The rural idyll

Cards (7)

  • What are the factors that people use to judge whether a place is idyllic or not?
    1. Tranquillity
    2. Natural landscapes
    3. Historical and cultural associations
  • Tranquillity
    • No industry
    • No anti-social behaviour
    • No noise pollution
    • No traffic
    • Isolation
    • Wildlife
    • Lack of globalisation
  • Natural landscapes
    • Biodiversity
    • Rolling green hills
    • Less pollution
    • Coast
    • Lakes/Valleys/Rivers
  • Historical and cultural associations
    • Fishing ports
    • Braunton Burrows training site
    • Converted train station
    • Tarka trail
    • Roman infrastructure
    • Castles
    • Churches
  • What is the rural idyll?
    An idealised, romanticised construct that presents rural areas as happier, healthier and with fewer problems than urban areas
  • Media representations of the rural idyll
    Cottage Core (Imagined)
    • Quiet
    • Relaxing
    • Good weather
    This Country (Real)
    • Church
    • Social solidarity
    • Tradition
  • The Anti-Idyll
    The reality of rural areas is masked:
    • Average of 23.4% households in poverty
    • 25% of children in rural schools have experimented with illegal drugs
    • 115% rise in homelessness in the last 2 years
    • Higher rate of domestic violence
    • Nimbyism (not in my backyard)