The access land shown in yellow on these maps consists of open country (mountain, moor, heath and down) and registered common land. These yellow areas normally have public access rights, but watch out for local notices about excepted or restricted areas either on this website or on the ground.
When dedicated land becomes access land (6 months after the dedication agreement has been signed) it is shown on these maps in yellow as access land.
There are various categories of excepted land where the new access rights will not apply, even if such land is included among the yellow or orange wash. Such areas will usually be easy to spot on the ground, although they will not necessarily have hard boundaries. Please watch out for local signs and always respect other people's privacy and property.
Access to CROW access land may sometimes be closed or restricted.
Farmers and landowners have the discretion to suspend or restrict the new access rights for 28 days each year, for any reason. They may also apply for long-term closures, where necessary for land management, safety or fire prevention reasons. Whenever possible, restrictions and closures will be shown on the maps and will be reinforced by signs on the ground. In order to get the best enjoyment, visitors are advised to check that an access area is open before setting out on a walk. Where there are local restrictions for the date range you have selected, they are usually shown on the maps by a red wash.
Areas of open country and registered common land that are subject to military byelaws or other military or security restrictions are exempt from the new rights. These have therefore been removed from the yellow wash. Some of these areas, though, will still have some form of managed public access at particular times or places.
PLEASE NOTE: where you see the words DANGER AREA on the map, you must not enter the area of land enclosed by the red line.
Always follow these common sense rules in areas where some access to military land is allowed:
·Do not touch any unidentified object: it may explode and kill you.
·Do not enter areas where there is an obvious military presence. This includes all buildings and installations except where it is clearly shown that public access is permitted.
For more information on where public access is available on Defence Estate land, please visit www.mod.uk/access
Access Information Points provide local information on the ground.