Access to Barnacarry Beach

[Jo 66]

Can anyone tell me what the story is with Barnacarry Beach - a friend of mine went there yesterday and was turned back with threats of phoning the police! Surely Scotland's "right to roam" comes into play somewhere here - can they really stop anyone accessing that beautiful beach?????

[jimcee]

The story, as I understand it is this -
The previous owner Barbara Kerr had a policy of allowing access to the beach on payment of £1 into an honesty box - these honesty boxes are a feature of life on Seil, and are almost universally respected.
However Barbara died a year or two back, and it would appear that the new owners do not share her good nature.

[MonaLott]

Yes but we are entitled to enter or cross any ground in Scotland under the Land Reform Act of 2003 which upholds the ancient tradition here of the right to universal access to Scotland's land. The Act specifically supports our freedoms to access land for recreational, educational and certain other purposes and a right to cross land as long as we behave responsibly. So the first question is - was Jo's friend behaving responsibly or was he making a rammy or did he have dogs running free amongst sheep or something? If not, this new land owner should be encouraged to allow us all through to the best beach in the area. I'm not sure that the Community Council, which includes a few reluctant local land-owners, would be the best forum in which to pursue our access rights but maybe we should all make a point of walking that way soon, in a responsible manner of course. Jim, I think the £1 of old was a parking charge but access for walkers was free. It still should be!

[jimcee]

I agree that the £1 charge was probably for parking, and was a reasonably legitimate charge considering it is a fairly long private road to get there.
And I would concur that anyone who walks there from wherever their habitation is, should not only be allowed a free admission, but receive a certificate commending their human endeavour.

[Bystander]

The original owners (The Kerrs) charged the £1 as they believed that by doing so the road could not then later be assumed to be a right of way (don't know whether legally this is true or not) and the money was given to charity. I have not gone there for a couple of years now as I have not felt welcome and didn't want a confrontation with the new owners in front of my children. Luing playgroup used to go there for summer outings, as well as many other local families.

I am assuming that the public still has the right to walk down there, but vehicular access down the road would be another matter - but I could be wrong! Needless to say most people (especially those with children) are not going to walk all the way down there from the public road so the beach is effectively out of bounds for local families to use.