked if it was privately owned? No sensible person would continue to climb over a fence marked with a private property sign without checking?

It’s her field and she tried with the fence and the sign to make it clear. Presumably lots of people walk over it all the time and she got to the end of her tether and was rude to you but how would you feel if lots of people walked across your garden every day despite signs saying it was private?

Yabvu. How many times did you need to be told? The fence, the sign, the neighbours. Not once did you try and find out, you just carried on walking. And you still argued back when caught.

Have you looked on an OS map to see if the path in the field is marked as a ROW? If it's not clear you could phone your local authority and ask to speak to someone in the ROW team, they will be able to tell you.
There are a lot of CFs out there who buy plots of land with ROW across them and then do all they can to put people off, this woman might be one of those.

It’s great that you want to walk, but you do need to follow public rights of way. Get the OS Map app and zoom in on your area; I bet you’ll discover lots of alternatives that you’ll enjoy just as much.

You were hugely unreasonable not to check the right of way after the fence went up. How about if she trots through your house just because it's nice for her to do? It's not even like you had an actual reason, you were just going for a walk!

I find this fascinating. I can just about understand your thought process up until you meet the woman. But at that point, when you have climbed over a fence and ignored a sign, and you still think you are right to argue back to her, I find extraordinary. In that position I would profusely apologise.

Of course, it might be a right of way. But you find that out by looking at maps and reading the law, not just deciding that you are right and she is wrong.

This is a joke right?

You should have checked. It's easy to do so

I think the OP doesn’t really care if it’s private or not. The line ‘unused field’ says a lot… they think it’s more important they can have a nice walk.

You’re been really unreasonable. I don’t know what you think would make a “private property” sign official. The council don’t issue them. Most of them round here are nailed on bits of wood with the words painted on them! When the stile was first removed why didn’t you look on bing maps with the os map layer and check where the footpath is? In fact do that before planning any walk regardless of stiles.

Good grief OP, can you really not see your entitlement here?

YANBU, don’t be upset, do some research and find out if it’s a right of way. Just because she has put up a fence doesn’t mean she’s allowed to. Of course only continue the walks if there is a right of way, but son’t take her word for it, look intomit,

Apparently you can do the walk but to avoid that field you have to walk along the edges of the first field, go into the village and follow it around to the public footpath. Totally spoils the walk as the whole point is to walk through the countryside, not the village!

Who told you this?

Reverse.

Assuming England here

Check the legal status of the walk

For example if it's published by your council report to the council rangers - they may have had a landowner agreement in place

If the route is a red dashed line on the OS map report go the ramblers - it's illegal to block such a route

If it's a black dashed line it's a path buy not a right of way