My husband and I were walking through the public footpath that goes through the Leeds Castle property. Just past the sheep farm, where the footpath crosses the paid entrance path, a gardener or groundskeeper or weeder came roaring up to us on his ATV and started yelling at us. I had stepped off of the public footpath to read a placard about the wildlife in the pond. The man started yelling at my husband, asking if we knew where the public footpath was. I was three feet away from it at this point. He got out of his vehicle and continued to yell about the path (so that people were watching) and how we were to stay on it, as though we were trying to steal a view of the castle. When we turned to continue he revved his ATV aggressively behind us and kept his tires very close to us. As we walked on, which we’re allowed to do, another Leeds truck/guard pulled up, followed us, and parked when we stopped to look at a beech stand. We were still on the public footpath. I felt like we were being treated like criminals on a path we were allowed to walk on. We’re from Canada and enjoy the public footpaths between villages in England, but after today . . . the rudeness and aggressiveness of this man and his colleague is absolutely unacceptable to anyone. We were not trying to cheat or sneak onto the grounds; we were merely walking on a public right of way path.
