Terror suspects have been using Britain’s national parks for their training, according to The Guardian newspaper.

The English Lake District (above), venue for terrorist suspects' camps

The story by Ian Cobain and Richard Norton-Taylor in today’s edition claims the paper knows the precise location in the English Lake District where security services monitored the training, but cannot disclose it.

The report says the men were not aware they were under surveillance, but they were not undergoing weapons or explosives training. The farmer on whose land the training is said to have taken place refused to comment to the Guardian. Police from Scotland Yard’s anti-terrorism branch say they have clear evidence the suspects were planning an attack of some sort, not just having a camping holiday.

Investigations after the 7 July London bombings last year revealed two of the suspects had attended a white-water rafting trip in Bala, north Wales and it is alleged that Abu Hamza, the former imam at Finsbury Park mosque, convicted of inciting murder and race hate, organised training sessions in the Brecon Beacons.

The newspaper says the recent training camps are not linked to the arrests last week in connection with plots to blow up transatlantic flights, but are part of a systematic campaign to build terrorist cells in the UK.

West Yorkshire chief constable Colin Cramphorn went on the record shortly after the 2005 London bombings saying ‘pure indoctrination’ camps could well be found in the Yorkshire Dales, Lake District and West Highlands, though a spokesman later backtracked and said the reference to the areas was an analogy.

So grough’s advice is: keep your eyes open when you’re out on the hills. Those desperate looking guys with guns and murderous intent may not be just after the grouse.

Read the Guardian story here