High Ash Farm embroiled in Caistor Roman Town parking saga

Workers at High Ash Farm, on the outskirts of Norwich, padlocked one of its gates and built an additional wooden barricade to stop people using it as a cut-through to reach Caistor Roman Town.

They took the action because "an awful lot of people" were leaving their cars on the lanes on the farm to avoid paying fees introduced by the Norfolk Archaeological Trust, which runs the Roman site.Temporary barriers were installed on a gate in High Ash Farm (Image: Ella Gatier)

Ramblers were then walking through High Ash Farm - which provides its own walking routes for visitors - before passing through the gate and crossing Stoke Road to get to the ruins.

However, the new barriers did not discourage people, who instead kept parking on the farm and then crossing the busy road at other locations.

This prompted safety concerns and farm workers have now removed the barricades and reopened the gate.

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The introduction of the charges has caused huge controversy among those who used to visit the Roman site regularly.

"In Stoke Holy Cross where I live, there are barely any pavements so walking anywhere is dangerous," Ella Gatier, 29, said. 

"Caistor is the only place to stroll and get some fresh air nearby and I personally cannot afford to pay the parking daily in order to have a walk with my newborn son.

Ella Gatier struggles to find places to walk with her newborn son (Image: Ella Gatier)

"I was extremely disappointed to see they fenced off the footpath through High Ash Farm and I just think it's such a shame that it resorted to this."

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Daniel Skinner, a partner at the farm, said: "Since Caistor introduced parking charges we've had an awful lot of cars parking at the farm, blocking gateways and walking through to the town.

People are parking in or near High Ash Farm (blue) and then walking through to Caistor (yellow) to avoid the parking charge (Image: Google Maps)

"This may pose a serious danger to our horses and general operation and after Caistor invested a lot of money it seems a little perverse that we should be acting as free parking for another facility.

"But we decided to reverse this change to the gate as people were crossing the road in unsafe locations."

Mr Skinner added that High Ash Farm was working closely with the Norfolk Archaeological Trust to find a suitable solution and that it was "monitoring the situation closely".