Would you walk across someone else's fields?

[hotpatooties1]

Just that really. I've been surprised since moving to a farm just how many people are willing to walk across other peoples land and allow their dogs to run all over it too. Some of the fields have just been sewn and are sprayed with fertiliser regularly..they don't seem to care.

I wouldn't do it, was brought up on and around farms and was told not to walk over other peoples land. I understand the right to roam and that lawfully, they are doing nothing wrong. It just doesn't seem right.

This morning I drove past one of our fields that is gated. A woman had gone into it with her dog, let it off lead and had a kid on a bike in it..AIBU? Would you do that?

Summary of the rules in Scotland: www.apidura.com/journal/freedom-to-roam-in-scotland-everything-you-need-to-know/

Clearly England has a much more restrictive set of rules. I think that’s a shame. Scotland has made deliberate attempts to democratise land use over the last couple of decades, since so much of the land is owned by such a tiny group of people. I personally think that’s a very positive thing, but I see I’m in the minority!

Yanbu. But some people aren’t brought up knowing this. DH thought that when it snowed it’d be a good idea to go sledging on a nearby farmer’s field and was taken aback when I said of course we can’t do that - he had no idea.

You're not being unreasonable, nor do you have to justify yourself.

Right to roam doesn't apply to private property in England (though I believe it does in Scotland?)

I'll never forget hearing about a lady who found picnicers in her field who soon scarpered when she brought over her bull 😂

I would obviously not enjoy people using my garden, but gardens are excluded from right to roam and are also quite clearly different from a field in the countryside.

You say yourself fields growing crops are excluded - how can you tell the difference just by sight? Grass is also a crop - if keeps the animals fed.

No I wouldn't, I'd only walk if there was a marked footpath.

@upsydaisyssinging

I would and have done if it's a right of way. I shut gates etc... We have right to roam in the UK and I think that's important.

I don't think we do, that's only in Scotland afaik. Do you have a link?

Personally I'm keen on supporting farmers to be able to farm @OolieMacdoolie

If there was just a grass field and no signs then I would assume it was council property, just a normal grassy patch of land. If there's crops or signs then we stick to footpaths.

You should put signs up saying private property and that pesticide is regularly sprayed there.

What makes people think we have the right to roam on farms? Generally, we don't.

As long as no animals in it or working going on. I wouldn't let my dog off the lead and it would be to get somewhere else not to use as recreation.
Here in Scotland there's a right to roam

@OolieMacdoolie

Yes, I would. I wouldn’t walk over crops and wouldn’t let a dog off the lead, but I would otherwise use the space.

We have the right to roam, and sometimes it’s not practical to avoid a particular field. I’m respectful of the space though - leave gates as I find them, avoid crops, steer clear of animals etc. I don’t feel bad about it tbh.

Not practical to avoid a field? Yes it is. You don’t walk across it. Just like you don’t walk across your neighbours garden.

@sunflowersandbuttercups

I would obviously not enjoy people using my garden, but gardens are excluded from right to roam and are also quite clearly different from a field in the countryside.

You say yourself fields growing crops are excluded - how can you tell the difference just by sight? Grass is also a crop - if keeps the animals fed.

It’s usually pretty obvious, especially if you’ve grown up in the country as I have. There are clues - straight lines of plants, tractor lines, plough grooves, regular attendance by tractors doing spraying etc, identification of crops by sight. If you grow up rurally it’s hard to imagine how someone couldn’t look at a field and immediately identify that it had crops growing.

Grass isn’t a cultivated crop in the same way that something like wheat is. It isn’t destroyed by people walking across it. You don’t damage a grazing field by walking across it (and you certainly won’t do any damage at all the registers compared to the herd of hooved animals walking around in it...)

It’s mostly just common sense. For example, around my house are several huge fields used for the cultivation of crops. Usually it’s wheat, and I don’t walk on them when the crop is growing. But once it’s been harvested and is stubble for two or three weeks in the late summer, I happily walk my dog or ride my horse around the edge of it.

There is also lots of land used for sheep and cattle grazing, and I’ll walk around the edges of these fields if necessary to get to the nearby hills as long as the sheep and cows don’t have lambs or calves.

There are also a few fields where the farmer has left a wide strip of grass around the edge for his sons to play on their quad bikes. I’ll happily walk on those edges when the quad bikes aren’t around.

@Clymene

Personally I'm keen on supporting farmers to be able to farm *@OolieMacdoolie*

In what way does me walking round a field prevent this? Genuinely?

If grass is high enough to be above your ankle, it is being grown as a crop, so you should not go into the field. Scottish right to roam is meant to be with mutual respect ie, you do nothing to interfere with someone's lawful use of their land, not a case of go where you like and do what you like. I wish more tourists understood this subtle difference.

@Angrypregnantlady

If there was just a grass field and no signs then I would assume it was council property, just a normal grassy patch of land. If there's crops or signs then we stick to footpaths.

You should put signs up saying private property and that pesticide is regularly sprayed there.

Council property in the countryside?

That's not a thing is it? All rural files belong to a private landowner ime

I do think a lot of the hostility to my posts is coming from English people who are used to different laws. I totally understand why you would want to avoid walking in fields where you don’t have that right and it’s not the custom. I’m just saying that it’s different in Scotland where we do have that right, but also that it’s a really good thing. There is something really wonderful about a nation recognising that the land ought to be a commonwealth that benefits us all, and taking steps to facilitate that. I think it’s especially true in a nation like Scotland where land acquisition was historically such a deeply unfair and immoral process.

No I wouldn't walk on someone else's land, not unless following a signposted public footpath, even in that scenario id expect to put dog on a lead and any children with me would also be asked to follow the path too so we do not stray away from the path we are supposed to follow. Out of respect - I'd be rather annoyed if someone decided to wander through my own garden.

A field, council property? Oh come on! 😁😁

I was born a townie but now live rurally, and I have always known not to wander willy nilly over fields.

@Angrypregnantlady

If there was just a grass field and no signs then I would assume it was council property, just a normal grassy patch of land. If there's crops or signs then we stick to footpaths.

You should put signs up saying private property and that pesticide is regularly sprayed there.

Why would you think a field was owned by the council? Most fields are owned by farmers and even council-owned farms are farmed by tenants anyway so you would still be trespassing.

[quote RandomMess]@sipsmith1 no crop at all, just grass hill. Only walk to the side if it's impassable as the hedge has grown or your walking boots about to get pulled off in the bog.

TBF if I thought it was going to be that wet/impassable I wouldn't go on that walk anyway.

Fields getting built on next year [/quote]
Grass is a crop.

There was a farmers thread on here a few months back about walkers ruining his field by walking next to the path to avoid mud. It was a huge amount of damage, not by one person, but cumulatively, as the paths keep getting wider and wider.

Again for the hard of thinking - grass IS a crop, and an important and valuable one.

I would only walk across a field if there was a footpath, and would stick to the footpath. If I had a dog I would keep it on a lead.

I didn't grow up in a rural area so may be unaware of some countryside code but obviously I wouldn't walk anywhere outside of a public footpath in a field. Nor would I allow my child or dog to do so. It's pretty bloody obvious surely. I also wouldn't let me dog off its lead if it might chase sheep which is something people seem to also think is acceptable. Nor would I leave rubbish lying around 'because I couldn't see a bin'.

My garden only has grass in it and I'd still be pretty annoyed if people allowed their dogs and children to trample across it!

There is something really wonderful about a nation recognising that the land ought to be a commonwealth that benefits us all, and taking steps to facilitate that. I think it’s especially true in a nation like Scotland where land acquisition was historically such a deeply unfair and immoral process.

The field didn't go anywhere, it's a corner fenced field with a gate.. there are lots of parks a short drive away that they could take said child and dog to. I wonder if they would still like to treat the field as a commonwealth that benefits them when I move our highland bull in..

I feel it’s also worth pointing out that Scotland’s right to roam laws have been in place for 15 years now and it hasn’t led to the collapse of the Scottish agricultural industry yet.