Summer snapshot of English countryside and coast 2011

I want to show you how well chosen pictures can help you communicate a really powertful message. They really can save you a thousand words.

My shot of the  river Medway, that appears above, shows it flowing through the gap, (now known as the Valley of Visions), that it has cut through the chalk of the Kent Downs, near Medway. See how Dickens’s words add to the power of the image when set alongside as a caption.

The words of the greatest writers can be used for marketing purposes, although you must still take care that the context of their use is entirely appropriate, and be prepared to seek permission from the author’s descendants. Naturally, it’s an advanatege when the text is out of copyright, as in the case of Dickens, because no royalty is payable; but acknowledgement of the source is still a pre-requisite. Great words can help you tell a story that makes a real impression on the mind, or teaches you something that will always be remembered.

I’m sharing some of the photos I’ve been taking while walking in the local countryside of Kent this summer. See how, when the words of one of our greatest writers about the places pictured are added, the images take on an entirely  new life and significance. It all supports my belief that the Dickens connection willl encourage tourism to the countryside of Kent as well as towns and cities in 2012, which will mark the bicentenary of his birth. Read more about Dickens 2012.

Dickens actually grew up in the nearby Medway town of Chatham, and chose to live out his final years at Gad’s Hill Place, overlooking the same part of the Medway valley, above the village of Cuxton, which is shown in the picture below. I’m starting to understand why.

Dickens knew Kent well, and loved it so deeply that he chose to honeymoon in the county, spent many holidays along its coastline, and  featured it in many of his best loved novels, including ‘ Great Expectations’ and ‘David Copperfield’.

 

What has really amazed me as I’ve shot these images of beautiful countryside, is how empty some parts of the landscape still are. They must be pretty much unchanged since Dickens came this way. He spent many holidays writing in Dover Folkestone and Broadstairs.

Here’s what he wrote about his coastal walks  in south east Kent when he was writing for his magazine Household Words in Folkestone in 1851

Our situation is delightful, our air is delicious, and our breezy hills and downs, carpeted with wild thyme, and decorated with millions of wild flowers, are, on the faith of a pedestrian, perfect.

Wild flowers above the white cliffs of Kent, where Dickens enjoyed 'going for a blow'

Britain is actually a pretty crowded island.  Southern England has an average population density of around 658 people per square kilometre (which is greater than the average for the Netherlands) and yet it’s still possible, indeed I’d even say easy, to get away from it all, if you know where to go and are prepared to walk – like Dickens did – even on summer weekends, as my pictures illustrate.

This magificent view looking west from the cliffs above South Foreland towards Dover harbour is likely to have been on the route of one of Dickens's 20 mile walks from Dover.

Writers sometimes get stressed out and find themselves in need of a break. Dickens was no exception. Here he is again, writing to fellow author Wilkie Collins about taking a break from working on Little Dorritt in Folkestone in 1855:

‘You know my state of mind as well as I do. How I work, how I walk, how I shut myself up, how I roll down hills and climb up cliffs; how the new story is everywhere, heaving on the sea, flying with the clouds, blowing in the wind; how I settle to nothing’.

Dickens’s writing reaches across the years as only the greatest can. In another letter, written to his actor friend Macready the same year, Dickens wrote that he was constantly tempted  ‘to run out on the breezy downs here, tear up the hills, slide down the same and conduct myself in a frenzied manner, for the relief that only exercise gives me.’ I understand  the feeling: working hard makes me feel I need to take a trip to the gym myself to unwind.

In a letter to his wife dated May 1856, Dickens told her that he ‘did nothing at Dover (except for Household Words), and have not begun Little Dorrit no. 8 yet (his novels were written and published in instalments). But I took twenty- mile walks in the fresh air and perhaps in the long run did better than if I had been at work’. It could almost have been written yesterday.

Until next time…

Virtual Viv is part of the team at Manifold Associates, working in the UK and travelling the world independently to inform you with incisive commentary in words and pictures about things that matter in marketing.   Freelance assignments welcomed. Maybe you’re a business looking to capitalise on the opportunities that London 2012 or Dickens 2012 might bring to you. We’re flexible and versatile. If you’d like to discuss how we might be able to help you, please get in touch.

A change of climate: from Kent To Copenhagen

Why climate change is a hot topic

With the United Nations Climate Change Conference on in Copenhagen until Friday 18^th December, my thoughts have turned to this controversial subject. A website called Do the Green Thing.com offers an alternative take on the difficulties in reaching an international agreement on climate change at Copenhagen. Scroll down the page to see  ‘A Recipe for a Successful Copenhagen’.  – click here to view the video . It uses humour to try and make a serious point about the unenviable task faced by delegates attending the event.

Symptoms of climate change?

In spite of the efforts of climate sceptics trying to prove otherwise from information purporting to support their argument from the University of East Anglia in Norwich; the most authoritative and credible sources, from the BBC to the Met Office and Nasa seem to be agreed that climate change is happening. Equally compelling from my own personal point of view, are the symptoms I’ve observed with my own eyes, in my own backyard.

As autumn turns to winter, I’ve decided this week to share my own (admittedly entirely unscientific) micro observations of what I’ve noticed happening in the area near where I’ve lived for almost 20 years. I believe I’ve begun to spot symptoms of climate change in the rural parts of  Kent, and other parts of southern and south eastern England, that I know well.

Personal observations in the rural Weald of Kent

This is a region sheltered by a lofty arc of chalk downland to the north and south, with a relatively flat Low Weald vale of clay forming a sandwich between a concentric ridge of greensand, and a central sandstone ridge known as the High Weald at its heart.

When we first moved to the Low Weald village of Marden, almost 20- years ago, the land immediately around our home consisted of strawberry fields, hop gardens , and apple and pear orchards. The beautiful rolling countryside shown in my photographs as it changes with the seasons, is dotted with oak trees,  and remnants of ancient woodland that gets carpeted with bluebells in spring. The trees and the woodland are thankfully still there, and so is the pear orchard; but where I walk our dog every day, many of the hedges, three strawberry fields, and an apple orchard have all been ripped out within the last decade.

This has followed the installation of no doubt expensive piped irrigation during the increasingly arid summers, when the clay soil shrinks and dries rock hard (for what seems a slightly longer period with each passing year); and I now have to water my personal strawberry patch to encourage the fruit to grow to its full potential.

Only in the last couple of years have I begin to notice (with increasing concern) a network of cracks several inches deep, pulling open the grass of our paddock during summer months. This is in addition to those I always noticed on the bare earth of footpaths across the adjacent open arable land, which I call the ‘Marden Prarie’. This has replaced former apple orchards and strawberry fields sheltered by tall protective hedgerows.

At the moment, with all the heavy rain we’ve had in the last few weeks, the footpaths are muddy, wellington boots are vital to protect clothes against mud splashes;  and a temporary pond has re-appeared in the natural dip in our paddock!

Consequences of change in hop growing

Kent is known for growing hops, an ingredient of beer, and it may be a simple matter of economics as well as climate; but sadly, only one hop garden now remains in Marden, sheltered and hidden away by ancient woodland. down a minor road where I occasionally ride my bike. The cultivation of hops (and local brewing) lives on in spite of the reduced acreage, particularly around Faversham. The town is home of independent brewery Shepherd Neame, which you can visit, and there’s an annual hop festival held annually at harvest time in early September. Kent Life heritage park near Maidstone, also holds an annual hop picking and beer festival in the same month.

You can learn more about the industry that’s left an indelible mark on the Kentish landscape at visitor attractions such as the Hop Farm Family Park.; or buy the dried hop bines as decoration for your home, and other hop based products at The Hop Shop, Shoreham.

Many redundant oast houses, where the hops used to be dried, have been converted into highly desirable homes, and some are available for let. Along with conversions of other agricultural buildings, some can  be booked for short breaks in winter and longer holidays or vacations in summer, from organisations such as Freedom Holiday Homes. A place I can recommend from personal knowledge is Oast House Loft, at Morley Farm Oast. Set on a  working farm near Rye, on the Kent Sussex border, it enjoys 360º views over the farm and surrounding countryside.

Another thing I’ve noticed is that spring comes earlier nowadays, and the general extension of summer throughout our area, which is good for attracting more visitors.  Summer now extends into September, weatherwise at least, with little cold weather or frost observed until well into October.

The rise of vineyards, and English Wine

Within 500 metres of our home, two fields of grape vines have recently been planted to replace a hop garden. Just a few sad remnant hop plants have clung to life, scrambling through the remaining hedgerows.

2009 has reputedly been the best year ever for English wine. Our local vineyard is part of a noticeable trend towards an increasing acreage devoted to vines in the county. You can download a free guide to the county’s vineyards and locally produced food, from Produced in Kent , and visitors are welcomed to most of them. One of the largest and most interesting is Chapel Down at Tenterden. Closer to us at Marden is Hush Heath, an award winning estate producing sparkling rosé which retails at £35 per bottle, from the same chardonnay, pinot noir and pinot meunier grapes, that are used to make Champagne in France! Hush Heath also produces bottled apple juice, as does nearby Biddenden vineyard , which is, in addition, a producer of cider.

As well as climate, one of the other reasons that English Wine is becoming so successful is that the underlying geology, and consequently the topography, of the landscape of southern England and the Isle of Wight, has much in common with the Paris basin, and the champagne region in particular. I’ve noticed England’s largest vineyard, Denbies of Dorking in Surrey, was this year marketing a paid-for and tutored ‘grape picking experience’ to visitors  during harvest time in October, something that, if successful, could no doubt prove to be an annual event.

Provence in Kent?

Our garden now supports an olive tree, which I can happily leave outside all the year round. Due to the seeming predictability of dry weather in summer, I’ve recently felt a conscious need to invest in planting more drought resistant plants in the garden, including shrubs such as lavender and rosemary. If you take the train up to London from here in summer, just beyond Sevenoaks, if you look out on the east side of the track, just before the North Downs tunnel, you can’t miss a huge purple field in which lavender is now grown commercially. It’s not alone: near Hadlow is Downderry specialist lavender nursery, where you can buy the plants. The phenomenon is not limited to Kent. There’s also a commercial lavender farm at Staplehurst Grange near Newport, on the Isle of Wight. They sell essential oil, shampoo, and other lovely lavender products to visitors and by mail order.

Climate South East offers more information about the effects of climate change on South East England. Can you see symptoms of climate change happening in rural locations where you live or visit? Let me know.

Until next time…

PS Apologies for the late publication of this week’s post, which was due to a technical problem earlier in the week.

Marketing a rural idyll

With an Indian summer in prospect, my thoughts have turned to the marketing of rural areas to people living in cities. In 1950, the population living in UK cities was 79% – which is a frighteningly large figure – but one set to rise to 92.2% by 2030! In fact globally over half of the planet’s population now live in cities, with the proportion set to rise further.

The rural business challenge

The pressure is on for businesses involved in tourism in rural parts of the country,  to make the most of the opportunity to market the rural idyll that so many of us take for granted, to the urban dwelling majority. Unsurprisingly that’s going to mean serving city dwellers needs better.  Whether we’re an acommodation provider (even if just for visiting friends and relations),  a self catering operator, a farm shop, or an operator of autumnal fungi forays or boat trips, it looks like if we’re going to be really successful we need to make sure we understand and serve the needs of city dwellers.  NPC’s Country Living magazine certainly understands the business model, (and there’s a Hearst Communication US version as well). Many people dream of living in the country, and enjoy reading about it; but a short break or holiday/vacation is likely to be their reality.

The really interesting thing from a rural businesses point of view, is that I know that some  of these city dwellers taking a trip into rural areas of the UK this year still have plenty of money to spend. And how do I know…?

A Daylesford experience

I started to look back for evidence from my own experiences visiting the Cotwolds and Dorset this summer. Immediately I thought of   Daylesford. Owned by Lady Carole Bamford (wife of Sir Anthony, of the JCB empire), it’s a complex of rural farm buildings near the family estate, in Kingham, between Chipping Norton and Stow on the Wold, in Gloucestershire. They also have various shops in districts like Pimlico and Notting Hill, concessions in Harvey Nichols and Selfridges in London, and even a concession in the Bergdorf Goodman store on 5th Avenue, New York. Daylesford has become a destination in it’s own right, responsible for a big increase in local house prices in that part of the Cotswolds, to the evident satifaction of locals including Liz Hurley, Kate Moss and Jeremy Clarkson, who all patronise  Daylesford.

Daylesford’s customers are offered everything from pilates classes and a hay barn spa, to designer chicken arks and gardening tools ; and children can wear their mini cashmere jumpers and join in butter making classes. It wasn’t particularly crowded when we  visited; but those who were there were spending – a lot. Personally I couldn’t resist buying a jar of organic bramble jelly as a gift for my mother; as well as a Daylesford branded hessian potato sack and a book entitled ‘A Slice of Organic Life’ as a treat for myself. It just seemed – well appropriate, somehow. My husband drew the line at me swanning round our local Waitrose with a Daylesford shopping bag, but perhaps now I regret not buying one of those as well!

A bright future for rural retailing

Daylesford as a brand of super farm shop and lifestyle business points the way to the future for rural retailing, and a successful one at that.  Is there room for other competitors? Yes. Some are already out there. Look at the businesses run by people like Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall of River Cottage in Dorset, and Sarah Raven and her Cutting Garden in Sussex and Kent; or specialist craft galleries like  Dansel in Abbotsbury, Dorset where I made an impulse purchase of a bird sculpture by Brian Dawson.

So if you provide accommodation for visitors or business travellers, or if you’re involved in a rural business in any way, my advice this week is get to know innovative local retailers, visit their websites, offer links to them on your  web site, and tell your guests about them. They’ll thank you for it. The business owners will thank you for it, and might agree to link their website to you.

People who like what they see at places like Daylesford are likely to recommend them to others. A great rural retail destination can even provide the reason for people to make a trip in the first place, or to return.

If you own a rural retail business yourself, there’s much to be learned from the successful branding and merchandising of businesses like Daylesford.

Further reading

A Slice of Organic Life, edited by Sheherazade Goldsmith, Dorling Kindersley £16.99

Until next week…

PS Do you know any innovative rural retailers ? I’d love to hear about them.