Posted by Mike Dennis on September 20, 2017 at 00:18:48 user MTD.
In Reply to: The next generation posted by MarkD on September 19, 2017 at 07:08:16:
Well Mark, an interesting question.
My thoughts (for what they are worth as a non-parent, never sailed, never camped but lifelong AR reader) is I agree with your wife, and not just because one of semi-obsessive interests other than AR is most things Scandinavian!
From what I have seen the Norway and Sweden options will give you and your children a more 'real' experience of the S&A world. Why?
As regular readers here know I live in the area of Secret Water, which though not mentioned in the book includes the Naze. Recently the local council in conjunction with the Essex Wildlife Trust have built a 'visitor's centre' so turning a natural headland in to a glorified theme park. It's supposed to be an educational centre for the school parties that visit mainly for fossil hunting on the beaches, but of course it is no more than a cafe and gift shop.
I have not visited the Lake District since childhood, but get the impression from TV documentaries that the natural landscape is more and more viewed as a place where famous writers spent there time and were inspired - Wordsworth, Potter etc and thanks to the recent film AR is not far behind. So there are lots of ‘helpful’ places to visit and signs everywhere to satisfy visitors.
When AR wrote the SA series he often had digs at the encroachment of visitors, and these days (as at the Naze) they are being accommodated at the expense of what made the landscape inspiring in the first place. I do wonder what he would make of the area now?
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