Wild camping in your own fields?

Bowman

Guest
Hi All
Does anyone know the rules about wild camping in your own fields?
If we bought a large piece of land 10 – 20 acres, how long are you allowed to camp out legally or bending the rules slightly ?
Not talking large gypsy site just one RV driving round and round a field.
Thanks
 
aslong as you want,but dont erect anything that would require planning permission,if u have not applied for it.

maybe an idea to buy said field and have a tractor on standby incase you get stuck.:ninja:
 
Strictly only 28 days per year in one location, but if your land is as big as that, you could probably move it elsewhere on the land, and not attract too much attention.
 
My understanding is 28 days too but not consecutively ...john is your man to answer this...

What is legal and what you can get away with are two seperate issues...and in the case of the latter perhaps pays not to be too clever if you are seeking planning permission and a good rapport with neighbours.

Channa
 
28 days is that per month or year? Would you have to leave and return? Maybe have to separate fields with trees, so you could move around as in crop rotation :lol
Wouldn’t want to build anything more than a barn/workshop.
 
Yes the main problem is the neighbours. If the local planning department doesn't get a complaint they won't do anything. And it's very difficult for anyone to prove exactly how many days you stay there espec if you move around and go off for weekends etc. (It's 28 days per year, by the way. 28 per month and you'd be laughing, particularly in February!)

But if you get some old git with a camera and more time on their hands than they know what to do with, they can take dated photos and make records, in which case the local planning officer will probably lap it all up. I guess that's the worst case scenario.
 
down here its best to use a shipping container as a tea room store for the workers on your land . you know that little bit you grow food on . but if you can break it up a bit as said you may get away with it . or hide the van in a wooden barn type structure but it must look farm style if you want to get away with it . .lots do . a few get found out but let the council take you to court .never appeal as if you do it sets dates to be met . wait ,wait and wait .most councils only make threats . and tell you how to appeal. then you pay to get rid of yourself quicker.
 
Good tip about hiding the van. It would make it really difficult for anyone to establish any accurate record.
 
Not very green fingered, but if it helps to grow a few yards of rapeseed might give it a go.
Perhaps we should try and research a crop or an animal that would require us to watch it grow?
 
make it look like a market garden set up . you can then be working at anytime . make the office a rest room etc . lots of solar .water bowser etc . dig a big pit two chambers for cesspit . dont put washing water in it . you could have a gennie in a shed for extra lighting etc .
lots round here do it . you can use it as an address if you put up a mail box . make it a big one .
 
remember its a game you are playing .
i have had my eyes on an old pig farm . make a rest room etc kitchen for workers . c/o the pig farm address . am only here getting it ready .never be ready . i dont live here just spend alot of time here . good bye i,m off now .
 
I would have thought it would depend where the field was. For instance, on the outskirts of a village where there were houses nearby you might get a lot of people taking an interest in what you were doing but if it was a field surrounded by other fields, this would be less likely. I used to dream of owning a field to do plant breeding in!
 
i lived illegally on a bit of land i rented for about 9 years,ended up with 2 mobile homes,couple of caravans barn for the pigs,cars and bikes etc,made a point of getting on with the neighbours,in fact fed a lot of them with cheap pork and all the ''out of date'' stuff i got from the supermarkets. i got fed up and went travelling again
 
You are allowed to station a caravan (the term includes motor caravans) for the purpose of human habitation for a maximum of 28 days in any 12 month period, and for not more that 2 consecutive nights, on any land which does not have planning permission and a caravan site licence.

There is an exemption for seasonal agricultural workers.

See: Caravan Sites and Control of Development Act 1960

AndyC
 
Just to support what everybody else has said, the legal maximum is 28 days per year but in reality the wise thing is to get on well with your neighbours, not upset anybody and keep your head down. Interesting point about dividing the land up into small parcels, each registered to a different owner!
 
Camping field

Hi Bowman,

I know you would like to use it for camping, but with a large area as you have, you could rent part for horse grazing wired off with electric fencing and you maybe able to put a water tap on the site as well for your Motorhome use.You will also get a bit of security as most horse owners visit their horses every day.This may sound out of the box, but it will make the neighbours happier as it's fits in with the landscape,good luck.


Snowbirds.:)






Does anyone know the rules about wild camping in your own fields?
If we bought a large piece of land 10 – 20 acres, how long are you allowed to camp out legally or bending the rules slightly ?
Not talking large gypsy site just one RV driving round and round a field.
Thanks[/QUOTE]
 
There are loads of crap restrictions nowadays, in my experience.
Ownership doesn't seem to imply many rights nowadays, IF the authorities take a notion that they don't want you there.

I've been searching for and trying to buy fields for years. It's getting harder every day to do it 100% legally.

With planning - which, imo, is largely bull**** - the one you have to look out for iss what they cal "I5". You can scrape in under"5", but "15" is designed to put off developers ( until the planners' mates come along) and it moreorless precludes everything.
Stupid, really.

In Essex, even a farm owner was not allowed to live in one of those shepherd's hut things ( with iron wheels) on her own land!
Yet, other folk were allowed to build loads of dog kennels right in their garden and even on some so-called "greenbelt" land where "no habitation by humans" was the law.

I'd agree it varies from region to region. Down around Indian Queens, near where vwalan may be chatting about, there has been a long history of folks living in "temporary" dwellings. Cornwall seemed to take a pretty liberal view.

What really spoilt things was the the huge housing boom. Until the bubble burst, developers were flat out buying up any old plot at all. Prices escalated, and planners were asked to step in. The "Environment" became another concern, with mostly negative implications.

Of course, the right way to do it would be to have a series of fully-kitted containers, stationed in private fields all across the land. Then we could just move from one to another, as the mood took us.
'Twould also cut out all these motorhomer tourists who are cluttering up the highways and pressurising the stopping places! :lol-061:

sean rua.
 
I used to fly my microlight out of a farmers field and kept it in an agricultural shed, his old tractor was in the corner!!

I had to keep records in my flight log book by law, but it was useful as later I could demonstrate that the field had established use.

Unless it's changed, after 4 years of use, it becomes established use and the planning struggle against that.

Everything was very discrete, sheds painted green, caravan green, workshop green, actually, unless you knew it was there, you'd never find it, shown to be true as visiting pilots sometimes struggled to find it from the air.

NB, some councils are using satellite information to discover buildings built without permission, one included a shed in the middle of a woods, used as a weekend retreat and ordered it to be taken down.

If you invest in surplus camo nets to hide the vehicle, neighbours happy because they can't see it, if you go over the top then satellites can't see it AND it'll keep the sun off. If it took years to find Bin Laden, how long before you're found??

Take photo's that are dated say with newspapers, to show how long you've been there.

With a little planning, no one will ever know you are there, after 4 yrs it's not an issue.

Also, I believe that farmers can have one caravan on their land anyway. Couple of sheep and away you go, but the horse way is probably the best, they pay you.
 
Bigpeetee said:
I used to fly my microlight out of a farmers field and kept it in an agricultural shed, his old tractor was in the corner!!

I had to keep records in my flight log book by law, but it was useful as later I could demonstrate that the field had established use.

Unless it's changed, after 4 years of use, it becomes established use and the planning struggle against that.
Click to expand...

Section 171b of the Town and Country Planning Act of 1990 specifies "buildings" when referring to the four year rule. If there are no buildings involved then it is very likely that putting a motorhome or caravan on a field would come under the heading of "any other breach" and the time limit involved would be ten years, not four. All in all, perhaps it might be easier to get on well with the neighbours so they don't complain - but I am still intrigued by what would happen if you divided the land into thirteen parcels, each registered to a different owner, and moved around!
 
in june of this year i will have had static caravan in my orchard for 4yrs that my grandson lives in and pays seperate council tax for,it is fully plumbed in drains,water and electric will this come under the 4 or 10 plan??
 
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