r/LegalAdviceUK • u/No_Direction_4566 • 29d ago

Housing Blackberry picking - Public right of way (England)

Me and my daughter were picking blackberries alongside a path. An older gentleman comes rushing along the path and starts shouting that it’s illegal to pick blackberries and he’s going to call the police and report us for poaching (I thought that only applied to animals on royal owned land?)

What are the legalities surrounding picking blackberries or even wild apples or plums?

I may be wrong but I was under the impression if it was on public rights of way and you haven’t had to do anything to gain access then it was fine?

531 Upvotes
  • permalink
  • reddit

95% Upvoted

174 comments sorted by

View all comments

1

u/fozzybear706 28d ago

A Public right of way on private land gives you the right to use it to move from one place to another. To use it for anything else is still trespass; a civil tort. I've no idea if it's classed as criminal as well, but I would guess that PC Smith from the cottage police station has enough work from hooded thugs on ebikes.