Right to Roam

The news is well and truly out! This spring sees the release of a new feature documentary about the fight to defend and extend access to nature in England and Wales. OUR LAND, directed by @orbanwallace and shot by the team at @gallivantfilm , follows the Right to Roam campaign as we trespass large estates and challenge the removal of rights on Dartmoor and beyond. Interwoven throughout are the perspectives of three aristocratic landowners, exploring the debates, tensions and fraught history of land ownership and land access in the UK. It’s a thoughtful and beautifully made film. It’s not for the campaign – the directors are not taking a stance. But in our view, the facts speak for themselves! There will be preview screenings in cinemas across the country from early March to early May, followed by a national release (and hopefully a streaming platform to follow). With the help of our local group network, we’ll be attending as many screenings as possible for post-film Q&As. Watch the trailer and find a preview screening near you via the link in our description. Booking links and additional screenings will be updated regularly by the distributors. Go along, watch the film, talk about it with friends and family, and share the trailer wherever you can!

How to trespass 🥾 Trespassing often doesn’t come naturally, as it goes directly against the grain of what’s been conditioned within us all: stick to the paths, obey signs, and respect boundaries. We’ve gone back to basics to talk through some core principles and ideas to follow, so you can interact respectfully with the world around you whilst you roam. Trespassers will not be prosecuted - trespass is a civil matter, not a criminal one. It’s a dispute between you and the landowner (but there are a few caveats!) Keep it civil - trespass can become criminal if you cause damage, disrupt lawful activity, behave threateningly, use vehicles to reside, or enter specially protected sites (under the Serious Organised Crime and Police Act 2005) Follow the Scottish Outdoor Access Code (SOAC) - in Scotland there’s presumed access to land and water, with a few sensible exceptions. Follow the SOAC to respect privacy, take responsibility for your safety and the environment, and don’t disrupt land management. Leave a positive trace - Go beyond “leave no trace”. Care for the land, pick up litter, respect genuine conservation exclusions, and report environmental harm. Leave your dog at home - Dogs can disturb wildlife and livestock and cause real ecological harm. We believe a future Right to Roam Act should go alongside new regulations and educational measures for dog owners, so until this is in place, please walk your dog only where rights already exist to do so. Be polite - Stay calm and de-escalate. Remember that farmers and land managers face their own pressures and concerns, and some may react based on negative past encounters with the public. Managing confrontation - Say hello, explain why you’re there, accommodate real concerns, and find common ground in care for the land. Act as if you’re already free - Nobody gave us the rights we have today. They were fought for, or emerged from customary practices which survived because people defended them. Rights come into being when we believe in them, exercise them, and fight for their recognition in law. Moving through land with care and confidence helps make shared access visible, and possible.

It has always been about land. It will always be about land. Always land, and never people. Land for power and land for profit. As a campaign we try to stay focused on access to nature in the UK. The world is full of injustice and trying to grapple with all of it is overwhelming. We aim to change what we can. Still, it has felt increasingly jarring and, at times, hollow, to talk about access to land in the UK while innocent people are deliberately starved, bombed, shot and burned before our very eyes in Gaza, while others are murdered in the West Bank, and a major ecological catastrophe unfolds without comment. Nothing feels right, normality is tainted. We are a land justice campaign. But the reality is there is no equivalence between the problems we face in Britain and what Palestinians are experiencing every day, where death rains from the sky and people are shot while attempting to secure meagre rations to keep their children alive. In addition to the massive civilian casualties much of Gaza’s agriculture has been wiped out, eighty percent of its trees have been destroyed, its soils trashed, and its aquifers contaminated with saline and sewage. Seawater has been weaponized. The human and environmental costs are intolerable. All of this was a choice. The restrictions we are familiar with here - barbed wire, limited rights, occasional aggression - are significant in our lives. But they’re minor compared to restrictions on life in Palestine. The West Bank has been carved up by giant walls and military checkpoints. Illegal settlements pockmark the landscape; the “security zones” around them ever-expanding. Whole villages in the Hebron hills have been rebranded as a military firing zone. The result is that the simple acts of landscape love we treasure like foraging, walking and swimming are, for Palestinians, shadowed by violence, arrest or death. This week, in a small but significant act of cruelty, the Israeli military issued an edict against Gazans entering their own sea. A simple paddle can now be fatal. CONTINUED IN COMMENTS... (Unfortunately we were unable to pin our two additional comments so you may have to scroll to the bottom)

For generations, a small number of landowners have controlled vast stretches of England’s countryside, and with it, who gets to access nature. Today, just 8% of England has a legal Right to Roam. We’re trying to change that. The Right to Roam campaign is fighting for a fair access law for England & Wales, one that opens up nature responsibly, with protections for wildlife, farming, and the land itself. But right now, this campaign is being kept alive by around 500 monthly supporters. And it’s not enough on its own. We’re now aiming to double our support by gaining 500 new monthly supporters. That extra backing would let us properly ramp up campaigning in the crucial months ahead, instead of just keeping things afloat. A subscriber is someone who donates a set amount each month (you choose what you can afford). Even just the price of a pint a month can make all the difference to the campaign. If you can’t commit to a monthly amount, you can also give a one-off donation. A healthier campaign fund is what helps us plan ahead, scale up, and actually take on well-funded opposition. A big thank you to all those who are already donating to the campaign. We couldn’t do this work without you. As a thank you, we’ve been working on some special perks to give to subscribers. Stay tuned to find out more about this soon 🖼️ If you want to help unlock access to nature for everyone, follow the link on this reel or in our bio to donate to the campaign. @emmastonerphotos 🎼Music @cosmosheldrake

Our Land expands! Catch the film across more cinema locations from this Friday as well as one off screenings @thelight_uk and @vue next week. Visit MetFilmStudio.com to book tickets and find more locations screening the film over the coming weeks. No showing near you? Make sure to let your local cinema know you want to see the film... Our Land dares to tread where few have trespassed before, asking the timely question of who has the right to roam in the English countryside? The UK is a wild and beautiful place, but the vast majority of it is off limits to the general public, with 92% of land and 97% of all rivers in England not legally accessible.

Come see this beautifully shot & moving film about the @right.2roam debate @cornexchange Newbury. Tix for a Q&A with the brilliant @hollyastle , me & @steveandhisboatbiscuit chairing, selling out fast! @metfilmdistribution @orbanwallace This is compelling storytelling indeed…

Well that was wonderful! A packed cinema and a fulsome response to Our Land last night at @cityscreenyork … thank you everyone who came and engaged so warmly and thoughtfully and especially @rachael_bice for sharing the stage and offering her wise and humane voice for nature. We’re coming to the end of preview season, but the exciting news is that from Friday the film goes on general release, and thanks to the brilliant response to the previews it’s going to be showing in loads of places! So please check it out on a big screen near you, tell your friends and family! Orban Wallace has created something really remarkable here. A portrait of parts of England most people don’t get to explore, and a simple question that opens a big conversation… why? Thanks to @metfilmdistribution , @cityscreenyork and especially @orbanwallace @our_land_documentary and the whole incredible team. And also, I have to say, to Francis effing Fulford for beautifully making so much of our case for us, cheers. @right.2roam @buteblackbird @guy.shrubsole @nickhayesillustration @robgmacfarlane @cosmosheldrake @jon.m0ses @lewis.winks @yorkshirewildlifetrust_

This week we heard from Nicola Garrard about what a right to roam meant to her, and how it helped shape her childhood. She also shared with us these photos of herself and her father wild camping on Dartmoor in the 70's and 80's. Here is a little bit more about Nicola : "I'm passionate about getting inner city young people into the countryside. I work for minority Matters, a charity in Islington, where I plan and lead conservation volunteering days, farm holidays, navigation lessons and hiking trips to national parks. I want young people to feel that nature and the countryside belongs to them, and that they have a stake in its future. I'm also an author. My latest novel On the Edge, is set in Devon where I grew up and is about working class rural teenagers and the impact of second homes I was inspired by my childhood in Devon, where my family hiked and camped wild on Dartmoor." We want to hear from you too. We're gathering stories, reflections, and reasons (big or small) that capture what access to nature means to you. This isn't just about walking paths. It's about freedom, connection, memory, healing, and joy. Tell us why you support the Right to Roam. Tell us what you have lost and what you stand to gain. Tell us the stories of your past and the hopes for your future #righttoroam #yourstories

Here are the cinemas showing Our Land daily from this Friday, following our sell-out tour of debate preview screenings.  ★★★★ Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian ★★★★ 'Superb' Little White Lies   ★★★★ ‘Inspiring’ The Morning Star ★★★★ The Scotsman Visit MetFilmStudio.com to book tickets and find more locations screening the film over the coming weeks. No showing near you? Make sure to let your local cinema know you want to see the film... Our Land dares to tread where few have trespassed before, asking the timely question of who has the right to roam in the English countryside? The UK is a wild and beautiful place, but the vast majority of it is off limits to the general public, with 92% of land and 97% of all rivers in England not legally accessible.

Norwich Right to Roam hosted the Q&A after the Norwich screening of new Documentary 'Our Land' which discusses the issues about Right to Roam, and we had a stall to give out leaflets and information about the local group and our next walk, and about the national Right to Roam campaign generally. Many thanks to filmmaker @orbanwallace , @right.2roam @hazzlebroundstar and @eben_access from the BMC for being a brilliant panel, and to local group members and local people for making it a successful evening. Really interesting audience questions – it's such a thought-provoking and beautiful film – do go and see it when it goes on release shortly, and see our bio to get involved.

OUR LAND - a new documentary by @orbanwallace exploring the Right to Roam is on tour, and coming to cinemas in Devon! We're pleased to be able to offer some special Q&A screenings with conservation biologist and campaigner Jess Duffy @jessduff.y , upland organic regenerative farmer Naomi Oakley @naomi.challacombe and Lewis Winks @lewis.winks from @right.2roam & @thestarsareours.uk . Come along, see the film, and catch us after! @our_land_documentary

This reminds us of an old anecdote... "How did you come to own this land?" "I got it from my father" "And where did he get it from?" "He got it from his father" "And how did he get it?" "He fought for it" "Very well, I'll fight you for it" You can watch the full Channel 4 news piece reported and narrated by @nzerem by using the link in our bio. Francis Fulford doesn't hide the fact his vast estate has been in his family for generations, dating all the way to the Norman Conquest. Yet he argues that people shouldn't be on land they haven't paid for. Which makes us raise the question...what did he pay? Much of this land was once shared or commonly used, before being enclosed and turned into private property. Access hasn't always been restricted. It was restricted over time. As a result, less than 1% of the population now own half of England! If you want to hear more from both sides of the debate, you can watch the full documentary @our_land_documentary directed by @orbanwallace in cinemas on the 8th. Join us and support the campaign: 📰 Sign up to our free newsletter to stay in the loop with upcoming events and latest news. 🫶🏻 Become a paid subscriber by donating a small amount to the campaign every month. One off donations are also welcomed. ❤️ Keep talking about right to roam! Share our posts far and wide so we can keep building this community. #righttoroam #ourland