Wild camping in the UK: is it legal? (2026)

A lightweight one-night bivouac sits within the statutory access right wherever that right applies — exercised responsibly: small group, no trace, two or three nights at most in one place.

• The right doesn't apply on excluded land (section 6) or where exemption orders or byelaws bite — like Loch Lomond's, below.

Lightweight wild camping is protected by statute: small numbers, short stays (2–3 nights per spot), away from houses, roads and fields with crops or livestock, and no fire traces left. Big, installed or roadside camps aren't 'responsible exercise' of the right.

• Close to a house or building: ask the owner.

The access right doesn't cover buildings and their surrounds, school grounds, growing crops and the rest of section 6 land — there you're back to the classic regime: the owner's permission can save your night, the statutory right can't.

The access right is on foot: it doesn't authorise taking a motor vehicle onto land. For the van you need a lawful road, a car park, the owner's permission or a site scheme (NatureScot runs 'Stay the Night' at some reserve car parks — site-specific, not a national right).

Scotland's big exception: from 1 March to 30 September, pitching a tent (or bivouacking, or sleeping in a vehicle off the road) inside the four mapped zones requires the Park's written authorisation — normally a paid permit or a managed campsite pitch.

• Outside the zones and the season, the normal Scottish regime returns.
• The byelaws are under statutory review — changes not before March 2028; we're watching it.

Fine: Up to £500 on summary conviction (byelaw 15, level 2 on the Scottish scale).

England's right to roam (CROW) is for walking, not sleeping: Schedule 2 excludes camping, bivouac included. Without the owner's permission — or an express dedication or relaxation — there's no legal title to stay the night.

• The exception with a right of its own is Dartmoor, below.

With the owner's prior permission, go ahead; without it, it's ordinarily civil trespass (not an automatic crime, whatever you read out there). Being inside a national park grants nothing: most of that land is private.

'Common' doesn't make it yours: common land has an owner and camping needs their permission, barring a specific local right. The named statutory exception is, again, Dartmoor.

England's only positive camping right, confirmed by the Supreme Court in 2025 against the landowners who challenged it: backpack-style, per the park's live map, never within 100 m of a public road or in excluded areas, two nights per spot maximum.

• The right belongs to the Dartmoor Commons, not the whole national park — and the byelaw review is live: always use the current map.

Fine: Up to £500 on summary conviction for byelaw breaches (level 2).

Dartmoor's right is on foot: motorhome or campervan overnights are barred on verges, lay-bys and the park's car parks. Only expressly signed places or campsites.

Same CROW scheme as England: access on foot doesn't include sleeping. Owner's permission, unless an express dedication or relaxation adds camping.

Prior permission from the owner or farmer, on CROW open country too. Being in Eryri (Snowdonia), a forest or on the coast doesn't equal consent.

No overnighting in a campervan or caravan in the park's car parks and no verge camping: an official campsite or a place with express authority.

No Scotland-style general access right: most countryside is private and a public right of way grants passage, not an overnight stay. Owner's permission unless a site-specific authority clearly allows it.

The owner's permission before pitching; a permissive path carries whatever terms council and owner agreed, and camping isn't one of them.

In Forest Service forests: designated campsites or the Service's prior permission; fires and stoves outside set areas need separate permission.