You can also find out more about G.The sound of birdsong and the soothing gurgles of water over boulders woke me up at dawn. The sun has not yet appeared, but the pale yellow light it emits is reflecting off the tussocks that cover the valley. I’m completely alone, just me and the thoughts in my head.
This is the kind of blissful moments in nature which cannot be commodified. They have been threatened since the owner where I pitched my camp launched a court case two years back to curb the right of the public to backpack camping on the land. Dartmoor.
Alexander Darwall is a multimillionaire hedge-fund manager. He and his wife Diana Darwall claim that wild camping hinders their conservation efforts, and puts their cattle at risk, on their 1,619 ha (4,000 acres) of land on the southern edge moor.
This week, the Supreme Court rejected Darwall’s lawyers’ argument that the Act giving public access to the Moor for “open air recreational” activities only applied to walking and riding horses. The three judges determined that recreational activities should be taken to include wild camping.
Dartmoor will remain the only place to be in England Wild camping is allowed without permission from the landowner. I passed the Darwalls’ grand home – Blachford Manor – on the tough three-hour walk up on to the moor. I glimpsed the Darwalls’ glistening deer park and fish pond through a barbed wire fence and thick hawthorn hedge. It was not necessary to ask permission to camp in their moorland.
People in Scotland are free to pitch tents wherever they want, as long as they don’t stray onto enclosed land such a fields of crops. In England, it’s a completely different story. However, many hikers or climbers will still pitch their tents in the remote mountains. They are usually tolerated if they are discrete and responsible. However, it is not their right.
Countryside access activists hope that Dartmoor’s ruling will force Labour to release more land for the public, as it promised during its opposition period with a right of roaming. The judgment may encourage other national parks, which allow backpacking camping in a responsible manner, to do the same. It makes it clear that camping outdoors is open air recreation. The post-war law that established the national parks was intended to provide “opportunities of open air recreation” for people living in bombed out cities.
As the sun slowly creeps down on the valley sides, I get water from the River Erme to heat up in my stove. In no time, I had a warm mug in my hand. It’s a very different experience from camping in a commercial area: there are neither bins nor facilities. You must carry out what you bring in – although you may carefully bury your own waste.
Not for everyone. But for those who enjoy adventure and don’t want to pay for a cramped air-tent or an SUV equipped with a safari style roof tent, in rural Suffolk. Nobody has fortified their group’s patch by building windbreaks in a manner that resembles a land grab. There are no long queues, and there is no smoke from charred meat.
You feel a sense of freedom when you pitch your tent out in the open. Of course, this comes with a certain amount of responsibility. And it’s true that some people don’t follow the rules. I reported on the spate of fly campingDuring the pandemic large groups left piles of trash and tents.
The judges of the supreme courts argued, however, that it is more effective for Dartmoor, which has resisted Darwall’s efforts with a campaigning coalition, to deal directly with irresponsible campsites than leaving it to landowners in civil court to take action.
The transgressions committed by this small minority pale in comparison to the damage done by irresponsible property owners across the UK. We live in a country that is one of the least natural in the world. The climate crisis and intensive farming have led to a decline in wildlife. one in six species now threatened with extinction.
Dartmoor itself is being overgrazedParticularly by sheep. Natural England has issued warnings about the problem and there is now a government plan to address it. The problem involves the destruction of habitats, putting local rare birds in danger of extinction, and also destroying their habitats. Darwall offers holiday rentals, deer hunting, and pheasant shooting on his property. accused of endangering a rare beetle Release pheasants near an important ecological woodland.
On my 17km walk through rugged moorland and woodlands with moss-draped trees, I didn’t see any litter or burn marks. The only trash I saw was the feed bags and cardboard boxes left by farmers.
As I descend the moor I follow the path of one of the biggest ever countryside access protests in the UK. Darwall won the first court case at the high court of 2023. thousands came together to defend the right to wild camp. This special place is still open to everyone, a testimony to their efforts.
