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Title:

Visitor perceptions of rural landscapes: A case study in the Peak District National

Park, England.

Authors and Affiliations:

Natalie Suckall, Evan D. G. Fraser, Thomas Cooper, Claire Quinn

Sustainability Research Institute, School of Earth and Environment, University of

Leeds.

Author for Correspondence:

Natalie Suckall

Sustainability Research Institute, School of Earth and Environment, University of

Leeds.

Leeds, UK

LS2 9JT

Email: earns@env.leeds.ac.uk

Phone: 0113 343 6466

Fax: 0113 343 6716

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Abstract:

Maintaining national parks is an integral policy tool to conserve rare habitats. However,

because national parks are funded by taxpayers, they must also serve the needs of the

general public. Increasingly, and thanks to today’s diverse society, there is evidence that

this creates challenges for park managers who are pulled in two opposing directions: to

conserve nature on the one hand and to meet different visitor expectations on the other.

This tension was explored in the Peak District National Park, a rural landscape dominated

by heather moorland and sheep farming in Northern England where research was

conducted to determine how social class and ethnicity shaped perceptions of the park.

Results uncovered that social class played a very strong role in shaping perceptions of

this region with ‘middle class’ respondents reacting far more favourably to the park than

people from more working class backgrounds. We observed ethnicity playing a similar

role, though our results are less significantly different.

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Key words:

Perceptions; social class; ethnicity; national park management.

Abbreviations:

PDNP – Peak District National Park

MPA – Marine Protected Area

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1. Introduction

The ever growing ‘ecological footprint’ (Wackernagel and Ress, 1996) of urbanised

society has led to habitat destruction, fragmentation and the loss of biodiversity and

species (Millenium Ecosystem Assessment, 2003). In an effort to protect biodiversity,

national parks, where governments place large areas out of bounds from development, are

an important tool (United Nations Environment Programme – World Conservation

Monitoring Centre, 2007), and can help maintain ‘ecosystem services’ like flood

protection, carbon sequestration and recreational opportunity (Farber et al., 2002). It is

the responsibility of park managers to ensure that parks not only provide these services,

but do so in a way that meets the needs of local communities who, in the UK, live in and

around the park, and the nation’s taxpayers who contribute to the park’s funding. This

can create conflict when competing needs and priorities emerge, including the needs and

priorities of those taxpayers who may not use the park, or see no value in it. Broadly

speaking, management activities to mitigate this conflict fall into three categories. The

first is regulation where activities within the park are carefully planned and monitored to

promote conservation regardless of the conflicts it provokes. Second is to allow the park

to evolve over time to reflect the changing needs of its users. Third is through education

where environmental programmes should lead to a greater understanding of and respect

for the area.

These three types of strategies relate to work by Ostrom (1990), who argues that when

conflicts between managers and local people arise, they are often a result of a

disconnection between park rules and local conditions. McNeely (1990) echoes this point,

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suggesting the long term protection of environmentally sensitive areas is threatened if

people living in and around protected areas are ignored. For example, Trakolis (2001)

describes how, during the establishment of the Prespes Lakes National Park in Greece, a

top down decision making process excluded the local community. As a result, conflicts

arose with local people resenting the imposition of the national park. Similarly, in their

study of Torre Guaceto, a Marine Protected Area (MPA) in Southern Italy, Petrosillo et

al. (2007) examined levels of visitor knowledge based on geographic proximity, showing

that a visitor’s awareness of being in a MPA was highly dependent on their place of

residence with the least aware visitors coming from neighbouring municipalities.

The literature suggests, therefore that local community participation is needed to identify

both the problems and the solutions in the face of conflicting needs in the world’s

national parks (For example, see: Sewell, 1973; Reed et al., 2006). However, as Xu et

al. (2006) point out, local people are not homogenous and do not share common norms.

Within a locality, a community bounded by geography may be made up of diverse groups

and individuals. Stringer et al. (2006) state that by encouraging diverse stakeholders to

work together, relationships can be transformed, enabling community members to

identify new ways of cooperation. Fraser et al. (2006) describe how the development of

sustainability indicators in Guernsey followed a participatory process to ensure diverse

community members had a role in managing their environment. After some initial apathy

within the local community, a relevant list of sustainability indicators was produced.

This provided a useful way of overcoming differences and forging consensus.

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It is, therefore, essential to understand how heterogeneity within a community can result

in a diverse range of attitudes and perceptions towards a national park, and how these

attitudes and perceptions can impact on long-term management. As a result, the goal of

this paper is to explore the tensions between current national park management and the

diverse needs of a heterogeneous public by exploring how people belonging to different

social classes1 and ethnicities2 had different perceptions of nature. This paper focuses

specifically on visitor perceptions of the Peak District National Park, a rural landscape

dominated by heather moorlands and sheep farming in Northern England. We begin with

a literature review on the ways that class and ethnicity can shape perceptions of the

natural environment. Next, we present results from focus groups, questionnaires and

interviews on the Peak District National Park that were conducted with both children and

adults from different ethnic groups and social classes in Northern England.

1.1 Lifestyle divisions within a heterogeneous society

In order to understand who visits natural areas and why, it is essential to examine the

links between belonging to a particular social group and the choices an individual makes

in terms of cultural/leisure activities (e.g. Urry, 1990; Featherstone, 1991). For example,

Bourdieu (1986) argues that a person’s ‘lifestyle’ is comprised of preferences relating to

leisure, cultural consumption, and cultural tastes. These cultural preferences act as

initiators of identity (Warde, 1994; Lamont and Molnar, 2001). It is important to note,

1 In this paper we follow the lifestyle approach of social structure analysis (see, Bourdieu, 1984, 1986; Lamont, 1992) and as such we define ‘social class’ as a group of people who share common values and attitudes, and have historically been bound by similarities in income 2 In this paper, the term ethnicity is used to describe a group of people with a common history, identity, and culture based on geographical roots (see Bulmer, 1996). The term ethnic minority refers to a statistical minority in terms of population.

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however, that a group’s identity is based on more than the original defining features; for

example, in a group bound by ‘class’, economic wealth may not be the most important

feature. Instead, the group may be bound by a common set of values, attitudes and

behaviour. Similarly, in an economically developed Western nation, ethnicity is more of

a social construct than one based on geography (see Hirschfeld, 1996). As such, class

and ethnic divisions still remain firmly entrenched in economically developed societies

despite a broad base of economic prosperity and policies that try to promote racial

equality. Regarding social class, this was reflected in the British Social Attitudes Report

where 57% identified themselves as working class despite the fact that only 31% were

actually employed in blue collar positions (Park et al, 2007).

The idea that class is a function of something other than economics was explored in

Goldthorpe and Lockwood’s (1963) seminal study of a British car factory. The authors

investigated differences in lifestyle between a group of working class labourers and a

group of middle class office workers. Despite the closing economic gap between the

groups, working class labourers continued to eat in the factory canteen, drink in public

houses, holiday in Spanish resorts, read tabloid newspapers, and their children left school

at sixteen. The middle class office workers ate their lunch at a serviced canteen, drank in

bars, holidayed in ‘up-market’ resorts, read broadsheet newspapers, and encouraged their

children to continue education after sixteen. The conclusion of this study was that class

differences remained a central feature of British life regardless of changing economic

fortunes. A similar theme emerges in studies on ethnicity where a recent study explored

how African-Caribbean boys living in Britain adopt American hip-hop culture as a means

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to both ‘transcend and confront’ their status in ‘white British’ society (Lindridge et al.,

2005). Although all participants in this study had been born and raised in Britain, they

had developed a clear cultural identity that separated them from white British youths that

was expressed through consumables that were given a racial identity based on the hip-hop

artist publicising them.

1.2 How lifestyle and cultural preferences influence visits to the UK’s National Parks

Within Britain (and many other economically developed Western nations) when visitors

to natural environments are examined in terms of social class and ethnicity, a common

pattern emerges. Visitors are overwhelmingly from affluent, middle class backgrounds

and nearly all are white (Breakell, 2002). This phenomenon has received increased

recognition over the last decade (see: Agyeman, 1995; Agyeman and Spooner, 1997;

Breakall, 2002; Pendergast, 2004) and traditionally, the absence of the working class (or

non-white ethnic groups) has been blamed on a lack of money, transport or leisure time

(Slee, 2002; Harrison, 1991). In an economically developed society, a simple lack of

funds, however, cannot explain the disproportionate number of white professionals

visiting national parks, and to fully explore the causes it is necessary to examine the

history, creation and meaning of Britain’s national parks.

In Britain, the countryside and rural way of life has always been viewed as an important

and unique part of the national identity and has been described as the 'essence of England'

(Agyeman and Spooner, 1997; Taylor, 1995). The ‘English Countryside’, therefore, is

not only a natural phenomenon, but is also a social creation loaded with images of middle

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class nature lovers on day trips to the country. This impression emerged quite strongly

during the nineteenth century, when, in the face of rapid industrialism, the Romantic

Movement appeared to offer an alternative to the gritty smoke stacks of the new

economy. Romantics abandoned principles of science and reason and stressed the power

of imagination, feeling and emotion. Disillusioned by the state of humanity in the cities,

Romantics focused attention on the aesthetics of the natural world and places that had

once been seen as ‘valueless’ became picturesque and sublime. Solitude and escape from

the city were key and walking in the countryside became:

“…bound up with notions of individuality and self development, with a retreat

from the city and the urban self, and towards a freeing of the body, a rediscovery

of childish sensation, and aesthetic and moral regeneration.” (Edensor, 2000:84).

In the world of visual arts and literature, images of the English countryside as a vast,

untamed wilderness emerged and the great poets of the day began to incorporate the

natural world into their writing. The Romantic poet Wordsworth described nature as “a

presence that disturbs me with the joy; Of elevated thoughts; a sense sublime.”

(Wordsworth, 1798). However, the Romantics, who were almost exclusively from the

upper and middle classes, expressed grave concern of the potential impact of too many

people accessing the countryside. Writing about the Lake District, Wordsworth claimed

that the area should be national property for the enjoyment of persons of “pure taste” and

not for the humbler class of “shopkeepers, artisans and labourers” (in Blunden and Curry,

1990). The upper class Romantics, therefore, were keen to keep the landscape exclusive

to those who had the financial and cognitive resources to appreciate “scenery, landscape,

image, [and] fresh air” (Williams, 1972: 6).

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Many modern authors argue that this ‘Romantic ethic’ has left its legacy in contemporary

society and Urry (1990) notes that middle class tourists still seek out the ideals of the

Romantic poets, describing such a tourist as having a ‘Romantic gaze’. In other words,

the romantic tourist seeks “…solitude, privacy and a personal and semi-spiritual

relationship with the object of the gaze” (1990: 104). Urry contrasts the Romantic gaze,

which is most often associated with more affluent people, with the ‘collective gaze’,

which is far more associated with the working classes and is driven by a view of the

world that emphasises conviviality. The ‘collective gazer’ seeks out “other people [to]

give atmosphere or a sense of carnival to a place” (Urry 1990: 45). By being with other

‘collective gazers’ the feeling that one is in the ‘correct’ place is reinforced regardless of

the landscape itself.

In the case of ethnic minority groups in the UK, the situation is somewhat different. In

these cases it may be a lack of any strong sense of belonging that goes further than the

class-based exclusivity of Romanticism. It may be the case that the individual from an

ethnic minority seeks out a gaze similar to that of the collective gazer, in that the presence

of others seeking a similar gaze is important. In this way, the individual’s original culture

is the most important variable for recreational choice. In other words, an individual is

likely to be influenced by their level of acculturation - the degree of assimilation into the

dominant culture. This hypothesis is developed by Berry (1980; 2003) who defines four

ways in which an ethnic group (or an individual belonging to an ethnic group) may locate

themselves in the dominant culture. These are 1) assimilation, where individuals from an

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ethnic minority seek out interaction with the dominant culture and place little value on

maintaining their original culture; 2) separation, where individuals hold onto their

original culture and avoid contact with the dominant culture; 3) integration, where

individuals retain their original culture whilst interacting with the dominant culture, and;

4) marginalization, where the individual is excluded from participation, for example,

through discrimination.

Floyd et al. (1993) contribute to this discussion through an examination of how Mexican-

American acculturation influenced outdoor recreation patterns. In their study, Floyd et al.

found that there was a significant difference in the use of designated recreation areas

between ‘low acculturated’ Mexican-Americans and Anglo-Americans. Low

acculturated Mexican-Americans chose leisure activities that were closest to those

practiced by Mexican communities. The authors concluded that, after education,

acculturation and was the most important factor in choices for participation in outdoor

recreation.

1.3 Management in the UK’s National Parks

In the UK, national parks are required to balance the recreational needs of the population

along with the need to conserve the nation’s cultural and natural heritage. This

requirement is reflected in Section 61 of the Environment Act, 1995, which sets out the

two statutory requirements of a national park as;

a) conserving and enhancing the natural beauty, wildlife and cultural heritage; and

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b) promoting opportunities for the understanding and enjoyment of the special

qualities of those areas by the public.

The fulfilment of the second requirement is particularly important since, as Rolston

(2002) puts it, there is a connection between ‘beauty and duty’; an individual who finds

an area beautiful is more likely to feel a sense of duty toward its protection. Where

management seeks to conserve and enhance the natural beauty, wildlife and cultural

heritage of an area, maintaining the aesthetic status quo becomes paramount. This often

means that a park will be kept the way it was when it was established, regardless of any

changes in how society perceives ‘beauty’. The UK’s national parks, for example, were

generally placed in regions that affluent, university-educated white people deemed

important in the middle of the twentieth century. In terms of their aesthetics, therefore,

the UK’s parks were designed by people who had been schooled in the Romantic idea of

wilderness and solitude.

However, the provision of recreational opportunity is among the most important of the

ecosystem services that the UK’s national parks perform. Indeed, management will often

sacrifice other ecosystem services in favour of recreational opportunity. For example,

Lee (1995) describes how, within the Lake District National Park (another of England’s

Northern Parks), the National Trust restored Yew Tree Tarn (a small lake) after an

underground fault caused the water to drain away. As Lee points out, the effort to ensure

the tarn remained “aesthetically desirable” required a perversion of “the course of nature

in order to serve our human purposes and ends” (1995:221-2). It could be argued,

therefore, that the UK’s national parks are often managed to preserve tranquillity and

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‘naturalness’ even if this results in a contrived landscape. Within this model, there is

little space for a dynamic and evolving environment, especially if there is the potential

that the resulting change may be seen as less aesthetically desirable by the people who

visit the region. Perhaps then, the absence of certain visitor groups is the result of a silent

conflict between land managers and visitors. In other words, it may be the case that

managers are maintaining a landscape aesthetic in line with what was considered

‘beautiful’ at a specific point in history regardless of today’s views. The people who do

not go to the park may share a different idea of ‘beauty’ from the Romantic ideas of

tranquillity and wilderness.

1.4 Management in the Peak District National Park

The Peak District National Park (PDNP) is an upland area located in central northern

England. It is an example of northern European ecosystem management, which focuses

on conserving early or mid-successional, semi-natural communities (Marrs et al., in

press). In the case of the PDNP, the dominant vegetation is heather moorland that is

conserved in its building phase (Dodgshon and Olsson, 2006) and if left unmanaged,

rapidly develops into birch forest. To prevent this, managers burn the heather regularly

(Thirgood et al., 2000), or use sheep to graze the young plants (Holden et al., 2007).

The heather moorlands of the PDNP are sustained primarily for their recreational

opportunity including grouse shooting and walking. In the PDNP, grouse shooting

provides an important source of income for many private landowners and those involved

in the tourism industry (Hudson, 1995). As grouse make their home in relatively young

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heather, the conservation of heather moorland is fundamental in ensuring the continuation

of hunting in the uplands and the continuation of hunting income. As a result, heather

moorlands have become synonymous with the ‘feel’ of the park and although this is an

‘unnatural’ landscape, in that it must be carefully managed, three quarters of visitors cite

the landscape and the associated ‘naturalness’, peace, and tranquillity as their primary

reason for visiting (Moors for the Future, 2004).

2. Methods

In an effort to empirically assess reasons why working class and ethnic minority groups

are under represented as visitors within the PDNP, two separate studies were conducted;

one focusing on social class and the other on ethnicity. The research methodology

followed a multi-method approach, in which qualitative and quantitative methods were

triangulated. This work builds on on-going participatory research (e.g. Dougill et al.,

2006) and other stakeholder led activities in the PDNP.

2.1 Study area

The participants of both studies were from Sheffield, a city in the north of England where

half of the population lives within 15 minutes of the PDNP (see figure 1). Sheffield has

typically been viewed as a working class city, however there is a large middle class

population residing mainly in the western suburbs. Although Sheffield is predominantly

white British, over the 1990s the ethnic minority population of Sheffield has grown by

80% to 45,000 individuals (Office of National Statistics, 2001).

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<Figure 1 about here>

2.2 Sampling

To assess social class, this study focused on 83 Key Stage 3 (aged 11-14) school children.

Children were selected for this study for two reasons: (1) they tend to reflect the

prevailing norms from their home environment and (2) they may carry their opinions and

views through to adulthood, thus shaping the future issues that may confront park

managers. The pupils in this study were from two very different schools, chosen to

reflect the class diversity within Sheffield. Just over half of the children came from

Waltheof School (n=44), which is situated to the east of the inner-city in a typically

working class area. The remaining children came from Tapton School (n=39), which is

situated in the affluent, middle class western suburbs of Sheffield. Both schools are

predominantly white in terms of ethnicity. The latest Office for Standards in Education

(OFSTED) report showed 76% of pupils at Waltheof School were white (OFSTED,

2001). Similarly the 2007 OFSTED report for Tapton School states that the “majority of

students are White British, with a quarter of the students coming from a variety of Black

and minority ethnic backgrounds.”

To assess the perceptions of black and ethnic minorities, this study focused on 40

members of Sheffield’s ethnic minority community. The 40 participants belonged to one

of two groups of 20 people each. The first group had worked with the Sheffield Wildlife

Trust as part of an environmental outreach programme designed to increase ethnic

minority participation in the countryside. The second was an ethnic minority social

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group who had no organised contact with the environment. The goal here was to

understand the perceptions of the natural environment held by Sheffield’s ethnic minority

population, and to assess the impact that an environmental outreach programme had on

these groups.

2.3 Data collection

To elicit opinions on the natural environment, this research used four sets of photographs

each of which represented a different type of environmental recreation space. The first

was of the Peak District moors (representing wilderness), an urban park (semi-natural), a

botanical garden (staged natural), and a shopping mall (built and unnatural). These

specific images were chosen based on Schivelbusch’s observation that “for the twentieth

century tourist, the world has become one large department store of countrysides and

cities” (1986: 197). In the post-modern world, the ‘natural’ and the ‘unnatural’ sit

together to form a pastiche of choices for leisure and recreation.

These photographs were used in a number of different ways. First, to determine how the

children perceived the moors, a mixed methods approach was used where all respondents

(n=83) were given a four-paged questionnaire that elicited responses based on the

photographs. Each set of photographs was accompanied by a series of five-point Likert

scale questions designed to gauge the respondent’s opinions, perceptions or preconceived

notions of the space in question. The statements concerned the following issues:

1. a sense of belonging

2. a perception of the space as dull (or not dull)

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3. a perception of the space as scary (or not scary)

4. a sense of personal safety

5. a desire to visit the area

6. a perceived sense that accessing the space will be easy

7. a feeling that the space could be a fun place to visit

The respondents rated each statement by selecting one of the following options; (1)

strongly agree; (2) agree; (3) not sure; (4) disagree and (5) strongly disagree. The scale

score was obtained by summing the responses to each item, taking into account scale

reversals for negative items.

Second, to further explore the children’s perceptions, individual and informal interviews

were carried out in a relaxed setting (n = 15). In this context, each pupil was presented

with the four sets of pictures used in the questionnaires, each of which had been mounted

on card and laid out on a table. A central question, ‘How do you feel about these four

places and why?’ was established and 6 follow up questions were asked in order to

generate a discussion:

1. If you could go to any of these places tomorrow, which place would you choose

to go to?

2. Why is this place your favourite place?

3. What activities would you do at this place?

4. Which place would you least like to go?

5. Why would you least like to go to this place?

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6. What activities would you do at this place?

The respondent was then asked three questions about each of the two remaining sets of

photographs, which had not been chosen as the best or worst place. They were;

1. What do you especially like about this place?

2. What do you dislike about this place?

3. What activities would you do at this place?

With specific regard to the moors the respondents were asked;

1. If you wanted to go to this place, how would you get there?

To assess the perceptions of the two ethnic minority groups, a similar questionnaire to the

one from the schools study was used. In addition, research used a focus group

methodology with the two predominately black community groups. These focus groups

had three stages all of which were facilitated by the researcher. Firstly, in an open

discussion, participants were asked to talk about their awareness and perceptions of the

PDNP. Secondly, participants were asked to order the pictures used in the questionnaire,

in terms of feelings of beauty, safety, isolation and solitude. Thirdly, and with the help of

an Ordinance Survey map, participants were asked to design their ideal PDNP, in terms

of the facilities available.

Quantitative results were analysed using SPSS. A Kruskal-Wallis One-Way Analysis of

Variance test was performed to establish the significance of the differences between the

two groups in each case study. A Mann-Whitney U test was performed to analyse the

significance of the variations of perceptions between the groups. Qualitative results were

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based on transcriptions from interviews and focus groups and analysed using a Grounded

Theory approach. Grounded Theory is a method designed to help researchers collect and

analyse data in order to develop theoretical models that help explain social phenomena.

To do this, transcripts were made of all proceedings and analyzed through a coding

process that added key words to specific quotes. These key words then became the basis

for the analysis (see: Corbin and Strauss, 1990; Glaser and Strauss, 1967).

These two studies (the first with children of different classes and the second with two

ethnic minority groups with different exposure to the environment) were conducted

independently of each other and were used as distinct and separate pieces of research. No

attempt was made to compare results between the study on class with the results on ethnic

background. The reason for this was to triangulate how the background (however

defined) of a potential park visitor might shape their perceptions of the park. In this, we

hope to provide an empirical base through which to explore how policy and park-land

management might need to shift to actively reflect the diverse needs and perceptions of

all potential visitors.

3. Results

3.1 Background to respondents.

The two schools showed considerable differences in terms of social class. To evaluate

social class, students were asked about their parents’ occupations. Using the Office for

National Statistics (2000) Standard Occupational Classification, numerical values were

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given to occupations where 10 = the highest social position and 1 = the lowest social

position. With a mean social class of 5.8 between the schools, children at Waltheof

School had below average scores (mean score for Waltheof = 3.8) and the children at

Tapton School were above average (mean score for Tapton= 8.1) (see table 1).

<Table 1 around here>

In the focus groups, the majority of respondents were of Black/Black British ethnicity

(see table 2). Within these groups, ethnicities were largely stated as Caribbean or African.

Other ethnicities were fewer in number and mixed race respondents were evenly spread.

The difference in ethnic origin between the two groups is statistically insignificant (p >

0.5).

<Table 2 around here>

3.2 Access to Park

Questionnaires revealed that students from the ‘higher’ social class school (Tapton) had

visited the moors, the botanical garden and the urban park more than the children at

Waltheof School (p<0.05). There was no difference between groups in the number of

visits to the mall. It does not seem that physical or financial barriers limit access to the

moors for students from the working class school. In both populations, the car was the

pupils’ main form of transport, although there was a higher incidence of car use at Tapton

School - 70.5% of children at Waltheof used the car as their primary method of transport,

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compared to 92% of children at Tapton. The fact that in both groups the car is cited as the

main form of transport suggests that it is simplistic to assume that working class children

are not taken to the countryside due to lack of access. In addition, the Waltheof pupils

appear to have more experience of using public transport than the Tapton pupils,

suggesting that it is not a lack of experience of using public transport that is preventing

them going to the park.

Perceptions of how easy access would be also differed by school. When asked “how

would you get to the moors?” the children from Tapton were able to provide detailed

answers. For example, one boy, aged 13, from Tapton said “I’d go up the snake pass… a

long and windy road through Glossop” while a 14-year old girl from Tapton suggested,

“I’d go up the road outside my house and I’d get the bus into the moors and then it stops

at a bit that’s good for walking and stuff.” In general, the children at Waltheof provided

much less detail when asked how they would access the moors. However, all children

stated that their parents would willingly take them to the moors if they asked them. A 13-

year old girl from Waltheof said, “My Granddad likes places like that [the moors]. I

could go with him if I wanted…but I wouldn’t want to go” while a 12-year old girl from

Waltheof said, “Yeah…someone would take me in the car if I wanted to go.”

In the ethnic minority focus groups, thirteen respondents from the environmentally

oriented group had been to the moors in the previous year as compared to only five

respondents from the non-environmental group (p<0.01). Nevertheless, virtually all

participants from both groups had access to cars (or could obtain rides from people who

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did own cars). Therefore, it seems that there is more than a simple access barrier that

prevents these groups from visiting the park.

3.3 Perceptions of place

78.5% of the children from the working class school rated the photograph of the moors as

their least preferred place to visit. This opinion was expressed by only 50% of the

children at the middle class school (p<0.05). By contrast the shopping mall was the most

favoured by 57% of the children at the working class school but only 20% of the children

at the middle class school rated the mall first. These results, which are statistically

significant (p<0.01) highlight the differences between the social classes. These opinions

were broadly confirmed by the qualitative analysis. For example, one pupil from the

middle class school said “I really love shopping but not really on a day like today because

it’s a nice day- it’s quite hot. The moors or the park would be better to go to … I like the

moors. I just like it!” At the working class school, typical comments included “I’d pick

the shops [as my favourite place] ‘cos I don’t really like any of the others.”

When rated as to whether the respondent felt the locations in the different pictures

provided a sense of belonging, whether they wanted to visit it, or whether the area was

dull, scary etc., there were significant differences with the middle class students ranking

the moors statistically more favourably than students from the working class school

(p<0.05). The interviews revealed that these opinions were often based on perceptions of

recreational opportunity in each place. For example, the opinions expressed by the pupils

at the middle class school revealed that they held positive perceptions of the recreational

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opportunities offered by the park. Those children actively sought out peace, tranquillity

and solitude. As one pupil at the middle class school said “[at the moors] you get to do

what you want. It’s peaceful and quiet and it’s good to go to think about something.” By

contrast, the opinions of the pupils at the working class school revealed that they wanted

something else from a possible moorland experience. One pupil commented, “it’s nice

views…it looks tranquil. That’s good if you’re into all that but I like it noisy.” There

were no statistically significant differences between the two schools when asked about

the other places. The botanical garden, park, and mall were all viewed in roughly the

same way by all respondents. Figure 2 illustrates Likert mean scores for each of the four

groups of photographs averaged across all seven questions.

<Figure 2 around here>

In the ethnicity study, overall, the group involved in the outreach project had a more

positive perception of all the places than the control group. The only exception was for

perceptions of the mall where the difference was not significant (p<0.05, see figure 3).

Unsurprisingly, the environmental group rated the photograph of the moors as their

favourite place, whereas the control group ranked the photograph of the moors last

(difference between groups is significant, p<0.05). This view was echoed during the

focus groups; for example, a typical comment from the environmental group included

“[The Park is] good for people who need to relax after a hard day’s work” while another

stated, “It’s good to get away from the city.” Comments made by members of the non-

24

environmental group suggest a general lack of awareness about the region: “I’ve never

been because I don’t know where it is” and “I do not know how to get there.”

During the focus groups, the environmental group expressed a high degree of happiness

with the recreational opportunity offered by the PDNP and cited countryside recreation as

a favourite activity. Typical comments included “[The facilities] cater for a wide range of

tastes with a wide range of activities.” On the other hand, the non-environmental group

was largely dissatisfied with the activities on offer. A general perception was that the

PDNP is lacking in children’s facilities and the introduction of playgrounds at suitable

sites seemed a popular idea. Farm-based activities were also a popular idea amongst this

group.

<Figure 3 around here>

4. Discussion

Overall, the results from this study support the theory that belonging to a particular group

(either class or ethnicity based) influences the decision to access ‘natural’ places. The

results also suggest that something more than just a lack of means creates barriers that

prevent some groups from deriving the same enjoyment from the landscape as others.

However, the results show that groups who previously have had no historic connection

with a specific type of landscape, such as new immigrants to the UK, may change their

opinions.

25

These empirical findings are broadly consistent with large scale studies conducted in

association with the PDNP where three quarters of visitors cite the landscape and the

associated peace and tranquillity as the primary reason for visiting (Moors for the Future,

2004). By contrast, non-visitors say there is ‘no particular reason’ for their absence or

that they are ‘simply not interested’ (National Centre for Social Research, 1998). Taken

together, these studies and the results presented here, could suggest that non-visitors may

simply not desire to experience the ‘peace and tranquillity’ of the moors. Or, perhaps it

could indicate that for those who choose not to visit, the moors do not inspire this ‘peace

and tranquillity’. Therefore, it may be the case that when looking at the moors, the

children from Waltheof School are gazing at something different from the children at

Tapton School and similarly, the ethnic minority group with no experience of the moors

is gazing at something different from the group with experience.

To use these results to better manage landscapes, we need to develop a more

sophisticated understanding of ‘place’ in a multi-cultural, cosmopolitan, and

economically diverse country. For example, Johnston (1991) argues that all places are

social creations and that different places differ because people have made them do so. It

could, therefore, be argued that those who visit the moors do so because they are part of

this act of social creation. They are part of the self-reproduction of the moors as a

landscape in which people learn to nurture a particular set of beliefs and attitudes with

regard to a type of environment. In this way, the moors transmit an ideology and identity,

replicating white, middle class attitudes on what is beautiful and natural. If this is true,

and the evidence presented here suggests it is, then it is easy to see how groups who do

26

not share a Romantic attitude towards aesthetics and nature may be excluded, even if it is

apparently through a personal ‘choice’.

The most apparent contrast with a Romantic landscape in the locale of Sheffield is a

shopping mall, which is an ideal place to observe a more ‘collective’ approach to leisure.

A shopping mall is more than just a place where material goods can be consumed and

Fox (2005) states, for many people shopping malls “… nurture the soul and the society,

not just the body and economy.” Bauman (1998:26) talks of the impact consumerism has

had on less affluent members of society, where “the road to self-identity, to a place in

society, to life lived in a form recognisable as that of meaningful living, all require daily

visits to the market place… one needs to be a consumer first, before one can think of

becoming anything in particular.” Identities are created in the mall and, like the moors,

the mall can act as an ideology transmitter. Unlike the moors, however, with the

Romantic emphasis on solitary reflection, the mall helps transform the ideology of

consumerism into a definition of beauty through a form of collective identity. Certainly,

most of the children at both schools are consumers of this mass identity and all appeared

to feel an affinity toward the mall. However, the children at Tapton School appreciated

that the mall was only one experience open to them and their desire to consume was

offset by their desire to experience other places. As one pupil at Tapton said “Yeah, I

could have a good time [at the mall]. It’s inside so it’s good for a bad day... If it was a

nice day I’d do something outside though.”

27

As Lidridge et al.’s (2005) study of hip-hop culture in Afro-Caribbean groups shows,

consumerism has also done well at incorporating certain ethnic groups. In the ethnicity

study, the mall scored highly for both groups. In particular, the group with no history of

participation in the moors scored the mall as their favourite place and the moors as their

least favourite.

Walking for reflective purposes, which is an activity the Romantics took very seriously,

did not appeal to the Waltheof children. They appeared to crave a more active and

collective activity that could be enjoyed as a group. Many of the children at Waltheof

School (and none of those at Tapton School) expressed a desire to chase the sheep. The

desire to chase sheep is perhaps symbolic of a desire to be involved in a collective and

‘fun’ pursuit. Similarly, none of the respondents in the non-environmental ethnic

minority focus group thought the moors offered them facilities or experiences they would

enjoy. There appeared to be no correlation between enjoyment of the moors and

enjoyment of the botanical gardens, adding strength to the notion that for those who enjoy

the moors, the area is about more than flora and fauna.

5. Conclusion

As Stendhal eloquently stated “beauty is nothing other than the promise of happiness.”

(1822 [1975]:66). For those who find beauty in the Peak District moors, they are buying

into the promise of a lifestyle that will bring them joy. For those who see the moors as a

barren wasteland, there is no hint that being part of this landscape will add anything of

value to their lives. However irrelevant this may seem, it remains the case that many of

28

those who see no value in the PDNP have some influence over the park’s future.

Therefore, their view of the park as valueless could be seen as a threat to those who want

to maintain the landscapes of Britain’s cultural past, and it is undoubtedly the

responsibility of the parks management to solve this problem.

If it is the case that the current management of the PDNP results in the exclusion of

certain groups (as the results from this paper suggests it is), then it is up to management

to explore alternative approaches. An exploration of the three management strategies

noted in the introduction to this paper (education, regulation and legislation) may be a

good starting point for developing an alternative approach to park management.

However these strategies are not without issue. Firstly, implicit in the idea that attitudes

can be changed through education is the assumption that there is only one way that the

moors should be enjoyed – through the eyes of the Romantics. The idea of changing the

gaze of a whole section of society is laden with value judgements. Secondly, whilst

deregulation of the park may attract a more diverse range of visitor, it may also create

discontent among the ‘Romantics’. As Walter (1982) points out “romanticism exalts

solitude”, and for those Romantics this is the only way they know to enjoy nature.

Thirdly, legislation may serve to conserve the park, but this may be at the expense of

those who enjoy roaming freely and undermine both conservation and local people’s

needs.

29

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge the generous support of Moors for the Future and the Rural Economy and Land Use Programme for funding this work. The Moors for the Future Partnership is supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund (http://www.moorsforthefuture.org) and the Rural Economy and Land Use Programme is funded jointly by the Economic and Social Research Council, the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council and the Natural Environment Research Council, with additional funding from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and the Scottish Executive Environment and Rural Affairs Department. Specifically, the authors are funded through the Rural Economy and Land Use project RES-224-25-0088 and ES/E017479/1. The views expressed here do not necressarly reflect those of the funding bodies. Thanks also go to Jessica Robinson for helping with interviews, the staff and students at Waltheof and Tapton schools and the members of the focus groups. Thanks also go to Dr. Andrew Dougill and Dr. Joseph Murphy, at the University of Leeds, and three anonymous reviewers for thoughtful comments on earlier drafts of this paper.

30

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