Ideas from the inter-war years

Walkers still thought of the countryside as a haven of peace and security. Sometimes the photographs the interviewees took and the way they spoke about the countryside was like the countryside celebrated in the Shell Guides of the interwar years showing pictures of serene villagers, Taylor’s idea of England as a reliable make: unhurried, calm, unchanged for centuries, a place of refuge and regeneration after the horrors of the First World War (Taylor 1994). At that time there was already a sense of nostalgia for less hurried times, and the interviews with current walkers showed similar nostalgia and valuing the countryside as a peaceful space.

Interviewees had taken photos to try to capture landscapes which evoked feelings of peace and calm, as well as invigorating and awe inspiring landscapes.

“It’s lovely isn’t it? I think we were having lunch at this point. So again I think there’s a church there. So it’s just that little community nestling at the foot of the hills. So lovely. So you’ve got one hill coming down from the left and one coming down from the right and one forming a frame at the back and that little village nestling there. It’s lovely. And again the dry stone wall and they’re

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deciduous trees not coniferous trees. Well they’re much more attractive, aren’t they?” Sarah (moderate to easy walker, walking group member)

This was a gentle landscape (photo 13) described in terms of security, “nestling” in the landscape. It could almost be one of the unchanging typically English villages as captured and celebrated on posters or Shell Guides in the inter-war years, or in the paintings of Samuel Palmer. There is nostalgia but Sarah was also interested in history particularly related to this part of the world (the Cheviots) where she felt at home.

Photo 13 – Sarah, Cheviots ©

Harder walkers also photographed images of peace. Stephen took a photo of mountains reflected in a loch. This was perhaps a traditional image of the sort often seen in

calendars but it was talked about in an emotional way. He had taken the photo to capture the peace of the moment:

“Yeah it’s very peaceful as well, it’s very calm. Early in the morning such that we’ve got that perfect reflection of the mountains, the mountainside, the clouds all appearing again reflected in the surface of that loch. And again, an unusual view. You don’t often catch those still mornings when you get a view like this. You need to be immersed in that environment to have a chance of experiencing them. And you might notice it as you’re driving along the road but you

wouldn’t properly appreciate how still and quiet it is unless you were stood in that environment and could feel the absence of the wind. You could hear the absence of the wind, and you properly appreciate just how calm the environment is, such that you get a view like that.” Stephen (hard walker, not a walking group member)

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This was a physical experience the calm scene, hearing no wind, and being part of, or out in the landscape. It was an experience he would not have had by just looking and hence his repetition of the word “environment”. The scene was tranquil to look at but for Stephen, being there and the “immersion” in that environment were more important. Another of Stephen’s images was of being inside a tent looking out (photo 14). It was reminiscent of images of domesticity looking out onto the landscape beyond as seen in inter-war artists’ work. It is an image taken from a place of safety looking out onto the landscape.

“I like this because it sort of summarises for me what, how it’s possible to sort of translocate your home, all your belongings to a remote environment. So that’s sat in the tent. There’s everything I need pretty well in that view. There’s a means of cooking, drinking, walking, food and a roof over my head and all from that little, that little nest, we’ve got such a wonderful view.” Stephen (hard walker, not a walking group member)

Photo 14 – Stephen, Inside of tent looking out, Scotland ©

This gives on one level a sense of what is needed to walk in remote areas but on another level the tent becomes a “home” and “nest”. Walkers are finding peace and

contentment in the landscape, and a sense of being at home. Sarah, for example, experiences the village she sees as something that has been there a long time, is rooted in the landscape and as peaceful, life going on as it has for centuries. Stephen’s tent

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becomes a home but this is not a refuge from the wilderness. The wilderness was still inviting to him and he talked of how wonderful it was to wake up and see that sort of view outside the tent. Such landscapes were not threatening. He said that in contrast he would feel anxious if he were to camp in an urban run down area:

“Their remoteness means they demand respect. Their roughness and sometimes altitude means climatically they can be challenging, um, but not necessarily threatening. I’ve never felt insecure which I suspect if I was camping on a bit of scrubland in a built up area I certainly would do.” Stephen (hard walker, not a walking group member)

Four other interviewees had taken photos through stone archways or behind stone walls looking out onto landscape (Photos 15 and 16). These were also images of refuge and safety:

“I took that because it’s a, it is a big castle (photo 15). I am always impressed by how thick the walls are of these castles.” Joy (moderate to easy walker, walking group member)

In this example, there is an idea about the reassuring thickness of the walls. Such images also refer us to artistic convention, deliberately making an interesting composition –framing the landscape.

Photo 15 – Joy, archway Yorkshire ©

Wylie has written of the tower on Glastonbury Tor providing a point of reference so visitors would orient themselves with their backs to the walls of the tower to view the landscape. In this way the tower regulated vision (Wylie 2002 p. 452). Two walkers said they had taken the photos because they were looking to the next stage on the

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“Respondent: Because again I’m looking beyond to see what’s coming next. And I’d reached an end point and there was a, I know why I took that one. There was a lovely breeze coming through and it was really refreshing and I got to the, as far as I could get, and then there was this wonderful aperture and then the breeze coming through was so refreshing, and it was, it just added to the excitement.

Interviewer: And you were excited because you might be going beyond this or you could see something?

Respondent: Or that there is the possibility of another day exploring somewhere else. And also a sense of achievement, fulfilment even. I think I probably needed to sit and rest at the top, because it involved climbing to get there.” Rose (easy to moderate walker, not a group member)

This was a place of rest and a chance to look around before going on. This again is similar to the experience of the walkers who reach to top of Glastonbury Tor (Wylie 2002), sit down and feel a sense of security as the wide “vertiginous” views retreat to the safety of picturesque views.

In these examples the archways also acted as gateways to what could be seen beyond. Rose had been walking with her partner in France when taking this photograph (Photo 16). The walk had been a bit of an adventure, following an unclear path along a ridge. It was hot too and Rose talked on the sensual experience of walking, smelling the herbs. The breeze and this archway provided a break but framed enticing new adventures for other days.

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Some of the images of peace and security, like the village in Northumberland are like going back to England as a “reliable make” or nostalgia for the old days (Taylor 1994) with old fashioned villages clustered around a square-towered church, timeless and unchanging, or the comfort of thick castle walls that had stood the test of time for hundreds of years. Such ways of thinking about the landscape were not confined to easy/moderate walkers or members of a walking group. The image from inside a tent by Stephen is reminiscent of images in the Inter-war years looking out from a cosy and womb-like interior to the landscape beyond. Even though the view from the tent is to wild landscape, he thought of this as a peaceful and comforting landscape. Archways too provided a place of respite, a safe place to view the world beyond. These, however, were more fleeting, resting places, and often a gateway to a wider world to be explored. Perhaps Stephen and Rose as people who have walked on their own share a delight in exploring wilder landscapes.