A place of work and walks

I’ve just read the letter from Audrie Smith, asking why we can’t campaign for free access to farmland in England. I’ve worked a rented hill farm with my husband for over 40 years and, as it’s located not too far from a large urban area, the paths are well used. The very few fields without paths are vital for nervous animals or sick ones – but we still get people trespassing in them. Most country walkers, including myself, just want to stay on the correct marked path but others disturb animals, climb over and sometimes break walls or fences when they don’t arrive at a gate, upset the wildlife in environmentally sensitive areas and when challenged politely are either abusive or insist they’re doing no harm, when in fact they are.

I’ve retired from active farming as I’m no longer able to physically cope with the work, but I walk all year, and love and appreciate the right to do so. Most of the paths I walk are clearly marked with sound gates and stiles. It costs us nothing but often costs the farmer whose land it crosses. How would the average person react, I wonder, if the public had a right to enter any workplace and meddle with the jobs they were doing?

Annette Hirst, Askrigg