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Where can I go?

The land that has been opened up under the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 (CROW) is mostly classified as 'mountain, moor, heath, down and registered common land'.  However, even within these areas certain places are excluded (see 'Excepted Land' below).

Access land is shown on the Countryside Agency website www.countrysideaccess.gov.uk and on new OS Explorer Maps (you can order these by telephoning 0845 2002712). 

Excepted Land
This is land on which the right of access is NOT available at any time, even if it appears on maps of access land.  It is generally obvious on the ground and includes:
  • Buildings and the land attached to them (e.g. courtyards)
  • Land within 20 metres of a house, or a building containing livestock
  • Parks and gardens
  • Land under structures such as electricity substations, wind turbines or telephone masts (though this does not prevent use of access land around them)
  • Quarries and other active mineral workings
  • Railways and tramways
  • Golf Courses and race courses
  • Aerodromes
  • Land being developed in one of the ways above
  • Arable land ploughed for the growing of crops within the past year
  • Temporary livestock pens
  • Racehorse training gallops (eg. Ministry of Defence training areas)
Where 'excepted land' is served by public rights of way (e.g. footpaths or bridleways) or other legal access rights, access by those means is still allowed.

Photo: Excepted land at Fellbeck

 

Photo: Open access moorland