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Today in Focus

The fight for the right to roam in the English countryside

Today in Focus

The Guardian

News, Daily News

4.65.9K Ratings

🗓️ 13 May 2022

⏱️ 29 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

A campaign to widen access to the English countryside is gathering momentum. However, as Helena Horton reports from a mass trespass event in Devon, there is little sign the government is willing to budge. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/infocus

Transcript

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0:00.0

This is the Guardian.

0:08.5

Today, the nearly 100 year ongoing campaign

0:12.5

for the right of people in England

0:14.4

to take a walk in the countryside.

0:26.4

Are you ready?

0:27.6

Yes!

0:28.6

So there's about 200 people here, we reckon.

0:31.6

Woo!

0:32.6

This is awesome!

0:34.6

Last weekend, a few hundred people gathered in the town of Tottenham's in Devon to break the law.

0:40.1

Just this here, this line here, this invisible line of power that we're going to cross

0:44.9

behind a little sign that says no right of way.

0:48.1

So we're going to cross over it into it.

0:50.4

This is land owned by the Duke of Somerset.

0:54.4

During the pandemic, when we were going stir crazy in our houses,

0:58.1

the UK government told us about the benefits of the great outdoors.

1:02.3

Breathing fresh air, stretching our legs, enjoying the physical and mental health benefits

1:08.6

of getting out into the English countryside.

1:11.5

If only it were that simple.

1:19.8

You might never have realised, but only a tiny fraction of England is legally accessible to the public.

1:25.4

And for many in the country, even the parts that are accessible feel out of reach.

1:31.6

I learnt that walking can be a radical and political act and walking can be a way of saying,

...

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