Overview

• Around 60 Right to Roam campaigners staged a peaceful trespass on July 4–5 to protest the withdrawal of a long-used permissive path to the estate’s lake and waterfall
• Belport Limited, which bought the estate from the Williams family last year, closed the path in early June pending a health and safety review of access routes, trees and open water
• The company confirmed there are no further eviction plans beyond converting one cottage for estate use and reiterated its intention to reopen the grounds if safety issues are addressed
• Local visitors have expressed anger and sadness over lost access, citing generational ties and personal rituals such as scattering ashes at the site
• Campaigners are urging a clear, unqualified restoration of access and statutory protection for permissive paths that currently cover only about 8% of English land