>
Right to Roamers are on the march again, with a group of more than 100 Morris dancers and ramblers dressed as sheep invading the Englefield estate in Berkshire last weekend.
The protesters were calling for more of the countryside to be made open to the public and claim only eight per cent of land in England is accessible to all of us.
It’s true that half of England is owned by less than one per cent of its population — 30 per cent owned by the aristocracy, but around 70 per cent is land either owned or rented by farmers who are not necessarily wealthy or posh. They are people who view the countryside not as a leisure activity but as a working environment.
Jenni Murray writes that she once found a couple canoodling in our garden as she discusses Right to Roam campaigners
I have some experience of the battle between those who own their land and those who feel it’s desperately unfair that they can’t trudge all over it.
On the one hand, I have great sympathy for those who spend their working lives in busy cities and want to spend their spare time freely strolling around the hills and valleys of this green (albeit currently brown) and pleasant land.
I have loved exploring the Peak District, where we owned a house and a small amount of land for more than 20 years.
‘I have some experience of the battle between those who own their land and those who feel it’s desperately unfair that they can’t trudge all over it,’ Jenni says
But that experience tells me there are more sides to this story than envy of the rich and landed gentry and unfairness to the rest.
The Peak District is well served by public footpaths. A sign at the beginning of our drive indicated a path which would pass our house and over a stile into the field we shared with our neighbour, a cattle farmer. If you followed the wall alongside the first part of the field, another huge stile made of stones would lead down the hill away from us to common land.
In order to reach the path, most walkers arrived by car. Where to park? Occasionally across our drive seemed to be the answer. Otherwise, parking would be done on grass verges, leaving great ugly ruts in the countryside they had come to admire. Few took the trouble to drive into the valley where there was a car park. There was a gate into our field, necessary because there were often horses grazing there or a considerable herd of cows with young calves or even sheep, all belonging to our neighbouring farmer.
Jenni says it is ‘deeply worrying to learn that the campaign group Right to Roam has been encouraging people to unlock blocked or privately-owned areas of the countryside’
That was why the first stile was provided. But no, the ramblers saw the gate, they opened the gate, they did not close the gate. The animals sensed freedom. We would spend hours rustling up whichever beasts had gone walkabout as a result of such thoughtless, dangerous behaviour.
The most ludicrous flouting of the country code came one Sunday morning as we were having breakfast.
Through the kitchen window we saw a stream of young teenage boys and a Scout leader cycling along the rather bumpy path. My husband pulled on his boots and reached them as they were pushing their bikes through the gate.
He asked the leader whether he realised there was a very difficult, high stile which would have to be crossed to reach the next part of the path? Did he think 20 young lads would be capable of hoiking their bikes over it safely?
The leader hadn’t realised they would face such an obstacle and turned the boys round in the direction of the road. So much for map-reading and orienteering skills.
So it is deeply worrying to learn that the campaign group Right to Roam has been encouraging people to unlock blocked or privately-owned areas of the countryside, urging them to make the most of the sunny spell to ‘get outside and get trespassing’.
It’s all very well if those seeking to trespass and encourage the extension of the Countryside and Rights of Way Act know what they are doing.
‘Farmers use expensive and dangerous machinery that’s not to be played with, but I’ve seen people sit their children in a tractor temporarily left in a field,’ Jenni explains
The invasion of the Englefield estate seems to have gone off without any repercussions. Presumably the owner wasn’t too fussed about Morris Men singing and dancing around his trees. At least the trespassers knew to take their rubbish home.
It’s not always the case. We found people had been picnicking by the river around our field and they had left plastic bags, bottles and cans. Nothing could be more dangerous for a sheep, horse or cow to swallow by mistake.
I once found a couple canoodling in our garden. They’d climbed through the stile from the field. I asked how they would feel if I went into their town garden for a snog. They wouldn’t like it. ‘And neither do I.’ I was furious.
What most worries farmers is the way Right to Roamers appear to be unaware of how dangerous the countryside can be. A cow with a calf is a potentially lethal animal. I’ve seen walkers let their dogs off the lead in the field and run in terror as a cow turns on them.
Farmers use expensive and dangerous machinery that’s not to be played with, but I’ve seen people sit their children in a tractor temporarily left in a field.
So, ramble and roam if you must, but know that the risks are yours. Farmers should not be held responsible for your safety.
Don’t ditch your identity, Rita
‘What’s with the latest trend for women who are household names taking on their husband’s surname when they tie the knot,’ Jenni asks
What’s with the latest trend for women who are household names taking on their husband’s surname when they tie the knot?
Jennifer Lopez became Mrs Affleck. Now Rita Ora, who married her film director partner Taika in London, has become Rita Waititi-Ora.
I stayed as Murray when I married because it’s what I was known as professionally. Walking up the aisle didn’t change who I was in my working life one jot.
It’s thanks to Olivia I caught my cancer in time
It has been especially sad for those of us who’ve survived breast cancer, thus far, to learn that Olivia Newton-John’s had spread to her back and that she died this week at only 73.
I met her soon after her diagnosis, interviewing her for Woman’s Hour in 1992. Olivia was warm, charming and keen to spread the word about awareness of the disease.
My own diagnosis of breast cancer came a few years later and I’m sure it was her words of advice that sent me for quick treatment as soon as I found a symptom.
She put breast cancer on the map for all our benefit.
It has been especially sad for those of us who’ve survived breast cancer, thus far, to learn that Olivia Newton-John’s had spread to her back and that she died this week at only 73
- Nurses in England and Wales have never been on strike, but threaten to do so with the Royal College of Nursing balloting its members over industrial action. They have my support. They’re highly-trained professionals, hard-working, a comfort to patients and desperately underpaid.
How old is your oldest tin?
Jenni reveals a builder helping with tidying her cupboards recently asked: ‘Do you really want to keep hold of a can of tomatoes with a best before date of 2012?’
The downstairs bathroom is still under construction but the kitchen is done — ready for the return of my Ukrainian guests next week.
The builder, Nick, helped with tidying the cupboards and making space. ‘Do you really want to keep hold of a can of tomatoes with a best before date of 2012?’ he asked.
I can’t be the only one hoarding decade-old tins, can I?