Madonna wins fight to ban ramblers
Madonna and husband Guy Ritchie have won a battle to ban ramblers from walking on land on their English rural estate over the winter - delaying any access to February at the earliest.
The singer, who fears her privacy will be compromised by walkers being near her mansion in Ashcombe, Wiltshire, has won the right to declare her land a commercial shoot, thus temporarily exempting it from the UK's 'right to roam' legislation.
A spokesperson for The Countryside Agency says: "We have now agreed that the land should remain closed for nearly six months a year so ramblers don't disturb the pheasants and partridges and aren't put at risk by shooting.
"We will review this to see if the claims about disturbance are justified and we might change this ruling in later years."
However the Ramblers' Association's chief executive Nick Barrett says: "She (Madonna) has won this victory through having lots of money for lawyers.
"Madonna may have won for now but this legislation tilts the balance away from centuries of domination by land-owning elitists like her."
