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LIKE MANY WHO THINK about where they’d like to retire, we’ve always had a vague list of wants: comfortable climate, walkability, good health care, access to cultural events and outdoor activities, friendly tax regime, reasonable cost of living, that sort of thing.
I wrote previously about feeling stuck for many years in a place where we didn’t want to stay, but also not really having one place where we felt drawn to settle, whether for a few years or permanently. Spending three months in England has influenced our thinking about what we want. Unfortunately, it may have also made that place harder to find.
One of the things we’ve really enjoyed here is having the countryside on our doorstep and being able to walk it easily, including between towns. We’ve had days when we leave our charming town, walk across a few gently rolling pastures to have coffee or lunch in the next charming town, and walk through others for a different route back home. We’ve hit 10,000 steps by midday more times than I care to count. Sometimes, we meet another friendly walker along the way, and other times it’s just us.
In England and Wales, people have the legal right to use designated public footpaths or bridleways. Some of these are prehistoric routes that have been trod since ancient times. Others are of more recent vintage. In either case, once they’re so designated, they must be respected, and they form a vast network. To my understanding, Scotland goes even further, with a generally accepted “right to roam” in the countryside, footpath or not.
An interesting thing about these paths is that they often cross private land. We’ve walked one that crossed a field of vegetables, another that crossed through someone’s lawn, and many that crossed pastures of cattle or sheep. Both the cattle and the sheep are mildly curious about us if our path takes us close to them, or indifferent if it doesn’t. By the way, you’ll find these paths in towns too, where they create shortcuts that allow you to walk without vehicle traffic.
In addition to this network of paths, there are other areas designated as simply common land, on which you can veer off the paths and explore more widely. These have usually been “commons” for centuries. Last week, we walked a path that crossed ancient common land that now includes a golf course. You legally have the right to walk down the middle of the fairway, but it’s probably advisable to stick to the sides.
There are similar traditions in continental Europe, but I’m not aware of anywhere in the U.S. that has a system of public access to private land. If there’s somewhere that does, we’d like to give it a closer look. Now, I know folks are going to comment about places with a great park system or trails on federal land, but this is not that. Nor is it beaches that are considered public, or one abandoned railway line that has been turned into a walking and biking path between towns. All those are great, but what I’m describing is far more extensive.
I wonder if some of New England might have a similar tradition. It seems reasonable, as the English got there and were walking or riding around in the 1600s, so maybe such paths similarly came to be respected. One can hope. Then again, they were walking and riding around my home state of South Carolina almost as long ago, and I wouldn’t walk across someone’s field there.
At one point, our thinking about where to settle prioritized tax and cost of living considerations. Those are still worth thinking about, but over the past few years we’ve realized that other factors are worth paying more for. The past few months have reinforced the importance of certain quality-of-life features. If we learn that tax-unfriendly Vermont or Connecticut is a miniature Cotswolds, we’ll be scheduling a fact-finding mission.
Michael Perry is a former career Army officer and external affairs executive for a Fortune 100 company. In addition to personal finance and investing, his interests include reading, traveling, being outdoors, strength training and coaching, and cocktails. Check out his earlier articles.
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True for Scandinavia as well. While in Sweden I found out that one could cross private property. Now living in Texas, that would unfortunately be quite hazardous. For someone who likes to hike, really makes ma sad… That said, I have seen the downside of areas open to the public. If a popular area, they trash the place 🙁
I know what you mean. We never encountered much trash on the footpaths in England.
I am also interested in looking for a place to retire. Easy on the income and wonderful places to stroll. I would love to hear more about your journeys and what you discover. I especially love England and Scotland and the people there.
Certainly places worth checking out! Thanks for reading.
As Paula says, in Massachusetts, because of a 1600’s law, the waterfront property line extends to the mean low tide line. Consequently, if you want to legally walk on the beach in front of someone’s house you almost always have to wade. The law does allow “fishing, fowling and navigating” as exceptions so most people think you are legal if you are carrying a fishing rod or birdwatching, but as far as I know that has never been tested.
We live on Cape Cod and have walked past many houses on the beach ( always below the high tide line) without every being told to leave. Mind you we just walk, not set up our umbrella etc. ( There are dozens of public beaches for that). There are a few signs, but I only know of one case where there was an issue. One homeowner here had people walking up to his porch, sitting on it, using his bushes for “calls of nature” etc. Security cameras and calls to the police apparently were ineffective, so he finally put up a fence down to the low tide line. This is rare.
on the “outer cape” the beaches are almost all owned by the National Park and you are free to wander as far as you want. There are also dozens of acres of Conservation land with miles of trails to explore. It is a hiker’s paradise.
Thanks for reading. In SC the beach past the high tide line is state/public property, so beach access is even simpler. While public beach and park land aren’t what I’m writing about experiencing in England, they do make for nice walking spaces.
It is similar in Germany! People have the right to walk, bike, etc on private and public lands. Yes, there are rules with penalties – don’t walk on fields for farming, stay on paths (in the forest you can walk anywhere), no camping, dogs on leashes (sometimes), garbage out. In general, be sensible. It’s so nice to get out into nature quickly. In fact, we have a paved path for bikers and walkers along the Rhine river, yes, with wine tasting stands along the way at every village. I gladly pay more taxes here because the wine is cheaper, so, all in, I’m living more frugally than in the US! They call it geo-arbitrage – haha!
I remember some great walking in Germany. Glad you’re enjoying it. To your point re the paved path on the Rhine, I recall a lot of the German countryside having paved walk and bike paths between towns.
Of course there are rules re private land, as there are in the UK. In the latter case for both walkers and landowners, and I imagine in Germany as well.