How entry fees took over Britain’s countryside

Growing stretches of the English countryside are “falling behind a paywall,” campaigners warn as national parks grapple with drastic funding cuts.

The Peak District National Park Authority caused uproar last week when executives said they were mulling the introduction of a £1 entry fee. Meanwhile, visitors to the New Forest face fresh parking charges.

Elsewhere, centuries-old free access to Lord Bathurst’s Cirencester Park in Gloucestershire was monetised last year, access to a popular waterfall on Dorset’s Bridehead Estate was blocked as of Monday, and the National Trust has hiked its membership fees by 25pc in the space of just three years.

While the fees may be small, campaigners say they underpin a crisis of growing inaccessibility to Britain’s beauty spots.

Recent government res