Is this love or confusion?
06th August 2016
6th August
Is this love or confusion?
"Bumble, bumble across the mountainside
B,B,B, bumble bumble mountains far and wide
To hell with conservation, there's a motorway to ride
Because everyone's coming home to Langdale" (unknown)
It is the start of the summer vacation period and in some ways the beginnings of what is pejoratively described as the 'Silly Season'.
The pubs and Tea rooms fill, roads are stacked up with cars, caravans that are bursting at the rivets an column of motorbikes menacingly parade through towns and villages. The Lakes is being loved just too much!!!!
From the the time of Wordsworth, the Lakes has been a popular destination and rightfully so, but there are times, I fear, the reason people come here is being lost as the main honey spots become nothing more than, non tangible - pleasure experiences.
What do I mean by this?
It is where the Lakes is the place to visit to experience things that are not directly associated to the nature and landscape architecture that has made it so famous. Visitors bring their children to a superstores to shop (and where there is a 'Fairyland' - Santas Grotto for a summer audience) or slide down a zip wire to get in touch with their inner primate. All the while consuming copious quantities of snacks, spurious named Cumbrian traditional delicacies and shopping as if it was an Olympic sport. In short, the Lakes becomes an open air shopping mall, with customer interactive, activities.
I do not understand this, and though I cannot help be slightly judgemental, my main gripe is the impact on the environment. All around, due to the increased numbers of people, suddenly there is more litter. The quiet places are filled with picnic makers, every stream and lake has a family 'established' like a royal party, with hampers, camp seats, fires, towels and swim cosies hanging from tree/bushes and music penetrating the Lakeland air.
What is happening to wild life? How many nests disturbed, fragile places eroded, rare, beautiful flowers trodden into the earth? How many more green, wonderfully rare and beautiful spaces are being 'eyed-up' to be turned into a revenue making space?
The lakes is very a wonderful and beautiful place, but at times I fear Banksy should have established his dystopian 'Dismal Land' in the Lakes at August. The contrast between the beauty of the landscape and our activities within it are stark.
Is this love or confusion?
"Bumble, bumble across the mountainside
B,B,B, bumble bumble mountains far and wide
To hell with conservation, there's a motorway to ride
Because everyone's coming home to Langdale" (unknown)
It is the start of the summer vacation period and in some ways the beginnings of what is pejoratively described as the 'Silly Season'.
The pubs and Tea rooms fill, roads are stacked up with cars, caravans that are bursting at the rivets an column of motorbikes menacingly parade through towns and villages. The Lakes is being loved just too much!!!!
From the the time of Wordsworth, the Lakes has been a popular destination and rightfully so, but there are times, I fear, the reason people come here is being lost as the main honey spots become nothing more than, non tangible - pleasure experiences.
What do I mean by this?
It is where the Lakes is the place to visit to experience things that are not directly associated to the nature and landscape architecture that has made it so famous. Visitors bring their children to a superstores to shop (and where there is a 'Fairyland' - Santas Grotto for a summer audience) or slide down a zip wire to get in touch with their inner primate. All the while consuming copious quantities of snacks, spurious named Cumbrian traditional delicacies and shopping as if it was an Olympic sport. In short, the Lakes becomes an open air shopping mall, with customer interactive, activities.
I do not understand this, and though I cannot help be slightly judgemental, my main gripe is the impact on the environment. All around, due to the increased numbers of people, suddenly there is more litter. The quiet places are filled with picnic makers, every stream and lake has a family 'established' like a royal party, with hampers, camp seats, fires, towels and swim cosies hanging from tree/bushes and music penetrating the Lakeland air.
What is happening to wild life? How many nests disturbed, fragile places eroded, rare, beautiful flowers trodden into the earth? How many more green, wonderfully rare and beautiful spaces are being 'eyed-up' to be turned into a revenue making space?
The lakes is very a wonderful and beautiful place, but at times I fear Banksy should have established his dystopian 'Dismal Land' in the Lakes at August. The contrast between the beauty of the landscape and our activities within it are stark.