best place to go wandering...

[Barry Smith]

hi there.

I am in the London/Herts area and looking for a place to go and practice bushcraft. Been down to the new forest/local woods etc but it gets a bit busy.

Really i am looking for somewhere to hang up a hochie, have a small cooking fire and gather some wild foods/do a spot of fishing etc.

Any ideas?

Barry

 

[Anonymous]

hi there.

I am in the London/Herts area and looking for a place to go and practice bushcraft. Been down to the new forest/local woods etc but it gets a bit busy.

Really i am looking for somewhere to hang up a hochie, have a small cooking fire and gather some wild foods/do a spot of fishing etc.

Any ideas?

Barry

Sounds like Sweden to me.... Ever heard of Allemannsratt? Legal right to roam (it means "Every Man's Right). As long as you do no damage to property, you can go where you like, do what you like, AFAIK...


Keith.

 

[Martyn]

Cannock Chase? Yorkshire moors, Scotish Highlands, Canada?

Welcome to the UK's largest city - England.

 

[Tony]

I have been thinking a bit about this. It is something that we are going to address with articles on your legal situation and also on friendly to bushcraft areas.

But for now I would say forget the fires unless you find a place that you think you can get away with. If you need hot food etc then use a stove if you have to. If you get caught with that there will be less problems, even if someone stumbles on you I doubt there would be a problem.
Use a hammock or tarp so it is very friendly to the countryside, and practice the other skills that do not need the fire. You may get moved on now and then but that is about it.

It is the fire that is the main bone of contention, with the Fall coming on and things getting wetter you will have less of a problem as well.

The other thing is to approach farmers and ask if you can use their land and woods. It has worked for me. They often don't mind if you take rabbits and squirrels either

 

[sargey]

one of the interesting things to note in a legalsection might be, how to actually find out who the land belongs to. i have a horrible little wood near where i live, on a steep, cold and wet north facing slope. it's all overgrown with hazel thickets. ideal really! but i've never managed to find out who it belongs to. apparently i need a postal address.

cheers, and.

 

[Tony]

I'm fairly sure the land registry can work from a grid reference

 

[Raz]

Obvious point, but:
If your going to ask a landowner to use their land, avoid doing it shortly before or during phesant season!

 

[sez]

I used to live just outside Potters Bar as a teenager. It depends on how legal you want to be , there's The Great Wood, but that's pretty managed, in Brookmans Park, where I went to school there's what we called Bluebell wood (you'll never guess why), that has a fishing lake, once everyone's gone home for the night it might work for you, if you concealed the fire well. I should add that it may be bigger in my mind than on the ground.

Hertfordshire has a lot of little copses in dips that farmers can't plough, why not take a day trip out there, scout around, and when you see somewhere suitable, go to the relevant farmer.

I miss that about Hertfordshire. Because of the mining, there are hardly any woods in my part of Cornwall, certainly nothing like a forest, and if I had my way, I'd live in one.

Sez

 

[Anonymous]

Hi Barry,just a suggestion but for years now me and a couple of friends have been camping out along stretches of the River Thames between Goring and Henley,we often have a fire(in the more discreet areas)and fish at the same time,it's a great venue for eels(not bad for a fry up),we also airifle the odd rabbit or pigeon etc.I most often use a hootchie but always take an insect net along.So i suggest you buy or borrow an O.S. map and go and have a mooch. cheers Mike

 

[Barry Smith]

Gents. Thanks for the ideas I will look into the locations. Keep em coming!

 

[sez]

rashingfrashing

 

[sez]

:yikes: GENTS???? :AR15firin

Sez

:-D

 

[Viking]

Looks like someone is going on a vacation to sweden. Here you can put up fire and spend a night almost anywhere in the forest. But the beat place is in the northern part of sweden up in the mountains where the water is pure and the air is fresh and the nature as godd as it can get.

More about the right you have when spending time inte woods.

http://www.allemansratten.se/templates/firstPage.asp?id=2058

 

[Tony]

Thanks for that link Viking, some interesting points and quite thought provoking.....If only we had such freedom in our blessed Isle!

 

[Nod]

Does anyone know how the Forestry Commision view over night stays and encampments at their woods?

We have plenty of forests run by the FC close to us, ideal for bushcraft as many of the areas are not used by the general public. One forest near us has an area signed up as "Base Camp" with an area set aside for fires etc
Others have notices against them on their website saying that there have been unlawful encampments.

 

[Jack]

Dear Nod.

Again, I will get back to you by the end of next week on this one. I will have a word with the policy unit at the FC ( Forestry Commission) and get a definitive answer......I have a feeling that it won't be a short one!

Kind regards.
Jack.
Woodland Organics

 

[Nod]

Thanks Jack.....again!!
I'm just off now to have a look at your new website............ then I'd better do some work!!

Thing is I'm sitting here, looking out of the window, it's so mild, I can see the trees over the far side of the car park and I know that the footpath at the back is only 5 minutes walk from open countryside......ooooh. Somebody Stop Me!!!

 

[Stew]

Dear Nod.

Again, I will get back to you by the end of next week on this one. I will have a word with the policy unit at the FC ( Forestry Commission) and get a definitive answer......I have a feeling that it won't be a short one!

Kind regards.
Jack.
Woodland Organics

Jack,

Did you get an answer on this? Just been looking through old posts and I was wondering what the outcome was...

Cheers,
Stew.