The Politics of Landowners in England and Wales

In England and Wales, there is a network of public rights of way that go across privately owned land. The ramblers association came into existence to contest the fact that local landowners who didn't like people walking across their land would block off what was supposed to be public footpaths. In Scotland the situation is completely reversed, in Scotland basically you're not allowed to fence off land or to prevent people walking across it whether it's on a footpath or not,. without expressed permission from the relevant authorities.