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.

We've had the same situation. One of our fields has now got a massive path going directly through the middle as the gates are directly opposite each other in 2 corners. Stupid people park outside our house, even on our driveway and let themselves walk through our garden and fields to get to the small private lake we have on our land. We installed proper footpaths around our land, there are even cobbled and concrete paths around but these eejits choose to churn up 50% of our field. We had a sheep stuck in the mud the other day after it rained. We have signs up, we've chained gates closed, we have fences up and all sorts but they don't give a toss, just kick their shoes off and put them in plastic bags before they drive off in their spotless range rovers.

I cross posted with your annotated picture, but I hope it helps you see that the actual footpath is ambiguous and the small tree line makes it look much wider than it should be.

And they'll likely have driven for their 'exercise'. We have the same here. Why can't people just walk where they live?

@Moonmelodies

If the footpath is not fit for purpose, it should be shut. Imagine trying to traverse that with a pram or wheelchair.

Public rights of way in the country side don’t have to be suitable for prams or wheelchairs. If they had to be, half the countryside would be tarmaced.

Ps OP I think your photo looks like there isnt really a clear footpath at all, so actually there's really just a right of way. I believe (?)in England (although not scotland)you possibly do have some obligation to keep rights of way open and useable? Eg ensuring they are safe to use. However I think the surface of a public right of way is responsibility of highways authority. Can you appeal to them to improve drainage/surface? Is it an option to put gravel along it?

@Hmmph it's not a great photo to demonstrate how obvious the path is when you look at it in context with the gate posts at either side of the field. The "trees" are just a couple of tall weeds, there is no tree line there, although I appreciate that photo is deceiving

@AiryFairyMum

And they'll likely have driven for their 'exercise'. We have the same here. Why can't people just walk where they live?

We do walk where we live and don't have to go very far to find PRoW that have been ploughed over

@flamingflamingos

It isn't an isolated incident either, attached is a photo of a friend's farm near Liverpool.

This has never happened before lockdown. If we all start enjoying the countryside more off of the back of this pandemic, education on the countryside is SO important to prevent this mindless damage.

That’s awful! Don’t worry though, I honestly think that once the shopping centres and leisure centres reopen 99% of these people will never return. I think you either need the countryside to feed your soul or you don’t.

@Moonmelodies I think you are confusing footpath with pavement.
This is a field footpath. It doesn't need to be accessible for any type of wheeled vehicle. I'm not sure about pushchairs but the use of bicycles on public footpaths is actually illegal. I imagine taking my pram on this particular path would poach it very quickly and make it impassible to pedestrians.

@flamingflamingos

It isn't an isolated incident either, attached is a photo of a friend's farm near Liverpool.

This has never happened before lockdown. If we all start enjoying the countryside more off of the back of this pandemic, education on the countryside is SO important to prevent this mindless damage.

OMG. Look at them. Not a clue.

@NoIDontWatchLoveIsland

Ps OP I think your photo looks like there isnt really a clear footpath at all, so actually there's really just a right of way. I believe (?)in England (although not scotland)you possibly do have some obligation to keep rights of way open and useable? Eg ensuring they are safe to use. However I think the surface of a public right of way is responsibility of highways authority. Can you appeal to them to improve drainage/surface? Is it an option to put gravel along it?

No. It's a footpath along the edge of a field.

Stick to Asda

[quote flamingflamingos]@Hmmph it's not a great photo to demonstrate how obvious the path is when you look at it in context with the gate posts at either side of the field. The "trees" are just a couple of tall weeds, there is no tree line there, although I appreciate that photo is deceiving [/quote]
Ah ok. They look like a little row of winter trees to me!

I look forward to this pandemic being over and things being reopened so this isn’t a problem anymore.

BTW. Thank you for growing our food. Farmers are very essential “key workers” and don’t get the Thanks they deserve.

@Redrivershore if the PROW has been ploughed it needs to be reinstated within 14 days. If it hasn't been, please report it to your local footpath officer at the council. In times such as these we landowners have a duty to ensure that all rights of way remain accessible to people.

@Redrivershore just to add to that, the requirement is to mark it. With a ploughed field I would run my landrover the length of the field to demark the right of way. It may be that the land is so wet, they haven't been able to do that, in which case they need to walk it and put markers for walkers to follow.

soup I can't see any poster who's said obstruct the way? You have quoted me where I've said "sorry you do realise the farmer is more bothered about their income from the crop rather than ease of access for walkers? You don't have to walk there, they have to plant their crop!"
That's not suggesting obstruction!

Yes it is. A poster said that a landowner planted over a footpath that ran across a field. You said they have the right to plant over the footpath. They don't. How is planting a crop over a footpath not obstructing it?

(This does not apply to the OP who has not done anything wrong and has said that they spray the crop along the footpath)

I am massively anti private land ownership.

Me too, but I don't use it as an excuse to damage others' things and essentially whip £700 out of their pocket. The system needs change, but individuals shouldnt be punished without trial. Farmers tend to be asset rich and cash poor - if they didnt care about the land they would cash it in and do something else, so that £700 down the drain could be the cash literally putting food in kids' mouths

@midgebabe

As ever instructions that people should learn and take more care fail to recognise that people can't learn what they don't know they don't know .

Exactly! 😆

@NoIDontWatchLoveIsland

Ps OP I think your photo looks like there isnt really a clear footpath at all, so actually there's really just a right of way. I believe (?)in England (although not scotland)you possibly do have some obligation to keep rights of way open and useable? Eg ensuring they are safe to use. However I think the surface of a public right of way is responsibility of highways authority. Can you appeal to them to improve drainage/surface? Is it an option to put gravel along it?

From the photo, I would have said that there is no clear path because people haven’t stuck to it and it’s now a big mess of mud.

It happens a lot where I am and not just in fields. In some places, they’ve ended up actually PAVING the path and putting signs up asking people to stick to it because people prefer to walk in grass rather than mud. With the issue that it is also destroying the landscape (one of the places Im thinking is a national park too).

I don’t think you can have a go at a farmer because the path isn’t clear anymore because people can’t stick to a path. Nor can you expect them them to pave it etc... in case it rains and it’s getting muddy.

I came across a field planted with head high maize (I think!) in the summer. That sure as hell was an obstruction! I turned back as it was a linear walk for me and I didn't want to have to try and find the path back.

Thanks flamingflamingos. It sounds like you do the right thing, some footpaths have absolutely no sign that they ever existed, DH, a very keen long distance walker always takes his maps with him to make sure he keeps to the PRoW

@TonMoulin you are correct - a few weeks ago this was a very green crop of wheat next to a very well trodden brown footpath. It probably is ambiguous now as it's just a big quagmire of brown.

We will be fencing it today with electric fencing just to mark the path. I'm already dreading the backlash on the local Facebook page though.

I would suggest fairly detailed signs. Not everyone will bother to read - or care - but even if half of the people using the path make an effort, that reduces the damage. There's a farm near us with a couple of 'problem' fields, when it comes to people straying off the path. The farmer is notoriously bad-tempered, but has started putting up very polite explanatory signs, describing the correct route (easy to do in this case, as the paths follow a stream), stating what livestock will usually be in the fields and explaining the risk to them from loose dogs etc, and that while a particular route looks as though it should be accessible, it is private land and does not lead anywhere, and thanking people for their consideration in keeping to the path. It also mentions that various stretches are muddy, and suggests an alternate route for those without suitable footwear.

I am sure it stuck in his throat to do it, but it does look as though people are sticking to the path - there's no sign of footfall on the grass. It might be worth trying something similar, irritating though it may be.

OP I would imagine this is happening because people are trying to keep 2m apart when they are passing each other? rather than just trying to avoid the mud?

I know they don’t actually have a right to go off the footpath, even to keep 2m distant, but I could understand a bit more if this is why they are doing it.

perhaps I’m being too charitable though and they just want to walk on a nice green bit

This is a slighly different issue but i live near lots of woodland trust, national trust etc land and they are wildlife havens. The massive increase in walkers making the paths wider and wider rather than walk through mud is causing an issue.

I feel very sorry for farmers that people arent respecting the paths.

OP I can see it is very frustrating, time consuming and expensive. However people simply do not have any idea of how to behave in the countryside. The majority of the problem is lack of education. Farmers round here laminate signs and have them everywhere telling people all sorts of basics. Really in defence of people who are ignorant, they just don’t know about a different environment.