Lockdown breakers pictured having a picnic in Yorkshire farmer's field

Toby Hewitt, a field sales manager for an agricultural machinery company, was amazed when he spotted the pair picnicking in a field of spring barley in Wentworth, near Rotherham.

The couple appeared oblivious to the fact they were sitting on the farmer's crop as they enjoyed food and drink beside their car.

Mr Hewitt politely asked the couple to leave the area.

Their behaviour was in defiance of lockdown restrictions, which state that exercise should be taken only in the vicinity of your own home and that only essential travel is permitted. Driving into the countryside has been discouraged and has led to tensions in rural communities.

Wentworth is the estate village for Wentworth Woodhouse, the Grade I-listed country house that has been closed to the public since the lockdown began. Staff have been taking part in the Clap for Carers celebration by illuminating the stately home with the NHS logo in blue on Thursday evenings.

Other lockdown breakers during the current spell of warm weather include a family from Leeds who were caught by a gamekeeper in Nidderdale, where they had travelled to have a barbecue in a tinder-dry area of countryside subject to a fire risk warning.

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