September 21, 2004
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Laws passed four years ago to allow walkers onto moors, downland, heath, mountain and common land designated as "access land", come into force at the weekend in two areas of England - the South East and Lower North West.
The new laws do not give people a right to roam anywhere. Areas like gardens and cultivated land are not included and there are restrictions on some areas at certain parts of year.
A total of 105,253 hectares of new access land will be opened on Sunday - 13,853 in the South East and 91,400 in the Lower North West, including the Peak District.
Other regions will follow suit in the coming months.
The enclosures in the late 18th and early 19th century saw campaigns for the right to roam begin, with the levellers and early Labour movement in the vanguard.
The first attempt to get public access laws passed in Parliament came in 1884, was repeated every year until 1916.
The campaign continued through the 20th century, with one of the most famous episodes being when hundreds of people went on a mass trespass on Kinder Scout, Derbyshire.
Fifty years on, Terry Howard, 58, helped set up the Sheffield Campaign for Access to Moorlands (Scam) in 1982, organising a series of trespasses in the Peak District.
He says Sunday will allow people to discover new views and get away from life's frustrations.
"It is gaining rights that people that people once had to enjoy their countryside and share in it, rather than just see it from afar," Mr Howard told BBC News Online.
"Every footstep on new access land will be a celebration. What once were steps of political statement will be steps of political celebration."
Nick Barrett, chief executive of the Ramblers' Association, called Sunday a historic day: "These landscapes are as much a part of our national heritage as structures like Stonehenge."
The preparations for the new laws have seen some landowners appeal against their land being designated for access - most famously over Madonna's £9m country estate on the Wiltshire/Dorset border.
The new rights allow most open-air recreational activities, such as walking, birdwatching, climbing and running.
But they do not include horse riding or cycling or camping, except where they are already allowed.
-http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3663728.stm
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THIS LAND IS YOUR LAND
words and music by Woody Guthrie
Chorus:
This land is your land, this land is my land
From California, to the New York Island
From the redwood forest, to the gulf stream waters
This land was made for you and me
As I was walkin' - I saw a sign there
And that sign said - no tress passin'
But on the other side .... it didn't say nothin!
Now that side was made for you and me!
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