The challenge

The New Forest’s special character and its wildlife richness depends to a large extent on the continuity of management and the fact that the medieval rights of ‘commoning’ survive.

A relatively small group of New Forest residents exercise their rights but most people do not understand them. As in many protected areas there is a clash of the old and the new.  Conservationists feel embattled.

Our response

We worked with the Project partners to agree a suite of messages that focused on the qualities of the New Forest.

 We then worked on-to-one with the partners who would deliver the projects to make sure those messages were a core part of the project.

The interpretation planning focused on communicating with local people and regular visitors who live just outside the National Park. There was a strong emphasis on activity and face-to face work.

Our proposals included a training package to help local people share their enthusiasm for the Forest and to give visitors and newer residents better insights into the traditional way of life.

 

Related Projects

  • Mentoring for Irish heritage attractions

    • Heritage and Wildlife Interpretation
    • Sustainable Heritage Tourism
    • Training and Mentoring
    • Visitor Experience Strategy

    We work with Fáilte Ireland (the Irish Tourism Development Authority) to raise standards in visitor experience at Irish heritage attractions.

  • Past and Future in the New Forest National Park

    • Community Heritage
    • Heritage and Wildlife Interpretation
    • Heritage Lottery Funding
    • National Park
    • Natura 2000 European Site

    We wrote an Interpretation Strategy and helped delivery partners to plan their interpretive projects for this complex HLF bid.