With more people enjoying the outdoors than ever before, Natural Resources Wales has set out new guidance for land managers to help them ensure that visitors to the countryside can enjoy it in a responsible way.

Published under the Countryside Code family, the update provides recommendations to land managers on making rights of way accessible, creating safer environments and installing clear signage to help the public respect, protect and enjoy the countryside.

The new guidance advises farmers and land managers on how to make land more accessible, for example by adding self-closing gates instead of stiles where possible and using better signage, and how to report anti-social behaviour, fly-tipping, littering, livestock worrying and other offences correctly.

It offers information on rights and responsibilities for public rights of way, open access land and common land, covering issues such as what people can do along any public right of way; where people can walk freely on open access land; if any common land also has horse riding rights and how to go about restricting access on open access land, such as times of exceptional fire risk or during dangerous operations.

Responsible recreation officer, Alison Roberts said: “The Countryside Code is a trusted tool that helps people enjoy the health and wellbeing benefits that nature offers while protecting the environment and respecting others.

“As the days lengthen and people enjoy more time outdoors, we hope the new advice will be helpful to land managers in maintaining an environment where it’s easy for visitors to keep to the Countryside Code."