FIELD NOTES: THEY PUT UP A FENCE. WE BROUGHT A PICNIC

Winstanley Estate, Wigan. September 2026.

Today Rambling joined Right to Roam for a mass trespass on the Winstanley Estate, hundreds of acres of woodland, fields and parkland sitting behind PRIVATE LAND and KEEP OUT signs.

There are virtually no public rights of way through the estate. There are plans that could see access opened up, but apparently that comes alongside building hundreds of houses first.

That makes no sense to me.

The land is already there. The woods are already there. Why does nature need to become part of a deal before people are allowed to enjoy it?

THEY PUT UP A FENCE

When the route was recced, the temporary fencing wasn't there.

Today it was.

Fencing across the route, private land signs and police waiting on the other side.

So we found another way in.

And after all that effort to keep people out, what did this dangerous mob of trespassers actually do?

We walked through the woods. We talked. We listened. We enjoyed the land.

Then we sat in a field and had a picnic.

No damage. No rubbish left behind. No disrespect.

Just people enjoying nature.

ACCESS COMES WITH RESPONSIBILITY

A couple of weeks ago Rambling was on Pen-y-ghent with Right to Roam and Trash Free Trails, picking up rubbish left behind by people using the countryside.

Today we were trespassing.

To me, those two things belong together.

Give people greater access to the land, but teach people to bloody look after it too.

Take your rubbish home. Respect wildlife. Respect the landscape. Leave it better than you found it.

We shouldn't need to own hundreds of acres to feel connected to the countryside around us.

Sometimes we just need somewhere to wander.

And somewhere to sit down and eat our sandwiches.

They put up a fence. We brought a picnic.

Open lands. Open hearts.