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?

No, generally I wouldn’t.

Once or twice I have got lost running and cut across to get back. I’d never bring a dog off lead! That’s terrible!

One wanker walked through a field bashing the crops down with a stick yelling that the middle of the field was a public footpath and the crops were in the way

But if there actually is a public right of way through the middle of the field, then the landowner is supposed to ensure that the right of way is not obscured by planted crops.

I've walked through the middles of countless crop fields where there is a right of way - and in almost all of them, the farmer has made a clear and obvious space through the field, indicating the route of the RoW.

If people walk around the edge of the field when the RoW is through the middle, then technically they are trespassing, as they only have a right to walk through the middle, not around the edge.

If you tried that in my fields, I would set my working dog on you. Or my unpredictable longhorn bull.

So much weird fake bravado from landowners here. ‘Setting a dog’ on someone is a criminal offence (unlike walking through someone else’s field) so let’s not pretend this is something you would actually do when the reality is you would probably stew crossly about it and then write a post on mumsnet instead.

No. There's a farm on my lane I'd love to take walks over, there's what looks like a path there with beautiful views. The signs say 'private property'. I respect that.

Also, since lockdown the walkers on my narrow lane appear to think they have automatic right of way. They walk three abreast, right across the middle of it, where in places there is barely room for two vehicles to pass. The speed limit on this road is 60 mph and it's on a steep hill so not always possible to see walkers ahead. They have no idea how vulnerable they are making themselves.

I'm betting some of those walk uninvited over the farmland.

Thankfully I live in a part of the U.K. with some of the most Draconian laws with regards to rights of way. No one dares walk across someone else’s land.
Follow her home the next time and let your dog loose in her garden? Take your children and their bicycles and scooters too. I would be livid if anyone thought they could take their dog onto our land. People really are entitled dicks!

Sometimes public walk signposting is not very clear

@Macncheeseballs

Sometimes public walk signposting is not very clear

I do think this is a big part of the issue. Also, lots of public footpaths are signposted but totally blocked by brambles and undergrowth. I went out with my dog yesterday - lots of well-signposted farm tracks until suddenly...they stopped.

There was a signpost through a field that was just a lumpy, boggy mess. No path to follow, no way you could just walk around the edges as they were covered in brambles, and no clear exit on the other side. We got about halfway across and I was forced to give up and turn back.

We tried another one. This one was well-signposted but there were two gates at the end of the field - and no signpost. So it wasn't at all obvious which one to take and I didn't want to piss off a farmer by going through the "wrong" field. So again, we turned back.

Clear signing and clear paths would make it all a LOT easier.

Absolutely, there is no way I want to be walking across a hostile land owners field if I don't have too

Sunflowers- the majority of farmers have better things to do that make signposts for furloughed walkers.

I’d be very cross and tempted to put a bull in there. We have had huge issues with ‘randomers’’ coming onto the yard since covid started, wanting to feed/stroke the horses. Just no! You want to stroke a horse, go buy your own! I’ve just spent a grand on my sick horse, I don’t want someone feeding him and making him sick again!

I asked someone to leave yesterday who had wandered in past multiple private/do not touch the horses signs and was going up to all the horses. We have strangles currently so nobody bar the owner should be touching the horses. Drives me nuts. Horses die from strangles.

PS: not a rich Tory but a broke school teacher.

@ConsuelaHammock

Sunflowers- the majority of farmers have better things to do that make signposts for furloughed walkers.

What has furlough got to do with anything? I've never been furloughed once, btw.

But anyway, your odd assumptions aside, farmers have a duty to keep them clear (in England, anyway, Scotland is different):

www.fwi.co.uk/business/compliance/farming-near-footpaths-the-law-for-arable-farmers

Farmers or landowners are required to keep rights of way open and useable; this includes providing and maintaining stiles and gates and making sure they are safe and easy to use.

Cut vegetation that could obstruct the route (at least 3m is required for bridleways and 1.5m for footpaths unless they are crossing a field – see below).

Paths that run on the field edge must not be cultivated and cross-field paths must be reinstated correctly after field operations

Landowners must meet all their legal obligations regarding maintenance of public rights of way to claim Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) payments under cross-compliance.

So, it really doesn't matter that they have "better things to do". It's the law.

@sunflowersandbuttercups but it isn't up to me to make things easier for you! If you are coming to the countryside to enjoy it then do your research and find out where you can and can't go first.

I don't know how it could be more clear that the fields have been sewn or the grass fields are off limits unless I was to actually stand at the side of them telling people. There are gates and fences, tractor lines, often a big fuck off sprayer about 20 metres wide going up and down the field..

[quote hotpatooties1]@sunflowersandbuttercups but it isn't up to me to make things easier for you! If you are coming to the countryside to enjoy it then do your research and find out where you can and can't go first.

I don't know how it could be more clear that the fields have been sewn or the grass fields are off limits unless I was to actually stand at the side of them telling people. There are gates and fences, tractor lines, often a big fuck off sprayer about 20 metres wide going up and down the field..[/quote]
I'm referring to fields with rights of way through them, not ones that are off-limits.

The law says that landowners have an obligation to keep public pathways clear and useable, though. So, if you have those running through your land, it kind of is up to you.

I mean, I found out where I could go, but the routes were impassable, and that shouldn't be happening in the first place.

@PangolinPenguin

I do it sometimes. I wouldn’t go in a field if there were animals or crops other than grass or if I had to climb over a gate to get in. But sometimes I let my dog run away from the path if Theres a path going through the field and sometimes take shortcuts around edges of fields or through tractor tracks. I don’t feel bad about it tbh. I doubt it causes noticeable damage and I don’t leave litter or poo. I can’t exercise my dog around other dogs so need quiet places. I think the comparisons to gardens are ridiculous. Gardens are smaller and right by someone’s house. The field owner isn’t anywhere near 99% of the time so why not enjoy the countryside even if it annoys the rich Tory who happens to own some of the fields.

Well what a delight you are! It's not your property. If there is a footpath then you, and your dog, must stay on it.

If you 'need quiet places' to exercise your dog, you'll have to buy your own.

I've lived out in the sticks all my life and am constantly appalled by dog owners' selfishness. There are fields all around our house and the one at the front has a very clearly signed public footpath between 2 stiles. Without a word of exaggeration, at least 90% of dog owners who go into the field let their dogs off the lead and they immediately run around well off the path. There are currently cows and young calves in there, too..

I'm amazed at people who, without knowing whether a field is private land , or not, think that , just because the field has just grass in it that it's ok to walk through it with their dogs.

Often, fields of grass are to make hay from and dog poo contaminates it. It shouldn't even be trampled on.

We have a fair few rights of way through fields round our way.
For other fields I would use the buffer strip round the edge of I needed to go through an agricultural field but would absolutely avoid livestock fields.

Sunflowers - I wasn’t specifically referring to you as being furloughed but I imagine the number of people walking on actual ROW and those just walking wherever they please has increased hugely during lockdown. It might be the law but that doesn’t mean the farmers will comply. As you have noticed yourself . Who’s going to make them?
I am so thankful that we don’t have an issue with walkers on our land. I’d follow them home and let my dogs shit in their garden!

And our fields with ‘ just grass ‘ are growing silage for the cattle for winter.

No I wouldn't, because I'm not thick or selfish in that way. (Doubtless I am thick and selfish in other ways)

Hotpatootie- could you attach a sign stating that the land has recently been sprayed with weed killer which could be toxic to some animals ( and humans)
Or
That you have a case of TB on the farm and walkers enter at their own risk.

@ConsuelaHammock

Hotpatootie- could you attach a sign stating that the land has recently been sprayed with weed killer which could be toxic to some animals ( and humans) Or That you have a case of TB on the farm and walkers enter at their own risk.

Or just a sign saying this is private land?

I don't understand why people are trespassing on land that doesn't belong to them.

The OP has clearly said she doesn't have any footpaths or rights of way on her land.

I try to use footpaths but they aren't always well marked. Around here you can follow one and then at the end of a field there is no obvious way of knowing where to go next. In those circumstances I will walk around the edge and keep my fingers crossed. I wouldn't walk over a field unless obviously marked as the footpath.

No, I wouldnt. I'd only cross if there was a footpath/right of way or in an emergency.

The problem is though that people aren't educated about these things (like litter, the danger of lakes and the highway code etc..)

You need to secure your perimeters and put up signs.

@Tumbleweed101

I try to use footpaths but they aren't always well marked. Around here you can follow one and then at the end of a field there is no obvious way of knowing where to go next. In those circumstances I will walk around the edge and keep my fingers crossed. I wouldn't walk over a field unless obviously marked as the footpath.

Perhaps it doesn't go anywhere?

Not all rights of way make a circular route, they haven't been put there for the enjoyment of the general public they were to get from A to B when people mostly travelled by foot and if B used to be a cottage that is no longer there, or a field barn, or a milk stand etc then it may well just stop there.

We have quite a few like that on our farm (including one I had a thread on here about a few years ago) and they cause us the most problems because people can't comprehend that not all footpaths/rights of way are there for leisure purposes.