The Countryside Code

We live on a heavily populated island and the wild areas are not huge. So, we all need to share the outdoors and help look after it for each other. The countryside that you will be visiting is vulnerable to overuse and misuse by those who visit it. By taking a few precautions and following some common rules we can drastically minimise our impact on the environment.

1. Don’t drop litter: litter isn’t just sweet wrappers and drinks bottles, it is also food waste like apple cores and banana skins. Take all your litter with you to campsite.

2. Take care on roads: Many country roads are narrow and cars travels fast along them. Make sure you walk single file on any roads, generally facing the oncoming traffic.

3. Leave gates as you find them: If you are at the front of your team and you open a gate make sure that the last person knows to close it. If a gate is open when you get to it then leave it that way, unless it is obviously a mistake (a cow field on to a road for example)

4. Don’t go to the toilet close to streams, lakes or watercourse: Make sure you are at least 50m away from a stream if you go to the toilet. If you need to poo make sure you bury it (20cm deep). Take any toilet paper you use away with you.

5. Think about erosion: If you are on a small footpath through a meadow (for example) then walking single file will cause less damage to that area. Don’t widen the footpaths.

6. Look but don’t touch: don’t pick flowers or kill insects, they are important to the ecosystem – you are the intruder, not them.

7. Take care around animals: Especially if they have young with them. Walk slowly and as a group through any fields containing livestock. Do not scream or run.

8. Do not damage walls, fences or hedges – only use gates and stiles to cross through them.

A good link to the country code is here.

https://getoutside.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/guides/the-countryside-code/