Exploration of the development of countryside leisure attitudes and behaviour from childhood: A photo based analysis.

Abstract

There is a need to understand where a largely urban based UK population derives its inspiration for countryside leisure visits, in order to help resolve this demand, with the demands for rural based infrastructure and housing development. This research uses a photo based analysis in order to elicit spontaneous reactions to images of countryside areas in an attempt to understand what people recognize as countryside and where this understanding originates. Background factors, specifically the role of socializing influences such as, family, peers, mass media and education are explored in order to identify the contribution they make to attitude formation regarding countryside leisure visits. The results provide useful guidance for those managing and planning the countryside and access to it. While the role of family influence in the early years of development and peer groups during adolescence is evident, there is also a significant group of countryside visitors who developed their interest later in life from early adulthood onwards, without the early encouragement of family. The comprehensive and increasingly pervasive role of the mass media, during all life stages has grown in importance compared to family and peer group influences. However, the media representation of countryside as a leisure resource is balanced by its portrayal as an important resource to resolve pressing social issues such as housing, transport and energy infrastructure needs. The shape of the countryside in the UK will be decided by the resolution of these often conflicting demands.