Maps showing countryside to be opened to the public under the government's Right to Roam legislation are full of errors, according to landowners in the north of England.

Civil servants have been accused of causing "unnecessary distress" over the new legislation intended to give walkers rights to open countryside.

A Countryside Agency (CA) map of parts of Northumberland, County Durham and Cumbria shows land to which people would have free access.

But, according to landowners, the map includes a quarry containing dangerous machinery, golf courses, Ministry of Defence sites and private gardens.

Quarry listed

Farmers say sections of their land have been incorrectly listed as access or common land - giving anyone the right to roam across them and invade their privacy.

The Ramblers' Association says it wants 250 stretches of land added to the access map.

Ian Hodgson, co-owner of Hodgson Brothers' Quarry in Alston, Cumbria, found his entire quarry listed as access land.

He said: "The quarry is not very deep, but there is machinery on the site so we don't want people wandering around. It is a very dangerous place to be."

Revised map

One woman who farms near Allendale, Northumberland, obtained a private Act of Parliament 10 years ago to have land near her home taken off the common land register, but says this has been ignored by the CA.

The draft maps were published by the CA as part of the Countryside and Rights of Way Act.

It says it will correct mistakes before publishing a revised map.