Naturism and the Law - In Your Garden

Can you do as you please in in your own garden?

If you want to wander around your garden naked and you are overlooked neighbours then you have to be careful - an Englishman's home is not quite his castle and your garden is not exempt from the law.

In an ideal world, your relationship with your neighbours would be such that they would not object to you gardening in the buff and they would never dream of calling the police.

In the real world, however, you would be well advised to take some simple precautions, including explaining to you neighbours that:

• you want to sunbathe without clothes but,
• you have no wish to offend or upset them
• you will be discreet
• you hope they have no objection.

Confining you naturism to a part of the garden which can be screened from the view will obviously solve the problem.

If none of the above is possible, you will have to decide whether your desire to be naked in your garden is more important to you than being on friendly terms with those around you. While the police may well be reluctant to become involved in a dispute between neighbours they are bound to investigate an allegation of "indecent exposure" or "outraging public decency".

If the worst happens and the Police were called, you would be advised to make it clear that all reasonable steps had been taken to prevent someone from seeing and that there was no intention to insult or to cause anyone alarm or distress.

On the other hand, no-one has the right to spy on you and if you find that your neighbour is leaning out of an upstairs window or standing on the top of a step ladder in order to see you then he or she may well be committing an offence.

Please Note:
The information given on this page is intended only as a general guide to the the legal position . It was not written by a legally-qualified individual.
It should not be relied upon as a definitive guide to the law , and is only applicable to England and Wales. The law in Scotland and Northern Ireland may be different.
Neither the author nor the publishers of this FactFile can be held responsible should naturism or nudity cause you to be arrested and / or prosecuted for any offence.