Copyright 2007 – Biz/ed Tourism in the Countryside

Copyright 2007 – Biz/ed What do we mean by ‘the countryside’? Places left largely untouched by large- scale human development? Havens for wildlife? Sources of inspiration for all? Is the countryside the same wherever you are?

Copyright 2007 – Biz/ed What is the Government’s view? The countryside consists of “rural landscapes, green spaces, wildlife and the heritage features created by man's interaction with them….” These “lie at the heart of why people value the countryside so highly.” Source: Defra Rural White Paper 2000

Copyright 2007 – Biz/ed What tourist activities take place in the countryside? Walking is by far the most popular activity in the countryside, with 35% of countryside visits and 27% of seaside visits where walking identified as the main activity done during the visit. Source: The UK Day Visits Survey Other important countryside activities are: cycling, horse-riding, angling and fishing, game shooting and wildfowling, canoeing, sailing and boating.

Copyright 2007 – Biz/ed How has countryside tourism developed? In the late 1700s, poet William Wordsworth described the Lake District as "a sort of national property, in which every man has a right and an interest who has an eye to perceive and a heart to enjoy.“ No formal working class countryside tourism until the Industrial Revolution

Copyright 2007 – Biz/ed Milestones in countryside tourism development Not until the late 19th and early 20th century that the idea of holidays and weekends spread down the social scale. The development of the railways in the Victorian era helped promote tourism to the wider population. Taking a holiday meant getting away from often cramped, urban, industrial conditions.

Copyright 2007 – Biz/ed Milestones in countryside tourism development New railway lines meant that people could visit seaside tourist locations such as Cleethorpes, Skegness, Clacton and Blackpool. Until the 1930s taking a break of more than a day or two could mean going without pay. Holidays With Pay Act 1938 established the idea that paid leave to ‘get away from it all’ was justified.

Copyright 2007 – Biz/ed Milestones in countryside tourism development Before the 1938 Act, people who took a holiday without being paid usually looked for a cheap one. In the 1930s one of the cheapest ways to have a holiday was to rent a ‘plotland’ bungalow. The word 'plotlands' meant places where, until the end of the 1930s, land was divided into small plots and sold to people wanting to build their holiday home or smallholding.

Copyright 2007 – Biz/ed Milestones in countryside tourism development Plotland developments were the means for some people to experience family holidays for the first time. The Town and Country Planning Act 1947 effectively put to an end the spread of plotland development. Merely owning a piece of land was not sufficient to develop it, you had to have planning permission.

Copyright 2007 – Biz/ed Milestones in countryside tourism development National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act Aimed to establish national parks. To preserve and enhance their natural beauty and provide recreational opportunities for the general public.

Copyright 2007 – Biz/ed Milestones in countryside tourism development Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB) are also recognised by the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act AONB are landscapes whose distinctive character and natural beauty are so outstanding that it is in the nation's interest to safeguard them. 40 AONB in England and Wales and 9 AONB in Northern Ireland.

Copyright 2007 – Biz/ed Milestones in countryside tourism development 1950s saw the creation of ten National Parks starting with the Peak District. Lake District, Snowdonia, Dartmoor, Pembrokeshire Coast, North York Moors, Yorkshire Dales, Exmoor, Northumberland and Brecon Beacons, followed creation of the Norfolk and Suffolk Broads National Park.

Copyright 2007 – Biz/ed Milestones in countryside tourism development The Countryside and Rights of Way Act (CRoW) Extends the 'right to roam' to many areas of privately owned land. Go to Biz/ed’s ‘Countryside change as the CRoW flies’ for more: 4_5/ htm

Copyright 2007 – Biz/ed Milestones in countryside tourism development In 2005, two National Parks in Scotland are established at Cairngorms and Loch Lomond and the Trossachs. New National Park status for the New Forest and soon, the South Downs. Importance of tourism in countryside clearly grown. Now go to the Activity for more.