‘Sheep baa-ing too early in the morning’: Country folk share the complaints of ‘entitled townies’ who moan about rural life after moving away from the city

• Twitter users mocked ‘entitled townies’ clashing with locals in the countryside 
• It came after a bizarre video of man angrily marching up to a combine harvester 
• Oblivious to danger, he wanted to complain about dust as it was reaping wheat 
• He can be heard shouting the machine had sprayed him twice while on a picnic

Twitter users mocked ‘entitled townies’ clashing with locals in the countryside after a bizarre video emerged of a man marching up to a combine harvester in a Berkshire field to complain about dust, which he said had ‘ruined his family picnic’. 

It is just one of a host of hare-brained clashes involving visitors to rural communities, with reports of holidaymakers’ cars parked in farmers’ fields and blocking roads while taking selfies.

After the latest story was shared in national press, readers reacted with incredulity at the incident, with one condemning the man’s ‘overwhelming sense of entitlement’.

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.’

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.

The furious man complains that the harvester sprayed his family while they were having a meal twice

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?

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?’

Another Twitter user described 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?’

It is not the first time out-of-towners have clashed with locals in the countryside.

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.’

At that point the husbandman, driving a Claas, sends the slurry flying out the back of his vacci tank and all over the black Mercedes.

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.’

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