Attractions and visitors

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Happy visitors, preferably lots of them, are essential to success at almost all heritage attractions. Whether your goal is to make money or to turn hearts and minds to a conservation cause, the happiness of your visitors is a vital first step.  A basic (at least) understanding of visitor motivations is essential to that. But […]

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We hadn’t seen each other for some time, so all we wanted was a nice day out together.  Hannah, my 20 year old daughter, suggested we went to Chatsworth. I was amazed. It seems only yesterday that she was a stroppy teenager with several awards for ‘attitude’ who wouldn’t and couldn’t be dragged to a […]

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We visited three museums on Thursday as part of the AHI Conference in ‘glorious Shropshire’.  The RAF Museum at Cosford was the one I was least looking forward to.  It turned out to be the one with the best interpretation and where I had the most profound visit experience. (It is very often good to […]

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I have written here about the question I asked on ask a curator day. It was about this piece of art I thought mine was a very obvious question. So I asked the room stewart/interpreter/guide/attendant whether lots of people asked that.  She masked her surprise well, I thought, and told me no one had ever […]

How I visit an art gallery

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I love visiting art galleries.  I have no formal training in art. I suspect I know a lot less about techniques, media, style or even artists than most other people who enjoy visiting art galleries. Sometimes someone tries to fill those large gaps in my knowledge  which can rather spoil things. Other times I am just […]

The art of tweeting at The Hepworth Wakefield

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On Wednesday we discovered how Twitter can make a good day out even better. We weren’t too surprised to hear back from our brother-in-law, but another response surprised and impressed us. How about that for a welcome? We behaved exactly as predicted, that is: felt immensely welcome, warm to our hosts (the newish gallery The […]

Focus on first time visitors – is the first time the worst?

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If the first time really is the worst, why would we ever do it again? Smoking , sex, whiskey, going into a bird hide or a stately home can all be a bit of a shock first time around.  It gets better when know what to expect, know what you like and can make it […]

A simple idea, made beautifully

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When we really believe the things we have share are beautiful and valuable it makes a difference to how we share them.  Or, to put it another way, the way we present activities or information carries implicit messages about how much it matters … to us and therefore, by implication, to the visitor. We were […]

Interpretation I like very much – Brigit’s Garden, Co. Galway, Ireland

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The best interpretation is often, when we come down to it, about love, inspiration and sustained hard work.  At Brigit’s Garden all of these are evident; they come together to create a beautiful and satisfying place to visit. Brigit’s Garden was designed by leading Irish garden designer, Mary Reynolds. It is a multi-sensory delight, filled […]

Focus on visitors: what are visitors to heritage sites really interested in?

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Holiday snaps. Snippets of experience. Souvenirs. Keepsakes. Momentos. Capturing the historic city of Lucca, Tuscany, Italy  Making an album. A record. Telling a story. A story of a place and my experience in it. All around us, wherever we go, people are snapping and whirring. Catching the moment. Seizing the (holiday) day. Those of us […]