Leave No Trace: how we camp
We camp so that nobody can tell we were there. We follow the seven Leave No Trace principles on every trip, and we ask everyone who buys from us to do the same: pitch late, leave early, take everything home, and leave the ground as you found it. Where you may camp in the first place is covered in wild camping in the UK.
The seven principles, as they apply in the UK
The principles come from the Leave No Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics. Here is what each one means on a British hill.
Plan ahead and prepare
Check that you're allowed to camp where you're going, and read the mountain forecast the evening before. Tell one person your route and when you'll be back.
Travel and camp on durable surfaces
Pitch on short grass or bare, firm ground, never on heather, bog or sphagnum moss, which only grows where the ground is wet. Stay one night, then move on so the grass underneath can recover.
Dispose of waste properly
Carry out everything, including food scraps and toilet paper, and bury toilet waste at least 30m from water. A small trowel and a sealable bag for used paper weigh almost nothing.
Leave what you find
Don't dig a trench around the tent or build a wall of stones against the wind. Take photographs of flowers and old walls, and leave the things themselves where they are.
Minimise campfire impacts
Cook on a stove. A fire scars the ground for years and can spread fast across dry moorland, and on the Dartmoor Commons fires are not allowed at all.
Respect wildlife
Keep your distance from animals and never feed them. Ground-nesting birds breed on moorland in spring and early summer; in England and Wales, dogs on open access land must be on a short lead from 1 March to 31 July.
Be considerate of other visitors
Keep noise down, keep your pitch small, and stay out of sight of houses and farm buildings.
The UK codes
Two codes set out how to behave in the British countryside. In England and Wales it is the Countryside Code. In Scotland it is the Scottish Outdoor Access Code, which also sets out what the right to wild camp there expects of you.
What we do as a business
Our own rules for what we publish and sell:
- Every guide that involves camping outdoors includes Leave No Trace guidance for that trip.
- We never publish exact coordinates of fragile or overused wild camping spots.
- We never show open fires in our pictures, unless in a designated fire pit on a campsite.
- We never show litter, trampled vegetation, or tents pitched on obviously sensitive ground.
- Customer photos we use in marketing must meet the same standard.
One Man Tents doesn't encourage anyone to break the law. Wild camping rules differ across the UK: it's permitted on most unenclosed land in Scotland under the Scottish Outdoor Access Code, and on the Dartmoor Commons in England. Elsewhere in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, you need the landowner's permission. Always check before you pitch. Wild camping in the UK