I don't trust the motives here, but in Britain it is really hard to find a place where you can go and be alone with a campfire in woodland. 'Wild camping' is usually only an option in the high mountains where there is CROW land.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Countryside_and_Rights_of_Wa...
In fact, it's very easy in Scotland. I spent two weeks doing so a couple of summers back. Rules are roughly: Leave no trace. Don't be visible from the road or a settlement. Don't stay more than one night in one place. Don't camp in large groups. I found there was flexibility on visibility and duration, even forest rangers weren't bothered. But we didn't push the limits far, and, being conservation enthusiasts, we were incredibly careful about leaving as little evidence of our stay as possible.
I’ve done it in the New Forest and Exmoor. You just have to be prepared to break rules.
In a way we’re much better off than countries like Brazil which have immense natural forests in good condition. There the general public has very restricted visiting rights — sometimes just to a waterfall and picnic area — the rest is for permitted researchers only. Add to that the fact that in the tropics the disturbed vegetation around dwellings is less biologically interesting than comparable areas in Europe.
And finally, in the UK we have footpath access, whereas Americans are only allowed into their natural landscape if it is a state/federal park, or if they own it.
We have the "Right to Roam" here in Scotland which means you can go pretty much anywhere you want by foot or on a bike and camp pretty much anywhere as long as you are sensible.
No lack of wild places in Scotland, thankfully (although more trees would be nice!).
That's great, are people generally respectful of the situation?
Here the central and local governments have been slowly restricting the rights of people to camp. This is because the Freedom Campers, as they're called, generally don't respect the places that they're staying - destroying the environment and leaving rubbish and human waste behind.
Sometimes when people go to another country they don't behave like guests should and it's the sad case of a few ruining it for everyone else.
Mostly yes - I believe there have been some problems on the shores on Loch Lomond, but that's a major tourist area and close to Glasgow so I think they've restricted some aspects of camping there. But that's a tiny part of the country.
Scotland also has a fantastic network of "bothies" which are houses in wildnerness areas that are free for anyone to stay in as long as you act sensibly, which most people do:
The sad thing is they're looking to reduce them because some of them are quite old and the cost of maintenance is high and 1,000 odd buildings which are in very remote locations are no doubt a PITA to manage.
But people are constantly getting caught in the wilderness by a sudden change of weather and the hut network saves lives.
The huts are seriously fantastic. For any visitors to NZ who have any interest in hiking, buy a doc hut pass ($90 when I last bought one some years ago) and stay in most of these huts at no additional cost.
Some of the abandoned ones have been adopted. You might appreciate this: http://remotehuts.co.nz/
As far as I can tell doc seems to be engaging in more commercial activity, buying remote properties that are cheap (because they're remote), and renting them out Airbnb-style. My guess is they may actually make money from this activity. And they may need to because of years of reduction in government funding, in real terms. You may know more about this than I do.
Some of them are probably border line historic, with grafiti and messages dating back to the early 20th centuary. The visitor books in them are often a great read if stuck inside in bad weather.
Dartmoor is a non-scottish option? Done it before in a camper... got woken up by a pony rubbing itself on the van which was someewhat unsettling. Nice to be able to just park up and camp, though... I've done it in the Lake District as well, but obviously not without the risk of being moved on.
