The truth about the Dartmoor wild camping row

It’s often said that the less important the issues at stake, the bitterer the argument about them becomes. This seems to have been more than confirmed in the last few weeks in Devon by the curious case of the argument over wild camping on Dartmoor.

The high moor on Dartmoor is an anomaly. Although nearly all of it is privately-owned by a mixture of estate owners, small farmers and others, for as long as anyone can remember people have in practice been walking and riding across the wilder unfenced parts of it, known as the Commons, for recreation without anyone making objection. Since 1985, any objection would have been futile: a private Act of Parliament that year gave the public a right to do exactly that – access the moor on foot or horseback for the purpose of outdoor recreation – whether the landowners liked it or not. 

A couple of months ago, however, problems surfaced.