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Explora: Environment
and Resource Conservation, recreation, or both?

deployed there with a different sharing of responsibilities Scotland, and the National Records of Scotland, as well as
and finance. Financial limitations forced a different from local archives and libraries in Hamilton and Glasgow
approach at both Pollok and Chatelherault; a less flexible and in the Haddo Estate Office.
organisation would have failed in both cases.
The NTS country parks also illustrate the importance of Funding
understanding not only recreation in the round but also the The Catherine Mackichan Trust supported travel and
fact that other interested parties may not be able to see the research expenses for this study, and their support is
wider picture. An extreme in this respect can be seen at Haddo, gratefully acknowledged.
where the factor had to be convinced that recreational shooting
might be incompatible with public access. The legislators’ Conflict of interest
thinking was to provide expendable spaces for active and noisy The author declares no conflicts of interest, other than his
recreation; the NTS rethought this and instead offered places for status as an ordinary member of the National Trust for
quiet enjoyment of the countryside, picnics, and appreciation Scotland.
of the natural world, modifying the recreational expectation to
ensure the balance was struck with conservation, and ensuring Author contributions
this by building into the agreements the preservation of the This is a single-authored article.
essential character of these places.
Finally, we also see here the possibilities of negotiated Ethics approval and consent to participate
solutions between providers and funders. The country parks Not applicable.
the NTS provided (or enabled) were not what the legislators
intended, but nevertheless allowed them to demonstrate Consent for publication
successful delivery. The agreements reached, and the funding
secured, enabled not only the provision of recreational facilities Not applicable.
but also the diversion of those funds originally applied to Availability of data
recreation toward other purposes, including the preservation
of heritage properties. Stormonth Darling’s approach, Data used in the study can be obtained from one or
recognising not only his own organisation’s needs but also more of the libraries and archives cited in the reference
those of the funders, produced five different, but successful, section.
outcomes, and was also replicated successfully at some non-
NTS country park sites. The approach was opportunistic, and Further disclosure
involved rule-bending, but it succeeded, and it may still offer The research behind the Chatelherault section of the study
possibilities for solving the recreation/conservation equation has been presented, in a different form and context, to a
today; it is, after all, possible to have both. small audience at Gladstone’s Land, Edinburgh, and to
The focus on the NTS has limited this study to just five a student history society at Glasgow University, and is
sites. Many more locations and facilities have faced the scheduled to be published, in different textual form, in an
challenge of balancing these two variables, and it would article in Scottish Local History, Spring 2025. The research
be interesting to explore how jurisdictions with much was also used in my book, The Origins of Scotland’s Country
stronger access obligations secure conservation priorities Parks (York: Navitie Press, 2020).
in vulnerable landscapes, and how those bodies that rely The research behind the Culzean section of the study
on visitors to sustain their conservation work ensure that was published, in an extended form and using different text,
the visitors do not damage the very thing they come to see. in Woudstra, J and Back, P. ‘Culzean Country Park – how
Increased environmental tourism, for instance to polar an iconic Scottish landscape used the designation to secure
regions, can be a double-edged sword, raising awareness a sustainable future,’ Landscape Research 45(8), August
and financial support, but also demanding visitor facilities 2020, 1032-1046.
and careful management to limit disturbance and erosion.
History and past practice can help with this continuing The Pollok section of the study was published, in an
dilemma. extended form and with different text, in Scottish Local
History, Autumn 2022.
Acknowledgments The Brodick and Haddo sections of the study have

The author acknowledges the cooperation received from never been published before, nor has the historiography of
archivists at the National Library of Scotland, the NT for the National Trust for Scotland.

Volume 2 Issue 1 (2025) 13 doi: 10.36922/eer.5890