I went camping on the Norfolk coast for free last week. I stoked a fire and watched the Perseid meteor shower, thanks to a generous friend who let my group stay in his garden. It was magical.

Another group of campers were made to feel less welcome in Norfolk. Wherever they pitched up, they were turned away. If they tried to get a drink, the pubs mysteriously closed. When I asked why the beach car park was shut, a parking attendant swelled with self-importance. “We’re in lockdown,” he said. “There’s a group of Travellers around.”

How does it feel to be constantly refused service or find bars mysteriously closing early?

These Irish Travellers make an annual pilgrimage to the Roman Catholic shrine in Little Walsingham on 15 August. Normally, they stop on waste ground in Great Yarmouth, considered a tolerant place, not least because former travelling families own some seafront attractions. But this waste ground has been developed, and so last weekend the Travellers pitched their camp of 30 vehicles on a car park in Cromer. This seaside town was then reportedly in “lockdown” after antisocial behaviour and shoplifting. Shops and pubs closed by 7pm, and the desolate town was likened to “a zombie apocalypse” on what should have been the busiest Saturday night of the year.

This story conforms to a racist stereotype, that Travellers are thieving troublemakers. I’ve spoken to Cromer shopkeepers and they are not lying when they report thefts; nor is it likely that they are confused over the troublemakers’ identity. Unfortunately, a small number of Travellers caused a small amount of trouble. To blame the Travellers for all the disruption is “disproportionate”, according to Norfolk’s police’s deputy chief constable.

Despite growing tolerance in most spheres, modern Britain is permanently locked down against a minority that wishes to live in a slightly different way. Travellers have been moved on for decades but in an era of preposterous land prices, there is less physical space than ever to accommodate them. Camping is thriving, but only the kind that makes landowners money. The settled community says everyone should play by the rules but Candy Sheridan, a Gypsy and Traveller advocate, tells me that whenever she arrives at a paying campsite in her traditional caravan, she is turned away. How does it feel to be constantly refused service, or find bars mysteriously closing early? If I was repeatedly thwarted by “the rules”, I’d want to break them. I suspect most of us would be the same.

‘I saved my children from being stuck for four hours but was reminded that sticking to the rules becomes inescapable as our nation becomes ever more populated.’ Photograph: Philippe Desmazes/AFP/Getty Images

Roads more-or-less travelled

Travellers get away with it, residents complain. But so do middle-class law-breakers. I joined their ranks this holiday when my family became trapped after a dual carriageway was closed. With the traffic jam not forecast to clear for hours, I helped a dozen cars escape down a grass verge and on to a tractor track across a field. When I followed, my car was halted by an irate farmer. He explained that if 100 vehicles did this, his temporary track would turn concrete-hard and couldn’t be cultivated next year. I apologised profusely, and he allowed me to complete my trespass. I saved my children from being stuck for four hours but was reminded that sticking to the rules becomes inescapable as our nation becomes ever more densely populated.

‘These cabbage-devouring pests test the tolerance of growers as zen as Jeremy Corbyn.’ Photograph: REX Shutterstock

En masse, it’ll never fly



A second confession of antisocial behaviour concerns the animal I’ve previously hailed as the best pet ever: caterpillars. It is joyous to watch caterpillars transform into butterflies. Neighbouring gardeners will feel less delighted after we reared and released eight large whites. These cabbage-devouring pests test the tolerance of growers as zen as Jeremy Corbyn. But, like much human behaviour, these beautiful butterflies are only offensive in a swarm.

• Patrick Barkham is a Guardian columnist and natural history writer