Can I legally forage for holly in parks to make my house look festive? DEAN DUNHAM replies

I want to decorate my house with holly for Christmas. Is it illegal to cut it from bushes by the road and in the park?

E.W. Lewes, E. Sussex.

Dean Dunham replies: Foraging for the likes of holly at this time of year is becoming more and more popular, as is picking berries and mushrooms in the summer months.

A law known as the Wildlife & Countryside Act 1981 sets out the general legal position and says you can forage freely, in moderation, for flowers, fungi, fruit and foliage on common land as long as they are growing wild.

Whatever you pick must be for personal use only (i.e. you are not going to sell what you gather or use it for a commercial purpose, for instance in a restaurant kitchen).

Deck the hall: A reader wants to know if it is illegal to take holly from bushes on the road or in the park to use as Christmas decorations

Common land is defined as a publicly accessible space and ‘growing wild’ means not purposely cultivated, so accessing a farmer’s field or private orchard and foraging their crops is not permitted without permission.

However, even taking all this into account, before heading out to forage in any area it’s important to do your research and check that a local byelaw or regulation does not prohibit foraging in your area. 

This can be done by contacting the local council, reading any available signs in the area, or checking online resources.

Bylaws are regulations set by local councils, the National Trust, and government conservation bodies like Natural England, NatureScot, Natural Resources Wales, and the Northern Ireland Environment Agency.

The law gets trickier if you want to wander on to private land such as a farmer’s field to forage. 

Here criminal law — and specifically the Theft Act — mirrors the position with foraging from common land, meaning that it is not illegal to pick anything growing wild for personal consumption, including fruit, flowers, fungi and foliage from private land.

But if you enter private land without the landowner’s permission, it will be trespassing and could land you in hot water.

However, trespassing is not a criminal offence, rather it is a civil offence, so you cannot be prosecuted. However, you can be sued.

My advice is that unless you are foraging on land that is clearly public — always get the landowner’s permission.

‘Bespoke’ sofa mix-up 

I ordered a sofa online and tried to cancel within the cooling-off period. However, the retailer says I cannot cancel since I had chosen the colour of the sofa, meaning it is ‘bespoke’. 

Is it not within my rights to cancel?

R. R., Bath.

Dean Dunham replies: When you buy goods away from traders’ usual physical place of business (such as online, a pop-up shop, exhibition/Christmas fair) you can change your mind and demand a refund, at any time up to 14 days after the goods are delivered.

However, the law, known as the Consumer Contracts Regulations, provides some exemptions to this general rule, one being where the goods are ‘bespoke’.

Retailers, especially furniture retailers, often take a literal interpretation of ‘bespoke’ and therefore believe they can apply this exemption the moment the consumer chooses anything in relation to those goods — such as the colour or size.

In my view, the ‘bespoke’ exemption can only be used by retailers where the consumer has chosen options that would be so specific to a particular buyer’s needs there is no market for it once they have cancelled the order.

Let’s say a dress or suit that has been made to particular measurements or monogrammed goods.

If all you have done is chosen one of the manufacturers standard colours for a sofa, this is not truly unique to you and therefore, in my view, does not fall within the bespoke exemption.

Demand your money back!

• Write to Dean Dunham, Money Mail, Scottish Daily Mail, 20 Waterloo Street, Glasgow G2 6DB or email [email protected]. No legal responsibility can be accepted by the Daily Mail for answers given. 

This post first appeared on Dailymail.co.uk