Wild camping in the UK

What is wild camping?

Wild camping is sleeping outdoors away from a campsite, usually for one night, carrying everything you need and leaving nothing behind. There are no toilets, no taps and no pitch numbers. You choose a flat patch of ground on a hillside, beside a burn or on open moor, pitch a small tent or lie in a bivvy bag, and move on in the morning.

What separates wild camping from pitching a tent anywhere is scale and care. A wild camp is one or two people with a small shelter, staying a night or two at most. A group with a gazebo, a car boot of kit and a fire is something else, and the rules below don't cover it.

Is wild camping legal in the UK?

Yes, in some places. Wild camping is legal without permission on most unenclosed land in Scotland and on the Dartmoor Commons in England. Everywhere else in the UK, you need the landowner's permission. The table sets it out by nation.

Nation	Can you wild camp without permission?	The rule
Scotland	Yes, on most unenclosed land	Access rights under the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003 include lightweight camping, on the terms of the Scottish Outdoor Access Code. Local exceptions apply, such as the Loch Lomond and The Trossachs camping management zones.
England	Only on the Dartmoor Commons	The Supreme Court confirmed on 21 May 2025 that the right of access under the Dartmoor Commons Act 1985 includes camping. Elsewhere, you need the landowner's permission.
Wales	No	You need the landowner's permission. The right to roam on open access land doesn't include camping.
Northern Ireland	No	You need the landowner's permission. There is no general right to roam.

What did the Supreme Court decide about Dartmoor?

The Supreme Court decided that the public can camp on the Dartmoor Commons without the landowner's permission. In Darwall and another v Dartmoor National Park Authority [2025] UKSC 20, five justices ruled unanimously on 21 May 2025 that the right of access "for the purpose of open-air recreation" in section 10(1) of the Dartmoor Commons Act 1985 includes pitching a tent overnight. That ended a landowner's challenge to the right, and confirmed what backpackers had long done on the moor.

The right has limits. Dartmoor National Park Authority describes it as backpack camping: carrying everything in a rucksack, staying one or two nights, and only on the commons marked on its camping map. Check the map before every trip, because not every open moor is common land. You can read the judgment on the Supreme Court's website.

Why can't you wild camp on open access land in England and Wales?

Open access land in England and Wales gives you a right to walk, not to camp. The Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 created the "right to roam" on mountain, moor, heath and down, and Schedule 2 lists camping among the things the right doesn't cover. Pitching a tent there without permission is trespass. That is usually a civil matter rather than a crime, and a landowner or their agent can ask you to leave. If they do, pack up and go.

Some upland landowners tolerate a discreet one-night camp. The Lake District National Park Authority, for example, says wild camping is normally tolerated for one night above the highest fell wall, well away from towns, villages and lake shores, if you leave no trace. Tolerance isn't a right, and it can be withdrawn.

How does wild camping work in Scotland?

Wild camping in Scotland is part of the access rights set out in the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003, and the Scottish Outdoor Access Code says how to use them. The Code describes wild camping as lightweight, in small numbers, and for no more than two or three nights in one place. It asks you to camp well away from buildings and roads, and to avoid enclosed fields of crops or farm animals.

Access rights don't cover vehicles, so sleeping in a car or van by the road isn't wild camping under the Code.

Where do you need a permit to camp in Scotland?

You need a permit to camp in the camping management zones of Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park between 1 March and 30 September. The zones cover less than 4% of the park, mostly popular lochshores, and inside them you can only camp on a campsite or in a permit area with a permit booked in advance. Permits go on sale up to four weeks ahead, and a camper who breaks the byelaws can be fined up to £500. Book and check the current map on the National Park's permit page. From October to February the zones follow the Access Code like the rest of Scotland.

The Cairngorms has a different local rule: a fire management byelaw bans fires and barbecues from 1 April to 30 September. Gas, liquid-fuel and fuel-block camping stoves are still allowed; wood and charcoal burners aren't. The Cairngorms National Park page has the detail.

Where can you wild camp in the UK?

The places people go first for a wild camp are the Scottish hills and the Dartmoor Commons, because both allow it without asking. The Lake District and the Peak District are the next two questions people ask, and the answers are very different. Each place has its own guide:

• Wild camping on Dartmoor: the rules, the camping map and where the commons are.
• Wild camping in Scotland: the Access Code, the permit zones and midge season.
• Wild camping in the Lake District: what the National Park says is tolerated, and where.
• Wild camping in the Peak District: why it isn't permitted, and where to camp instead.

For a first wild camp, pick a place where camping is clearly allowed and that you have already walked in daylight. The law is simpler, and so is the walk in.

How do you choose a wild camping pitch?

Choose a pitch that is flat, sheltered from the wind, above any ground that could flood, and out of sight of houses and roads. Arrive with at least an hour of daylight left so you can walk around before you commit.

Check these before you unpack:

1. Ground. Lie down where your shoulders will go. A slope you can't see standing up will slide you into the tent wall by 2am.
2. Water. Avoid hollows and flat ground right beside a stream. Heavy rain in the night turns both into puddles.
3. Wind. A wall, a bank or a fold in the ground takes the edge off it. Pitch with the narrow end of the tent facing into the wind.
4. Distance. Stay well away from buildings, roads and anywhere livestock gather. On Dartmoor, stay on the commons shown on the map.
5. What's underneath. Pitch on grass or bare ground. Don't pitch on flowering plants, bog or anything you would flatten for weeks.

Pitch late and leave early. Arriving as the day-walkers leave and being packed before they return is the oldest courtesy in wild camping, and it's why the practice is tolerated where it is.

How do you leave no trace when wild camping?

Leave the place so that nobody could tell you were there: take every scrap of rubbish home, use a stove instead of a fire, and deal with toilet waste properly. The whole of wild camping's goodwill with landowners rests on it.

• Rubbish. Carry out everything, including food scraps, tea bags and orange peel. Bring a bag for it.
• Fires. Don't light one. Cook on a camping stove, set on bare ground or a stone. Dartmoor's backpack camping code rules fires out, and the Cairngorms bans them from 1 April to 30 September.
• Toilet. Pee at least 30 metres from lochs, rivers and burns. For anything more, go well away from water, paths and buildings, dig a small hole with a trowel and replace the turf, or bag it and carry it out. Take used toilet paper home.
• The pitch. Move any stones back, fluff up flattened grass, and check the ground for tent pegs before you go.

Our page on Leave No Trace sets out the principles we follow and why.

What kit do you need for wild camping?

You need a small tent or bivvy bag, a sleeping bag and mat warm enough for the month, a stove, water, a head torch, waterproofs and a map. On a first night the sleeping mat matters more than anything else on the list: cold comes up from the ground, and a thin mat will keep you awake whatever bag you are in.

Weight matters because you carry all of it, often uphill. A small one man tent is usually lighter than a 2 man tent, though a 2 man tent gives two people shared weight and one pitch.

Our wild camping kit list covers every item and the job each one has to do. If you're choosing between shelters, read one man vs 2 man tent and what is a bivvy bag, then browse one man tents. The wild camping starter kits put a matched tent, sleeping bag and mat together.

How do you stay safe on a wild camp?

Tell one person where you are going and when you'll be back, and agree what they should do if you don't call. That is the rule. Everything else is extra.

• Weather. Check the mountain forecast the evening before and the morning of your walk in. Wind speed at your pitch height matters more than rain.
• Signal. Phone signal on hills and moors is patchy. Know where you last had it.
• Emergencies. Call 999, ask for the police, then ask for mountain rescue. If you register your phone with the emergencySMS service before you go, by texting "register" to 999, you can text 999 where a call won't connect.
• Walking out. Pick a pitch you could leave in the dark if you had to, on a path you know.

What is nearly wild camping?

Nearly wild camping is camping on private land where the owner welcomes a small number of tents, with few or no facilities, so you get the quiet of a wild camp with permission. It's the best first step for anyone who isn't sure about the law or about sleeping alone on a hillside. Sites differ: some take a handful of tents in a field or a wood with a compost toilet, some offer nothing but the ground.

Nearly wild camping explains how it works and how to find a site.

Questions people ask

Is wild camping illegal in England?

Wild camping in England is legal without permission only on the Dartmoor Commons. Everywhere else it needs the landowner's permission, and camping without it is trespass, which is usually a civil matter rather than a criminal one.

Can you wild camp in Wales?

Wild camping in Wales needs the landowner's permission. That includes Eryri (Snowdonia) and Bannau Brycheiniog (Brecon Beacons), where open access land gives you a right to walk and camping isn't part of it.

Can you wild camp anywhere in Scotland?

No. Wild camping in Scotland is allowed on most unenclosed land, but not in enclosed fields of crops or farm animals, not close to buildings or roads, and not in the Loch Lomond and The Trossachs camping management zones between 1 March and 30 September without a permit.

How many nights can you wild camp in one place?

In Scotland, the Access Code says no more than two or three nights in one place. On Dartmoor, the National Park Authority says one or two nights. Anywhere else, it's whatever the landowner agrees.

Can you light a fire when wild camping?

Don't light a fire when wild camping. Fires scar the ground, and on peat and heather they can spread underground. Dartmoor's backpack camping code rules them out, the Cairngorms bans them from 1 April to 30 September, and discouraged by the Scottish Outdoor Access Code in times of high fire risk. Use a camping stove.