Country Sense

Being from the country, you dont get a list when you are young, telling you what you can or cant do in the country side. It is more a matter of sense and respect for both the land and the land owner who lets you use it. There is not really a enforced law of tresspass in scotland although you do have the right to throw somone off your land if you want to.(so be careful)
Farmers as generally pretty friendly and if you ask, they will let you pitch a tent on their land. This is where your first lesson comes in.

Always leave a place as you found it

Always look at where you are going to pitch your tent or picnic before hand so that you know what the area should look like when you leave

This means no litter, minimun disturbance to the area, And DO NOT light a fire unless you are an expert and have already asked permission!

Chatting to farmers can help you also. Its nice to be nice and you may find out where you can get milk straight from the cow or where you can pick a bag of wild strawbwrries for your breakfast. Anyway, if you dont follow the basic rule you may be told to leave instead.

Other rules and tips.

Like i said, the country code is more about common sense than laws to follow. For example you should always close gates behind you but if a leigon of land rovers are obviously aiming for the same gate, it would be daft to shut it before they come through. Even nicer would be to shut it after they have gone through, kind of like holding a door for someone.

A good tip regarding food when you are camping is to hang your perishables from a tree. Its very offputting to wake up for breakfast and find beetles eating your cheese and midges doing bacstroke in your milk. And again, you must be careful with your litter. Dropping an apple core in the bushes is sometimes okay but it is better to get into the habit of taking everything with you and disposing of it properly

Litter kills animals in a horrific manner and can turn a little piece of paradise into a big tip

Always take it with you when you go or ask at a nearby farm if you can drop it in their bin.

Fire, fire burning bright

This subject should be addressed properly as it causes the most accidents and problems. Let me put lie to the myth of fire making by saying that a small circle of stones will not and can not control a fire if anything goes wrong. You will not be leaving everything as you found it if you have burnt a large circle into the ground. If you really want to have a fire then you need a spade to cut a circle in the grass. You then roll up the circle of turf so that you can return it to the hole when the fire is out. You now have a small pit which you can put stones around and use safely

As with all fires, you should never leave it unattended, you should never use logs bigger than the fire pit and you should always put the fire out before sleeping

And if all that seems like too much work, you could do the clever thing and take a primus stove instead

Picking Flowers

Really its a good idea not to pick flowers, especially if you don't know much about the subject. It has been known for walkers to wipe out a species in the reigon by picking the only flowering pair.It is a huge loss which can not only affect the species but also the ecology of the area. Take a photo or do a sketch instead and it will last longer.

...and finally

Always take a bar of choclate or some cake for everyone in the group just in case.

Have a map and a compass reader in the group, especially in Scotland.

Make sure you have both a waterproof and a spare jumper

Keep to a path, It doesn't ensure dry feet but you will always end up somewhere.