Twitter users have mocked ‘entitled townies’ clashing with locals in the countryside after a man was caught on video complaining a farmer’s combine harvester had ‘ruined his family picnic’.
Footage shared across social media yesterday showed the moment a man stood in front of a combine harvester to moan about dust blown into his sandwich.
It is just one of a host of clashes involving visitors in rural communities, and comes amid reports of holidaymakers’ cars parked in farmers’ fields and blocking roads while taking selfies.
The latest incident sparked a series of anecdotes from country folk about city dwellers who moved to the country in the Covid pandemic, in a bid to escape the rat race.
Catherine Appleton, who owned a holiday let in Devon, revealed how visitors’ comments included, ‘it’s too dark at night to feel safe’, ‘cows mooing woke them up’, and ‘the distant sound of neighbours’ tractors woke them up’.
Andrea Hodkingson posted on Twitter: ‘Must be a townie. I was accused by one of allowing my horse to poo deliberately outside his house.’
Another Twitter user wrote that visitors’ complaints to a farm in Lincolnshire, including ‘cows poo all over the field and no one bothers to pick it up’ and ‘sheep baa-ing loudly early in the morning’.
Dan Wrightson described driving a tractor and being confronted by a man who complained that ‘his child was asleep’.
Andy Tradesmantrucker wrote: ‘When will people get it, the countryside is not a theme park, it’s a workplace.’
Sue tweeted: ‘This is what happens when people escape cities for the idyll of the countryside.
‘They don’t get that the countryside is a workplace, not a holiday camp. It has noises, smells, dust and mud on the road.’
Jaggers of Colchester added: ‘I grew up on a farm. I’m always amazed by people who move next door to a farm and then complain about the smell, the dirt, the dust and the noise! Unreal.’
Earlier this year, farmers were told to ‘use friendly language’ towards trespassers under changes to the Countryside Code. They were also warned against using ‘misleading’ signs to deter visitors – including claiming they have bulls in their fields.
In an update to the code published by Natural England, landowners are being urged to ask rambling visitors if they are lost and ‘help them get back to paths’.
The furious man complains that the harvester sprayed his family while they were having a meal twice
After the latest story was shared in national press, readers reacted with incredulity at the incident
David Cherry poked fun at the man’s oblivious attitude to approaching the combine harvester
Catherine Appleton wrote that visitors’ comments at her former holiday let in Devon included ‘it’s too dark at night to feel safe’, ‘cows mooing woke them up’, and ‘the distant sound of neighbours’ tractors woke them up’
Farmer Dan Willis said: ‘It’s 10/10 for stupidity. We’re working flat out to bring the grain harvest in. Doesn’t he know where the bread in that sandwich comes from?’
The clip posted on Twitter by agriculture student Eleanor Gilbert, 20, shows her and her mum Sandy, 51, driving up to their wheat field in Berkshire on Saturday, August 13, as they rush to get the man out of the way of the hulking 16tonne vehicle.
Her mother radioed stepdad Dan Wallis, 47, who was driving the vehicle. A shout of ‘oh my God!’ can be heard as the camera panned to a show a man dressed in a red t-shirt stood directly front of the combine harvester.
Sandy attempted to de-escalate the situation and got the man away from the dangerous machinery, while he continued to complain.
Miss Gilbert tweeted: ‘He was so lucky not to have been hit by a vehicle. Thanks mum for de-escalation.’
Mr Wallis later told the Sun: ‘It’s 10/10 for stupidity. We’re working flat out to bring the grain harvest in.
‘Doesn’t he know where the bread in that sandwich comes from?’
Dan Wrightson described driving a tractor and being confronted by a man who complained that ‘his child was asleep’
Another Twitter user wrote that visitors’ complaints to a farm in Lincolnshire, including ‘cows poo all over the field’ and ‘sheep baa-ing in the morning’
Tractor Mark tweeted an image of a dust cloud in front of a harvester and captioned it: ‘Show him a view from the cab?’
Deezo added: ‘Having a family picnic in a field of standing corn being harvested? What? Even hares run away when the combine gets close!’
D’Tractor Mark tweeted an image of a dust cloud in front of a harvester and captioned it: ‘Show him a view from the cab?’
In May 2020, a farmer in Cornwall covered a tourist’s Mercedes Benz in slurry after the driver parked on his land so they could get to the beach.
The tractor driver fired muck all over the luxury car near a gate on his farm in Tintagel, the reputed birthplace of King Arthur and a hotspot for visitors.
Footage of the incident emerged as thousands flocked to the coast to enjoy the warm weather over the bank holiday weekend.
In the clip, posted online by the farmer, he was heard saying: ‘The beach is nice and busy today – everyone social distancing I suppose. That busy, they’ve decided to park in the field.’
A child asks the man what he plans to do, before the farmer replies: ‘I’ve nearly finished mate, I’m not stopping.’
Elsewhere in County Durham, farmer Robert Hooper, 57, was cleared of criminal damage in February this year after he used his forklift tractor to flip and smash a car parked on his drive
In an incident captured on video, Mr Hooper, 57, drove at the Vauxhall Astra, lifted it up in the air and tipped it onto its roof and pushing it into a road while furious Charlie Burns, 21, kicked at the tractor in rage but to no avail.
Despite the clip, shot by the vehicle’s driver, showing Hooper’s telehandler tractor leaving the car a smashed wreck, a jury found him not guilty of dangerous driving and criminal damage.
The incident took place at 5.30pm on June 6 last year after Mr Burns and his friend had spent a hot summer’s day swimming at Low Force near Barnard Castle, County Durham.
On their way home they passed by Hooper’s Brockersgill Farm at Newbiggin-in-Teesdale, where Mr Johnson’s Astra – a courtesy car belonging to Vauxhall Finance – suffered a double puncture.
Hooper’s defence lawyer Michael Rawlinson told Durham Crown court Burns was ‘angry and drunk,’ punched the farmer in the face with enough force to knock off his glasses, called him a nonce and told police he’d like to ‘open him up.’