Row breaks out as National Trust tries to block access to part of Wales Coast Path

Martin Shipton

Solicitors acting for the National Trust claim the charity owns part of the Wales Coast Path and is threatening to sue for trespass a small adventure company that has operated in the area for more than 30 years.

According to the Trust’s Cambridge-based solicitors, it has no need to justify denying access to land at Ceibwr Bay in the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park.

A trespass notice has been served on Adventure Beyond, a Welsh coasteering company.

In a letter dated 22 May 2026, Birketts LLP stated that the National Trust “does not need to justify their decision” and that, as “private landowners,” the Trust may restrict use of the land “as they see fit.” The letter further asserts there is “no statutory public right of access” to the land and that “any access is by permission only.”

The land the National Trust is claiming as fully private is part of the Wales Coast Path. The 2009 Act which created the path also established a coastal margin – the open land between the path and the sea – as a zone of public access. At Ceibwr there are no fences, no divisions, no private enclosures: the entire headland from road to cliff edge is path and coastal margin.

According to Adventure Beyond, for a charity to assert that this land is private, that there is no statutory right of access, and that it needs give no reason for refusing entry, is not merely a local dispute. It is a direct challenge to the public’s right of access along the entire length of the Wales Coast Path.

The land in question has a particular history. In 1984, Wynford Vaughan Thomas – one of Wales’ most celebrated broadcasters – gifted it to the National Trust. The Trust’s own stated purpose is to preserve land of natural beauty permanently for the benefit of the nation.

When Adventure Beyond wrote to Birketts on 25 May 2026 pointing out that the Wales Coast Path runs through the land and requiring the trespass notice to be corrected, Birketts replied that their instructing officer was on holiday and that they would respond “where we consider it appropriate to do so”. The Wales Coast Path point has not been addressed.

A referral has been made to Natural Resources Wales and Members of the Senedd representing Ceredigion Penfro have been notified.

Thrill

Jethro Moore, who runs Adventure Beyond, said: “My family have been in Pembrokeshire for generations. I came here as a small child and I have never left. I know every rock, every current, every cave at Ceibwr. I’ve been taking people into that sea for 30 years – not just to experience the thrill of it, but to understand it.

“I teach people how to be safe on this coastline, how to read the sea, and how to respect the wildlife around them. I bring people here who would never otherwise experience a place like this – people recovering from trauma, young people finding something that changes how they see the natural world. This place belongs to all of us.”

Adventure Beyond is a professional coasteering operator holding all relevant qualifications. It operates in accordance with the Pembrokeshire Coasteering Concordat.

The Wales Coast Path is an 870-mile statutory coastal route around Wales, established under the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009 and opened in 2012. It is designated as a National Trail.

Pembrokeshire Coast National Park

Ceibwr Bay lies within the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park and forms part of the Aberarth–Carreg Wylan SSSI and Cardigan Bay Marine Special Area of Conservation. It is widely regarded as one of the finest stretches of the Welsh coastline.

Birketts letter to Adventure Beyond states: “Until recently, Adventure Beyond accessed the land for the purpose of undertaking organised commercial coasteering activities pursuant to an oral permission granted by our client on a telephone call between our client’s Mark Underhill (Restore Nature Delivery Manager) and your Jethro Moore on 20 May 2025. That permission was expressly withdrawn with effect from 31 March 2026 in an email from Mr Underhill to Mr Moore dated 31 March 2026 (09:38).

“For the avoidance of doubt, from that date you have had, and continue to have, no right whatsoever to enter or use the land for commercial coasteering or for any other commercial purpose. Our client does not need to justify their decision in this respect – they are private landowners and are entitled to regulate and restrict the use of the land as they see fit.

“Contrary to your assertions and following a close review of status of the land with our client, the land is not registered open access land under the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 or registered common land. Section 4(2) of the National Trust Act 1907 grants full powers of ownership to the National Trust to manage its land and accordingly the National Trust may grant or restrict access. There is therefore no statutory public right of access as you seek to assert and any access is by permission only.

“Our client has instructed us that, notwithstanding that the oral permission has been expressly withdrawn, Adventure Beyond continues to access and use the land for organised commercial coasteering activities. Such conduct is entirely unauthorised.

TAKE NOTICE that:

1. Any continued entry onto the land by Adventure Beyond, its employees, agents, or clients by any means for commercial coasteering purposes constitutes trespass; and

2. You are required to cease immediately all access to and use of the land for commercial coasteering or any associated commercial activity.

The National Trust expressly reserves all its rights in respect of:

1. Your ongoing conduct in continuing to access the land without permission; and

2. The allegations made by Adventure Beyond against the National Trust in your recent correspondence, all of which are denied.

“Any claims or reports that you seek to make / bring to the Charity Commission or elsewhere will be vigorously defended.”

A National Trust Cymru spokesperson said: “Whilst there is an ongoing legal dispute it would not be appropriate to comment in detail on this matter.

“However, we’d like to assure people that we are in no way restricting the public’s legal rights to use the Wales Coast Path.”