Vocal Voices

You need a £45,000 income to do so, so says some self-aggrandising and unelected think tank!

What are these idiots putting in their porridge? The thick-tankers jump straight on the social housing bandwagon where, apparently, less than half the people enjoy the beauty of urban and rural areas so it must be a money thing.

Well it probably is if a family wants to spend a few nights in a four star guest house, but there are things called days out and picnics and they can be as cheap as stopping at home. It is more likely to be a lifestyle choice.

Most of us can be in open countryside within half an hour of leaving home. We do not need to visit a stately home, or theme park, or national park, or picture postcard village and I am sick of money being used as an excuse as to why we do not do things.

When we were on benefits you could go to Glen Doll and camp on the camp site there for 50p a night. That was the later 1980's. It was wonderful, no cars, carry everything in through the gate by hand, it was really for backpackers and worked perfectly. Toilets and running water only, wash in your tent or the North Esk if could stand the cold.

We had many wonderful weekends there and many weeks in the summer, walking with the kids and eating mainly from BBQ although we had full cooking facilities.

After we both went back to work we'd only come for the weekends. A couple of times we noticed that there was a trend for young people from the city, clearly not working but probably students, who all arrived in one or two cars, bring virtually nothing but drink and generally set out to make a nuisance of themselves. Because of work and me working away we went there less and less.

Around 2000 time we went back for a walk and noticed the camp site was closed. We asked the ranger about it and he told us the farmer who basically ran it for the walkers was having to put up with yobs, unemployed, bringing massive boom boxes and nothing but booze. They left their crap all over the place and he was having to do a major clean up every Monday. It drove the walkers away and also those who wanted nothing more than a quite weekend out in the country where the whole family could walk and enjoy the sights.

They can talk all they want about 45k to come to the country. There's plenty I don't want in the country. People who live in the city and think the area around them is a dustbin for their rubbish that someone else will just come by and pick up for them.

If the papers want to tell that type that they can't afford the country I'm all for it. The others will already know different.

There have always been boorish types and some of the worst I have come across arrived in their latest plate Audis, Range Rovers and soft-top Mercs.

The fact remains that there are many places to escape the madding crowds with a cool box full of drinks, sandwiches and fruit/sweets.

It is not income that is preventing or enabling people to be out enjoying the countryside, it is more a case of people not thinking of getting out for a day or a weekend.

Workingman wrote:It is not income that is preventing or enabling people to be out enjoying the countryside, it is more a case of people not thinking of getting out for a day or a weekend.

I'll go with that one. Apparently if you're not going to Spain or Greece and getting lashed, you are not having fun.....

We are not having a holiday this year, so we have days out. An impromptu trip out with a picnic or just a lovely peaceful walk with the dog over fields and woodland. Can't beat that. We come home refreshed and relaxed. Cost little because we are staying local.

Nail on the head, Loz.

It has nothing at all to do with money. It has nothing to do with large salaries. It can be done for pennies. It is up to us to want to do it, to turn off the TV, Xbox, catch-up, Video and get out there.

It is our choice.

Living by the sea as we do, we notice that Eastern Europeans are terrific for putting together picnics and going to the seaside with their families for the day. A bit of football on the grass, maybe some fishing off the pier, babies being played with on a rug - a simple family day out for a small outlay.

We have our impromptu days off, but we don't take picnics or the like, because half the fun to us is visiting the local pub / cafe for a meal out!

Ahh, but that's when things start to get expensive