By: Blonde One
No matter where you are in our beautiful countryside you will find something that will take your breath away. No pictures can do justice to the stunning landscape that we are surrounded by. Therefore we must make sure we look after it. Unfortunately everywhere you go you can find evidence of people not showing the countryside the respect that it deserves. Here’s a little reminder of some of the obvious dos and don’ts:
- Take litter home.
- Don’t take anything else home that looks far better where it is (flowers and stones, rabbits and cows! etc)
- Leave gates as you found them. If they are propped open then the chances are the farmer will have done this deliberately.
- Don’t make too much noise. Laughing is to be encouraged but the radio blaring at full blast is not.
- Make sure your pets don’t damage the landscape. No-one wants to see damaged trees caused by your pet elephant.
- Use the paths. Constant wandering off the beaten track will inevitably lead to serious erosion.
- Don’t light fires; even if there is a fire pit that has been created by someone else.
- Respect your surroundings and the other people that might be enjoying or working there too.
- Familiarise yourself with the Countryside Code.
- Enjoy our beautiful country!
Excellent reminders.No. 6 is not so simple, though. If the path is deliberately created and maintained, then fair enough. However, I’ve seen parts of the SW coast path (notably near Bude) where people have worn deep grooves simply by walking in the footsteps of others – with the best of intentions, no doubt, as there are no “prepared” paths in the areas I am talking about. It is very evident that water collecting along these well-trodden grooves has contributed greatly to erosion: falls of the soft cliffs quite often occur at these artificial “fault lines”. Walking one’s own meandering way at a greater distance from the cliff edge might be a better strategy if only there weren’t so many of us doing that, too!
In such circumstances, perhaps the only solutions would be to restrict numbers of people or to put in more “proper” paths. Neither is ideal; the country is simply overpopulated!