Lovers of the Devonian outdoors beware: a lawyer says that picnicking and camping in Dartmoor National Park counts as trespassing. That’s right, setting up camp and/or enjoying a sandwich and a packet of crisps with a view shouldn’t be allowed – at least if landowner Alexander Darwall has his way.
Let’s go back a bit. Who is this man? And why does he want you to stop having picnics on his land? Your confusion is understandable, and we’re here to help explain what’s going on.
To make a very long, mostly boring story short, Alexander Darwall owns around 4,000 hectares of land in Dartmoor, and last year he and his estate lost a court case which concluded that he did not have the right to remove wild-campers from some privately owned land. This was because judges determined last year that the Dartmoor Commons Act of 1985 ensured the public’s right to ‘recreational’ activities on the land, but Darwall’s team has now decided to escalate the case, disagreeing with the wording of the act and taking the case to the Supreme Court. That hearing happened on Tuesday (October 8), although a final decision won’t be made until a later date.
Darwall’s lawyers are arguing that the law, which states the public has a right to ‘access to the commons on foot and on horseback for the purpose of open-air recreation’ does not actually include anything other than walking or riding through the land. By that definition, things like wild camping or picnicking would count as trespassing.
A lot of people, however, have taken issue with this. The Open Spaces Society, which works to ‘protect open spaces’, said: ‘If camping is excluded from [this] right, so too would other open-air recreational activities regularly undertaken by those accessing the commons on foot or on horseback…
‘While framed as a case about wild camping, the appeal is necessarily about more than that, and has potentially much wider implications for public enjoyment of the Dartmoor commons and other wild spaces.’
Around 450 protesters turned up to Dartmoor earlier this week in support of their right to wild camp in the area.
In short, Darwall’s lawyers are hoping that the Supreme Court will agree with their interpretation of the 1985 act – that it only refers to those walking, running, or on horseback – but locals and generally outdoorsy-types have their fingers crossed that he will once again lose this appeal. There’s no set date for when we’ll find out once and for all, but until then you can still wild-camp, picnic, or birdwatch to your heart’s content on some of Darwall’s land. Make the most of it while you still can.
Get outdoors without the drama
Whether or not it is legal to picnic or camp on Dartmoor, there are plenty of other places you can go to without the threat of legal trouble and enjoy the Great British outdoors. Try out one of our favourite campsites, wild swim in one of these gorgeous locations, or head on one of these breathtaking hikes.
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