ENVIRONMENTALISTS, writers, scientists, students and activists are uniting to protest a wealthy landowner’s attempt to overturn the right to wild-camp on Dartmoor 

‘The Stars Are For Everyone’ campaign seeks to uphold the public’s access to ‘the irreplaceable wonder of sleeping out under the stars’

Rallies are taking place on Dartmoor on Sunday December 11 and in London on Monday December 12 to coincide with a High Court ruling on the legal challenge brought by Alexander Darwall, a hedge fund manager and Dartmoor’s sixth largest landowner, against the National Park.

Darwall, owner of the 4,000 acre Blatchford estate on south Dartmoor, is seeking to remove the public’s right to responsibly wild camp on sections of the moor, which has been permitted since 1985.

Campaigners will gather outside the Royal Courts of Justice, where the case is being held, at noon on Monday; with a separate rally happening at Princetown, Dartmoor at 11am on Sunday.

Dartmoor is the only national park in England where people have the legal right to camp. For decades, this right has allowed generations of children, young people and families, from local schools, charities and community groups to Duke of Edinburgh expeditions and the Ministry of Defence’s Ten Tors Challenge, to experience the outdoors and responsibly connect with nature.  

Supporter, Robert Macfarlane, author of ‘The Wild Places’ said: “It’s appalling that multi-millionaire land-owners are taking legal action to deny the public our long-established and much-beloved right to wild camp on areas of Dartmoor.

A night under Dartmoor’s skies has been a mind-opening, life-shaping experience for tens of thousands of people down the decades. At this moment of ecological crisis we’ve never needed these opportunities to connect deeply with nature more.”

Emma Linford has escorted young people from marginalised communities on transformative wild-camp journeys on Dartmoor for 20 years. “Many speak of being given ‘a new chance at life, and a feeling of belonging’ they’ve never experienced before. In the UK, I can only offer these experiences legally in Scotland, and on Dartmoor. To take this right away, especially in such a magical environment as Dartmoor, would be a tragedy.” 

Dr Rose O’Neill, chief executive of the Campaign for National Parks, stated: “National Parks like Dartmoor have been protected for decades with the twin purposes of conserving wildlife and enabling public enjoyment. The right to camp on the moor is an important part of this. 

“Now is the time when the Government should be providing National Park Authorities with the powers and the investment they desperately need to deliver those twin purposes.

“The National Parks are on their knees after a decade of damaging government cuts. We support the Dartmoor National Park Authority’s position in this case and look to the Government to act to ensure every child has a right to a night under the stars.”

Amy-Jane Beer of the Right to Roam campaign, added: “With nature connection in the UK at an all time low – the worst in Europe – the transformative experience of spending a night or several under open skies is more needed now more than ever.”