To just ask you all to either wear some proper wellies and walk on the footpath, or stick to the sodding pavements

[flamingflamingos]

This is my field. It's winter wheat - it's been ploughed and pressed and drilled and rolled and just as it's starting to grow into what will be harvested for flour to produce bread, the general public have trampled it into the ground.

I understand the need to get outside, absolutely I support this country's network of footpaths - we have 6km of footpaths on this farm which are maintained so that everyone can enjoy the countryside.

But this is taking the piss. If you don't want to walk in the mud, don't walk in the countryside in January. Please, stop this. We are all accountable for how we behave.

@NailsNeedDoing

A piece of wire attached to some wood posts to mark a footpath around a farm with crops growing is hardly the same as putting a high wooden fence around a mountain or all along the coast. But if it were required for some reason, then I’d expect the council or owner to sort it rather than thinking they had the right to stop people using the land.

From what I am seeing, any type of fence is futile. Around us, people are jumping fences and squeezing through hedges in order to access farmers' crop fields!

@lifeturnsonadime

Clymene It's a criminal offence to block a public right of way.

They have the right to be angry but not to break the law.

A local established right of way has been blocked by an angry farmer, I've been walking on it for the last 30 years.

I am entirely aware of that. But when your income is being destroyed by thoughtless twats, I'd imagine that weighing up the costs and headaches of one vs the other, blocking them probably seems economically advantageous right now.

And it's not the people who have been walking the paths for years who are the issue as this thread amply demonstrates

My friend had a group of people and 2 dogs turn up in her field (no footpath through or near it) and want to go through her back garden to the road (sat nav said nearest point to road apparently). When she said no they had to go back the way they came, they had the nerve to complain they couldn't because they'd have to go over a stream and through a barbed wire fence! Her retort was perhaps that should have told them they weren't meant to come that way at all.

Yes! I don't walk in farmland very often but I have noticed in my local woodland, where I run regularly, that the "footpaths" are getting wider and wider, with damage to the wild plants etc, where peope try in tiptoe round the mud. I love to run straight through the middle

TBF though we are in a situation where 1000s of people are outdoors who never normally are. That's probably a good thing, but they do need some education.

[quote DdraigGoch]@backinthebox you forgot about the sign needed to tell people not to knock down the other signs.[/quote]
You are right! I forgot.

I put signs up on our byway asking people to keep their dogs on a lead past our property where chickens usually free range as a result of a serious of dog attacks, and it lasted about 2 days before being pulled down. The sign I put up asking people to drive slowly due to children and livestock lasted a bit longer, maybe a couple of weeks before it disappeared. We are plagued with people coming out on a weekend, especially after rain, to 'mudplug' down our green lane. They leave it in a state, and the council have now banned all motor vehicles between the months of October and April. A lane that was previously open to all, now closed off for part of the year because a minority don't know how to respect the countryside.

Could you install some solar powered cameras to monitor the paths? With big signs telling people that they are being watched?

Reading all this, I'm beginning to think that the laws regarding public rights of way should be revisited, since so many people seem to take their "rights" way beyond what they actually are and move into "entitled wanker" mode!

@ThumbWitchesAbroad

Reading all this, I'm beginning to think that the laws regarding public rights of way should be revisited, since so many people seem to take their "rights" way beyond what they actually are and move into "entitled wanker" mode!

No, rights of way are sacred and any erosion of that would be a slippery slope, but with all the renewed interest in and use of the Great Outdoors in the last 12 months, there really should have been some sort of public education campaign about how to use it responsibly and considerately. I bet the vast majority don't realise the damage they've done.

@ThumbWitchesAbroad

Reading all this, I'm beginning to think that the laws regarding public rights of way should be revisited, since so many people seem to take their "rights" way beyond what they actually are and move into "entitled wanker" mode!

I would disagree. I have a great deal of interest in keeping public rights of way open, and also a great deal of interest in educating people out of the "entitled wanker" mode. The more people who are able to use the countryside in a respectful and knowledgable way, the more it will be looked after and kept open for everyone. The issue lies in getting the message out there. I think the term 'right of way' means that people think they have a Right with a capital R to behave as if the land is publicly owned and expecting a minimum level of maintenance in the same way they would expect a pavement to be maintained. That is not the case, the 'right' means they are merely allowed to pass along a path or track, not anywhere else on private land.

I had a very frustrating trip over last summer where various rights of way were blocked by fallen trees. We were not able to get our horses over, under or around them so we had to go back the way we came. I accepted this as we were riding through a forest and trees happen in a forest! We did not trash other bits of surrounding land to proceed along our way.

There are lots of places where the Countryside Code can be found, the problem is that many people want to use the countryside without bothering to look for any information. The government, the NFU, the Ramblers' Association, the British Horse Society and various other bodies do publicise it, along with other groups from mountain bikers to off road drivers. It's easy to find if you look.
Countryside Code here and here.

@MoonMelodies if you can't tell that you couldn't get a pram or a wheelchair along that path, I'm sorry for you. Most people don't expect footpaths on farmland to be suitable for wheelchairs. As someone else said, the farmers' priority is growing your food, not accommodating your leisure needs.

And why should muddy footpaths be closed to walkers just because they're not accessible to people who can't walk? Do you think farmers should tarmac all the footpaths that go through their fields or something?

I'm all for not discriminating against people with disabilities, but seriously. It's a farm, not a park.

I live rurally and walk in the countryside every day. I have never once walked over a field. Yabu to assume everyone is doing it and yanba to ask those who do it to stop.

I live rurally and walk in the countryside every day. I have never once walked over a field. Yabu to assume everyone is doing it and yanba to ask those who do it to stop

Dear Goddess, please let this be the most asinine thing I read on teh intarwebs all day today. In Devotion, Spart.

Although I do see now that's a yanbu (the a at the end confused me) so maybe not. But I don't see where it has been assumed that everyone is doing it.

We had something similar. We have had to fence (at no small expense) and electric fence to keep people to where they are supposed to be. I used to think that it was a small minority of the public who are ignorant, selfish idiots. Lockdown has taught me that this is probably incorrect- seems a very large minority (at best, possibly towards 50%) are incapable of behaving with a modicum of sense and respect.

While I’m at it, I’d also make a plea to keep out of the lambing sheds and fields with lambs come spring. They aren’t play pens filled with cuddly toys. Keep out of the stables and horses fields. Even if there is a cute foal. Do not feed the horses or livestock. Do not wander into the yard or machinery shed. And most of all, for gods sake do not put your child in a lambing pen or on the machinery. Please keep out of my garden- the picnic table is not for use by any random walker who fancies a rest or a nice place to have your lunch. It is very clearly IN MY GARDEN.

Sorry for the rant. I’ve historically been supportive of right of access, but the last few years have been so bad that I am not sure I still feel the same.

It doesn't seem to matter how much is made available to some people they will still want more. Local to us crops have been trampled, wildlife like deer are having to feed nocturnally as idiots are letting dogs off the leash for a 'good run' in the fields/woods and they are hassling the wildlife and farm animals. People tend to be thoughtless & selfish with little respect for other people's property or livelihood - maybe posts like yours will at least make people stop for a minute and consider their own behaviour and ways they can improve it!

I note people suggesting you put more fencing up, but you have stated there are 6km of maintained footpaths on the farm which should be plenty for those wanting a countryside walk. You should not have to spend the time & money fencing off other areas to prevent selfish twats stomping over crops or other areas that are not public rights of way. I would also hazard a guess that, like many farms, wildlife of all sorts visit so fences may cut of their access routes.

I don't think you are being unreasonable to suggest people wear appropriate footwear and that they stick to the footpaths provided. I do hope the dent in your income from these trampled crops will not be too severe - I'm sure these same people would be quick to moan if there wasn't any flour or bread available because of lost crops!

I wish you well and thank you and other farmers for keeping the country fed + all the additional work to allow public access to scenic footpaths.

Can you put a very long fence up? might help?

@Lovely1a2b3c

Can you put a very long fence up? might help?

Have you actually read the thread? You can just read the OP's posts - they're highlighted in a different colour

Ye gods, some of these pictures...

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-55712672

11 metres wide... and that one looks to be growing still.

The trouble with signs (on top of the fact that fuckers don’t read them) and fences and surfacing the path is that, if we wanted to walk on level hardstanding, fenced into a 2 m pathway full of instructional notices... we might as well drive to the town for a walk.

The whole point is to get away from pavements and signposts. Isn’t it?

why on earth should farmers go to the trouble and expense of putting up fences or electric fences and signs or cameras just because some people cant stick to the bloody footpath!

I suspect (from reading some of the replies in this thread) that people don't really understand the difference between a public footpath (council/la maintained) and a public right of way.

The people who are straying into the fields are breaking the law just as much as landowners who block rights of way because they're fed up

Weve been walking for years in the country, always wear suitable clothing and adhere to the high way code, never leave gates open etc
Also avoiding walking through farmers yards etc at the moment even if it means following a different path and will walk round a field and not through it if there's crops there etc

So yanbu op but don't assume everyone is doing this because we aren't. We have noticed (and I don't blame them at times) so much hostility towards walkers and the genuine ones get lumped in with the idiots.

We went for a walk last Sunday, chose a path after starting from home, studied the map and went, the path according the map went across a grazed field..no crops..empty field and no mud..clear path across it..and still the farmer shouted abuse and told us to fuck off. We asked if that was the path..he said yes but he was sick of us fucking walkers. We didn't argue just turned back and went another way.

Its horrible for farmers and for those who are thoughtful walkers too. Arseholes everywhere

We've a public footpath across our land and fenced it in with stock agricultural fencing on both sides to prevent trespassing. We have signs and have also spent a not inconsiderable amount resurfacing the path with scalpings and self binding gravel to create a 'natural looking', but relatively stable footpath.

Even so, I got trolled on the local Facebook page for putting the fencing up. Even now, people complaining about the puddles on the footpath.

It's pathetic. I think I'm fair and have been supportive of access - but there's a minority who view 'access' as entitlement to be an ignorant arsehole and leave dog poo in bags hanging off the fence and litter on the footpath.