To camp in random fields without permission in England

[feellikeahugefailure]

I'm thinking about doing a solo trip around Devon and Cornwall in a car. Campsites seem expensive, you have to book and often there aren't any where I need them

I've got a pop up tent.

Would it really be so bad to just pitch it at 9pm in some quiet field out of sight (and without animals) spend the night, then come 6am pack it up and move on?

Obviously I wouldn't litter or leave any sign that I was ever there.

Just ask the landowner first. I'd be pretty pissed off to see someone camping on my land. But would be more than happy if they asked first. You wouldn't do it in someone's garden would you?

The kids in our village (mine included) often camp in the local woods in the summer. Not sure who they belong to. They have never been ordered off by anyone. I think it is reasonable if it is not obviously farmland and you don't leaves a mess.

Wild camping is illegal in England and Wales except for parts of Dartmoor, although people do get away with wild camping in places like Snowdonia and the Lake District as long as they are discreet and camp above the intake walls. Devon and Cornwall would not be great for wild camping.

But you need permission from the owners of private land to camp on it - why would you think it would be all right to just pitch your tent without permission? Would you be happy if someone just turned up and pitched their tent in your back garden?

Feellike, I bought my fields just like other people bought their gardens. I am liable for any injuries that occur on my property (like if my horse damaged your tent or bull left you permanently maimed). I also pay and work to maintain my fields. Some random person setting up camp would annoy me and I'd possibly tell them to leave but if they asked id likely offer them tea and a shower.

Egosumquisum - the OP isn't talking about wild camping though.

Well who decided that the whole country should be calved[sic] up and people own land and take it away from public use?

Parliament - between 1604 and 1914

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inclosure_Acts

wild camping OP....do it, enjoy it ! so many kill joys these days, everyone scared to do anything in case it is not PC or against elf and bloody safety.

If you do no har and, leave things as you find them, thre's no problem

You're a long time dead - so enjoy yourself!

who decided the country should be calved up?

I assume you mean carved, and it's still someone's property whether it's an inch of grass or 20 acres of farm land. You may think you're on some wild and free hippy trail, but who knows what harm can come by trespassing. As others say, you could be at risk of cows/a bull, would love to see you try and reason your right to be a happy camper with them .

As another has asked, what makes you a special snowflake to be able to 'pop a tent' up wherever you please, over asking permission or (God forbid) paying to use facilities? Imagine if everyone who went camping had your attitude....

YABU.

Why not just ask the owner/farmer? For a start they may know something about the field that you don't which would make just pitching up a little uncomfortable or dangerous.

Not sure your argument of 'well who decided anyway' really cuts it to be honest.

Not sure where you are, but camping pitch sites near us are about £7 per night and include toilets, electricity and running water.

Sorry, posted too soon. I mean, she isn't talking about wild camping in the way it's generally understood by hikers and campers - camping above the intake walls, well away from farmland, and out of sight of civilisation. She just wants to sneak into some field after dark, which is not really the same thing.

Proper wild camping is amazing, as others have said - up on the fells in the Lakes, for instance.

I don't see any problem with this OP so long as you don't interfere with farming, at least not morally! I wonder if woods would be a better option than fields? I've wild camped a few times in Scotland, where it is legal.

Pooing - take a plastic trowel, lift off a 8 inch diameter bit of turf/moss whatever, do your crap and replace. Take toilet paper back with you (in a plastic bag!). This was the advice last time I wild camped. Sadly some people don't bother, which is revolting.

Off at a tangent here, but how would public ownership of land work? Who would decide what to do with the land - what if everyone wanted to camp or build there own house or drive 4x4 wherever they wanted, where would our food come from and who would provide it?

Or would it be smaller scale where more people could have a kind of 'allotment' of land somewhere? But then how would you feel if someone decided to camp on your land?

If the owner of the land gives you permission, why not?

However, to camp on someone else's land without permission would be very unreasonable indeed.

I know Egosumquisum, I don't often post in AIBU and now I remember why...Special snowflake for wanting to wild camp

Oh and yeah...you are going in a car. Where will the car be each night. In your random field that bothers no-one?

LOL @ 'where would you park'

I would ask permission at a farmhouse or camp in some woods. I do think its silly not to be allowed to wild camp everywhere, where I live its enshrined in law the right to go, camp, and forage everywhere.

I got shouted at a farmer once for standing in his field - I was heavily pregnant and needed some fresh air after a long journey across Yorkshire.

asking permission first is totally different thanote rocking up on someone's farm and putting up a tent.

Entitled much?