Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
Plate 6.2:
Sissinghurst, Kent. Rural
heritage is a significant attraction base
for rural tourism and recreation. Made
famous through the writings and
lifestyles of Vita Sackville-West and
Harold Nicholson, Sissinghurst is an
attraction for gardeners and literary-
minded visitors alike.
affected by social class, and participation rates consistently show that the more affluent,
better educated and more mobile people visit the country-side, while women have much
lower rates. As long ago as the mid-1960s, Dower (1965) recognised leisure as the
'fourth wave' which compared the leisure phenomenon with three previous events in
history that changed human activity and behaviour: the advent of industrialisation, the
railway age, and urban sprawl, with leisure being the fourth wave. Patmore (1983)
commented that
countryside recreation is no new phenomenon, but [since the early 1960s]
consequent pressure on fragile environments, has fully justified Dower's
vision of a great surge in townspeople breaking across the countryside, the
fourth wave. By any measure, the phenomenon is of immense
significance.
(Patmore 1983:124)
Patmore (1983) outlined the geographer's principal concerns with the demand for rural
recreation in terms of research on the increasing participation among different socio-
economic groups using rural areas for recreational activities coupled with the impact of
car ownership, and the resulting development of, and impact on, destinations. As a means
of assessing the patterns and processes shaping
