Planning tool

Access checker

Can you walk or camp there? Drop in an OS grid reference or coordinates for any UK hill spot and get the access position for that point — right to roam, wild camping, dogs and seasonal restrictions, with the law behind each answer.

By Ryan

The checker needs JavaScript

No problem — the comparison table and notes below summarise the rules for all four UK jurisdictions without it, and the full guides live under Access rights.

Jurisdiction-level answers, not parcel-level

This checker resolves which country's law applies at your point and whether it sits in a national park. It does not yet know about individual CRoW open-access parcels, definitive rights of way, or local byelaws — so in England and Wales it cannot tell you whether your exact spot is inside mapped access land. Always check local signage and the authority maps before relying on it: Natural England (England), Natural Resources Wales (Wales) and outdooraccess-scotland.scot (Scotland).

The four jurisdictions at a glance

Access law is devolved, so the border you cross matters more than the contour line. The same tent that is lawful on a Cairngorms plateau needs the landowner's permission in Eryri. Each column links to the full guide for that jurisdiction.

Access rights compared across Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland
Right	Scotland	England	Wales	N. Ireland
Right to roam	Yes Statutory right of responsible access to most land and inland water	Mapped land only Right to roam only on mapped CRoW open access land	Mapped land only Right to roam only on mapped CRoW open access land	No No general right to roam
Paths	Core paths plus the general access right	Public rights of way recorded on definitive maps	Public rights of way recorded on definitive maps	Very few recorded rights of way; mostly permissive routes
Wild camping	Yes Wild camping is broadly lawful under the 2003 Act	Dartmoor only Permission needed — except on the Dartmoor commons	No Permission needed everywhere	No Permission needed everywhere
Dogs	Covered by the access right under proper control; short lead on moorland April–July and around livestock.	On access land: lead of 2 m or less 1 March – 31 July, and at all times near livestock; local restrictions can exclude dogs.	On access land: short lead 1 March – 31 July, and at all times near livestock.	Landowners set the rules — leads usually required on permissive paths and farmland; some routes exclude dogs.

Summaries reviewed 2026-08. General information about the law, not legal advice — local restrictions, byelaws and seasonal closures can override the general position. Browse the full access guides.

Two exceptions every camper should know

Dartmoor commons: confirmed right to backpack camp

Following Darwall v Dartmoor National Park Authority [2025] UKSC 20 (21 May 2025), s.10(1) of the Dartmoor Commons Act 1985 confers a public right to pitch tents or otherwise make camp overnight on the Dartmoor commons, as camping is a form of open-air recreation. This applies to the commons (not the whole National Park) — follow the park authority's backpack-camping map and code. Supreme Court case page.

Loch Lomond & The Trossachs: seasonal camping byelaws

In defined Camping Management Zones (roughly 1 March – 30 September) camping requires a permit or use of a designated site, despite the general Scottish access right. Zones cover parts of east Loch Lomond, Trossachs lochshores and other honeypot areas. Park camping pages.

How the checker works

Input parsing. OS grid references at any precision — from a bare 100 km square like NN to a 10-figure reference — or a decimal latitude, longitude pair.
Coordinate conversion. Grid references are converted between OSGB36 and WGS84 with a Helmert transformation, accurate to roughly 5 m across Great Britain — ample for identifying a jurisdiction.
Boundary test. The point is tested against Office for National Statistics boundary polygons for the four UK countries and the fifteen national parks (Open Government Licence v3.0, contains OS data © Crown copyright).
Rules lookup. The answer is OpenFell's reviewed summary of that jurisdiction's access law, with sources linked so you can read the legislation itself.

Accuracy near borders and the coast

The boundary polygons are generalised for fast loading, so a point within a few hundred metres of a national boundary, a park boundary or the coastline can resolve to the wrong side — or to no country at all. Some Cheviot summits sit right on the England–Scotland line: if you are walking a border ridge, read both jurisdictions' guides. This tool offers an estimate of the legal position at a point, never a verdict that going is fine — conditions, closures and signage on the day take precedence. See our safety notes.

Planning the day around it? Estimate your timings with the walking-time calculator and check your finish against sunset with the daylight safety planner.