Be careful what you wish for!

Thank you David. 

My understanding of the stay at home advice is ‘unless you are going out for food, to collect medicines, or to shop for vulnerable elderly relatives’.   But other instances too numerous to mention force breaking of this advice.  Our granddaughter has to go to look after her horse twice a day, and this is not negotiable.  In all fairness, a member of her horse circle was stopped by police and when she said she was travelling to tend her horse they immediately told her this was a legitimate reason.

I went to the supermarket for bread and milk, and bought some wine and mixers at the same time.  But if I could have only got the wine and mixers, and had been stopped, would that count as a non-essential trip?

So, whilst the rules are basically clear, I can understand situations where people might be unsure of a trip being a valid one.   It’s really a case of common sense and thinking carefully where there could be doubt.

The stay at home advice clearly has a number of "unless" additions, and they are clear to an extent but I think it would be an impossible task to make a definitive list of what those additions are!

Taking exercise is allowed. We have decided common sense tells us to do it locally, not to drive somewhere to do it, do it when others are less likely to be around, take all precautions such as not doing anything dangerous, take a phone, take the dog as well, and we hand wash/sanitise before going out, and as soon as we get back. Not that we touch anything other than the dog while out.

Looking after livestock, a sensible dog walk, is allowed. Done with due regard to others, and taking all necessary precautions. 

No sure why the government advice is so hard to understand 

 
The problem is when people rationalist, and justify their actions for breaking the governments advice ,as a number of post on here show