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campaignerkate.bsky.social
Kate Ashbrook
@campaignerkate.bsky.social
820 followers 280 following 160 posts
Campaigner, loves walking, landscapes, birds, archaeology, wild country. Own views. General secretary Open Spaces Society, vice-president Ramblers, vice-chair Campaign for National Parks & Dartmoor Preservation Association, patron Walkers are Welcome towns
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campaignerkate.bsky.social
Kate Ashbrook @campaignerkate.bsky.social · 1d
Vital campaign to stop govt wrecking our protected landscapes' protection, pleased to have signed letter to PM www.theguardian.com/environment/...
Plans to weaken protections for national parks will have ‘disastrous consequences’ say green groups
Exclusive: Letter from 170-plus organisations calls on government to drop proposed changes to planning law
www.theguardian.com
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Kate Ashbrook @campaignerkate.bsky.social · 1d
Time to say no, Wiltshire councillors.
openspacessociety.bsky.social
Open Spaces Society @openspacessociety.bsky.social · 1d
We have called on Wiltshire councillors to reject the Network Rail’s proposed closure of the Penleigh level-crossing in Westbury. The plan will be considered on 8 October, and the proposal would force walkers to use a circuitous one-kilometre diversion: bit.ly/3WqoaGx
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Reposted by Kate Ashbrook
guyshrubsole.bsky.social
Guy Shrubsole @guyshrubsole.bsky.social · 3d
New Environment Secretary Emma Reynolds urged to act on access to the countryside - great to see this gauntlet being thrown down by @campaignerkate.bsky.social & Open Spaces Society:

leftfootforward.org/2025/10/new-...
New environment secretary urged to act on access to countryside
Britain’s oldest national conservation charity is calling on Emma Reynolds to prioritise legislation for wider and fairer access to nature.
leftfootforward.org
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campaignerkate.bsky.social
Kate Ashbrook @campaignerkate.bsky.social · 9d
This is wonderful news! Thanks so much to @huwirrancadaviesms.bsky.social for this great decision.
welshcountry.bsky.social
Welsh Country @welshcountry.bsky.social · 9d
#openspacessociety #oss #publicfootpaths #publicpaths #commonland
Clyne Common, Swansea, Saved From Housing Development
The attempt by the Duke of Beaufort’s Somerset Trust to take part of Clyne Common for housing development has finally been refused.
www.welshcountry.co.uk
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campaignerkate.bsky.social
Kate Ashbrook @campaignerkate.bsky.social · 9d
The third New Perspectives residential organised by @campaign4parks.bsky.social for young campaigners in @bannaubrycheiniog.bsky.social with @roseoneill.bsky.social @ebenmyrddin.bsky.social @ruthlovell.bsky.social @tirweddaucymru.bsky.social campaignerkate.wordpress.com/2025/09/30/o...
O dan y bannau
Beneath the beacons, o dan y bannau, sounds as lyrical in Welsh as it does in English. That’s where we were for the third of the Campaign for National Parks’s New Perspective residentia…
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Kate Ashbrook @campaignerkate.bsky.social · 9d
It was lovely to walk with Freddie this morning, to talk about rights of way and access and what needs doing to improve them @openspacessociety.bsky.social @ramblers.org.uk
freddievanmierlomp.bsky.social
Freddie van Mierlo MP 🔶 @freddievanmierlomp.bsky.social · 9d
This morning, I had the pleasure of joining Helen from the Open Spaces Society and Kate & Stephen from The Ramblers for a walk around Henley.

Both organisations work nationally and locally to protect and expand public access to the outdoors—a cause that benefits us all. 🌿🚶
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Kate Ashbrook @campaignerkate.bsky.social · 11d
A day for @openspacessociety.bsky.social members to celebrate the society's 160th anniversary on its land at Parliament Piece, Kenilworth @warwickshirewt.bsky.social @warwicksramblers.bsky.social campaignerkate.wordpress.com/2025/09/28/c...
Celebrations at Parliament Piece
The Open Spaces Society offered a day for its members on 13 September, in Kenilworth, Warwickshire. This was to celebrate the society’s 160th anniversary, and to show members the society&#821…
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Kate Ashbrook @campaignerkate.bsky.social · 11d
Thank you Sarah! And we appreciate your support and interest in our work over many years, with some great articles!
sarahjlonsdale.bsky.social
Doc Sarah Lonsdale @sarahjlonsdale.bsky.social · 12d
Thank you @campaignerkate.bsky.social for a lovely review of Wildly Different in the new issue of Open Space magazine! I've admired Kate's work at the Open Spaces Society, protecting greens, rights of way & other public spaces for many years and so this means a lot to me @manchesterup.bsky.social
Page from Open Space magazine, with a review of Wildly Different on it. "Lonsdale writes superbly and graphically; she has done extensive research...it is a fascinating and enjoyable read."
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Kate Ashbrook @campaignerkate.bsky.social · 16d
Lovely farewell event for too many @naturalengland.bsky.social access staff, including the legendary Paul Johnson campaignerkate.wordpress.com/2025/09/23/f... @ramblers.org.uk @openspacessociety.bsky.social @campaign4parks.bsky.social
Farewell to Natural England friends
I felt honoured to be invited to the farewell party for members of staff from the Natural England (NE) public-access teams. I was the only non-NE person there. The organiser, Hazel Thomas (principa…
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Kate Ashbrook @campaignerkate.bsky.social · 22d
Walk to celebrate removal of gates unlawfully blocking path to the hills at Cwmparc, Rhondda Cynon Taf @openspacessociety.bsky.social @ramblers.org.uk campaignerkate.wordpress.com/2025/09/17/w...
Walk to celebrate Gategate win
It was a joy to walk the path to the hills above Treorchy, in Rhondda Cynon Taf (RCT), free of the locked gates which prevented people’s lawful passage for 116 days. These were removed on 13 …
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Reposted by Kate Ashbrook
thamespathnt.bsky.social
Thames Path National Trail @thamespathnt.bsky.social · 29d
Thank you Freddie speaking passionately about the importance of the #ThamesPath and @theridgewaynt.bsky.social for local people, economy, people's mental & physical health, wildlife and heritage. More funding for National Trails is vital for their sustainable future! @nationaltrailsuk.bsky.social
freddievanmierlomp.bsky.social
Freddie van Mierlo MP 🔶 @freddievanmierlomp.bsky.social · 29d
Today I led a debate in Westminster on our National Trails, including the Thames Path and the closed Marsh Lock Horsebridge. I’ve been campaigning to reopen it with local Brownie Claudia. Funding for plans is secured but there’s still a long way to go!
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campaignerkate.bsky.social
Kate Ashbrook @campaignerkate.bsky.social · Sep 2
A sad farewell in beautiful surroundings for Owen Plunkett, campaigner for access and freedom @ramblers.org.uk @openspacessociety.bsky.social @campaign4parks.bsky.social @southdownsnp.bsky.social campaignerkate.wordpress.com/2025/09/02/a...
A fitting farewell to Owen
My friend Owen Plunkett had a way of inviting me to his birthday parties and then, while I was enjoying the meal, asking me without warning to make a little speech. In fact it wasn’t difficul…
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Kate Ashbrook @campaignerkate.bsky.social · Aug 27
Spotted flycatchers in the Chilterns @btobirds.bsky.social @rspb.bsky.social @bbowt.bsky.social @chilternsnl.bsky.social campaignerkate.wordpress.com/2025/08/27/s...
Spot-fly summer
Spotted flycatcher is one of those birds I can no longer count on seeing every year, and certainly not in Bucks. So it has been a pleasant surprise to see some locally this year. They are always su…
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Kate Ashbrook @campaignerkate.bsky.social · Aug 25
Wonderful visit to Isle of Wight to celebrate @ramblers.org.uk 90th anniversary campaignerkate.wordpress.com/2025/08/25/i...
Isle of Wight Ramblers celebrate
A journey to the Isle of Wight by train has a holiday feeling. I get on at Henley-on-Thames and usually make many changes before I spill out at Lymington Pier—and there are the low hills of the isl…
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Kate Ashbrook @campaignerkate.bsky.social · Aug 21
Remembering Bernard Selwyn, vice-president, London correspondent, and parliamentary agent for @openspacessociety.bsky.social . He would have been 100 today campaignerkate.wordpress.com/2025/08/21/b...
Bernard Selwyn’s centenary
Bernard Selwyn, a vice-president of the Open Spaces Society, would have been 100 today, 21 August. Sadly, he died in 2013 at the age of 87. I wrote an obituary in the society’s magazine, Open…
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Kate Ashbrook @campaignerkate.bsky.social · Aug 20
Another lovely walk on the Cotswold Way @cotswoldsnl.bsky.social with my visually-impaired friend campaignerkate.wordpress.com/2025/08/20/w... @ramblers.org.uk @nationaltrailsuk.bsky.social
Wortley to Old Sodbury
It was almost a year since, with my visually-impaired friend Marika Kovacs, I had completed the stretch of Cotswold Way national trail southwards, from North Nibley to Wortley in Gloucestershire. W…
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Kate Ashbrook @campaignerkate.bsky.social · Aug 14
Visit to @woodoaksfarm.bsky.social with @wclnews.bsky.social agriculture group campaignerkate.wordpress.com/2025/08/14/w...
Woodoaks Farm wander
Last month I joined the Wildlife and Countryside Link agriculture group for a walk around Woodoaks Farm near Rickmansworth in Hertfordshire. This is an extraordinary site, owned by the Soil Associa…
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Kate Ashbrook @campaignerkate.bsky.social · Aug 13
Peaceful, nostalgic walk along the Thames from Kelmscott @thamespathnt.bsky.social campaignerkate.wordpress.com/2025/08/10/t...
Twixt mead and hill
It was a hot June day when I walked with my friends, Mary Alexander and Drusilla Belfield, through summer meadows and along the peaceful banks of the Thames. We met at Kelmscott in Oxfordshire, whe…
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Reposted by Kate Ashbrook
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Open Spaces Society @openspacessociety.bsky.social · Aug 5
On the sixtieth anniversary of the Commons Registration Act 1965, we have challenged ministers to re-open the closed registers in England, and save thousands of square miles of green land for the people to enjoy: bit.ly/46KNsWs
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Kate Ashbrook @campaignerkate.bsky.social · Aug 2
A summer's day on Dartmoor, 50 years ago campaignerkate.wordpress.com/2025/08/02/s... @campaign4parks.bsky.social @ramblers.org.uk @openspacessociety.bsky.social @dpadartmoor.bsky.social
Summer of a lifetime
The picture above was taken by Sylvia Sayer 50 years ago today, on 2 August 1975. It reminds me of that spell, which I thought of as ‘the summer of a lifetime’. I stayed with the Sayers…
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Reposted by Kate Ashbrook
eastangliabylines.co.uk
East Anglia Bylines @eastangliabylines.co.uk · Aug 1
The Norfolk stretch of UK's longest coastal path passes the final hurdle but the Suffolk and Essex coastal paths are still being finalised

Report by Owen Sennitt, Local Democracy Reporter & East Anglia Bylines

@ramblers.org.uk @openspacessociety.bsky.social
The King’s path around East Anglia: Beauty, conflict and compromise
The Norfolk stretch of UK's longest coastal path passes the final hurdle but the Suffolk and Essex coastal paths are still being finalised
eastangliabylines.co.uk
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Kate Ashbrook @campaignerkate.bsky.social · Aug 1
Remembering my friend Richard Lloyd Jones, who died in June, who would have been 92 today campaignerkate.wordpress.com/2025/08/01/s... @ramblers.org.uk
Servant of the state, man of wide culture
Richard Lloyd Jones would have been 92 today, 1 August. Two years ago, on his ninetieth birthday, I wrote about him. Sadly, he died in hospital on 22 June this year, to the music of Olivier Messiae…
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Kate Ashbrook @campaignerkate.bsky.social · Jul 26
Remembering my friend, the publisher Richard Webb of Webb and Bower, who would have been 82 today, and who registered a green in Dartmouth @openspacessociety.bsky.social campaignerkate.wordpress.com/2025/07/26/r...
Richard Webb, publisher and friend
Today, 26 July, my friend Richard Webb would have been 82. He died last August. His pal, Keith Wheatley, wrote a lovely obituary of him in the Guardian. Born in Reigate, Surrey, Richard went to sch…
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Kate Ashbrook @campaignerkate.bsky.social · Jul 25
Thanks, it was refused!
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Kate Ashbrook @campaignerkate.bsky.social · Jul 25
30 years of wonderful Wessex Wanderers Railway Walks @ramblers.org.uk @gwr.com campaignerkate.wordpress.com/2025/07/25/t...
Thirty years of Wessex wandering
The Wessex Wanderers Railway Walks celebrated its thirtieth anniversary at Westbury Station on 5 July. I was pleased to be there to mark this auspicious occasion. Welcome to the White Horse Room at…
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