Two rights of way, and a working farm.
Two public footpaths cross this land. They are on the definitive map, they are your right rather than our permission, and they are not the same thing as this walk or as the farm around them.
What a public right of way actually is.
A public footpath is a highway. It is recorded on the definitive map held by the county council, and the public right to pass and repass along it does not depend on the landowner agreeing with it, liking it, or being in a good mood that morning.
The landowner’s duties are real and specific: keep the line clear, do not obstruct it, reinstate it within fourteen days of ploughing across it, and do not put anything on it that would deter a reasonable person. The public’s duties are equally real: stay on the line, keep dogs under proper control, and shut the gates.
None of that is generosity in either direction. It is a settled part of English law and it works considerably better than the arguments about it suggest.
- The line is a highway, recorded on the definitive map
- The right is to pass and repass along it, not to wander from it
- Reinstatement after ploughing is a duty with a deadline
- Dogs under proper control, especially between March and May
A footpath, this walk, and the farm.
| A public footpath | Wandering | The rest of the farm | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Can you go there? | Yes, as of right | Yes, from anywhere | No, it is a working site |
| Whose permission | Nobody’s. It is a right | Nobody’s | Ours, and rarely given |
| Machinery about | Sometimes, adjacent | Never | Frequently, and large |
| Dogs | Under close control | Bring one, nothing will happen | No |
| Open at 3 a.m. | |||
| Covered by a camera | No, deliberately | It is the camera | Ten of them |
| Costs anything | Not applicable |
No camera on this estate covers either footpath
Every angle was checked against the definitive map before the bracket went on. People walking a public right of way have not consented to appearing on a website, and getting that wrong once would be worse than not having the cameras at all.
If you walk the real ones.
Stay on the line
Which is sometimes not where the worn path is, particularly after a field has been drilled across it and reinstated.
Dogs on a lead near stock
Between March and May there are ewes and lambs in these fields, and a dog that means no harm can still cost a farm a great deal.
Shut every gate you open
Or leave it exactly as you found it, which is the better rule and covers both cases.
Do not take the tempting shortcut
The gap in the hedge that obviously goes somewhere is not a right of way. Leaving the line is trespass, and it is set out plainly in Trespassing.
Tell somebody if it is blocked
The county council enforces this, and the farm would rather know first. Both routes work and neither is an argument.
The rights and the duties, side by side.
The farm must
- Keep the line clear
- Always
- Reinstate after ploughing
- Within 14 daysAnd within 24 hours for a first-time disturbance in some cases.
- Not obstruct or deter
- Including with signage, wire or a bull in the wrong field
- Maintain stiles and gates
- To a usable standard
The walker must
- Stay on the line
- Leaving it is trespass, however tempting the gap.
- Control a dog
- Close control, and a lead near livestock.
- Leave gates as found
- Which is a better rule than always shutting them.
- Take the litter
- Which should not need writing down, and does.
This is a plain-English summary of how rights of way work in England. It is not legal advice and it has not been reviewed by a solicitor.
In short.
Two footpaths
Both on the definitive map, both yours as of right.
Not on camera
Neither is in any frame, and that was checked first.
Dogs
Close control, and a lead near ewes in spring.
The rest of the farm
A working site, and not a right of way.
Where the line is, legally.
Trespassing sets out what leaving the footpath actually means, in plain words rather than in threatening ones.
