Overview

Outdoor recreation is under growing pressure. More people are seeking the benefits of time outdoors, while landscapes, habitats, land managers and local communities are increasingly having to respond to complex and sometimes competing demands.

For the outdoor recreation sector, the challenge is no longer simply to encourage responsible behaviour. It is to understand what is really happening in our places, why people behave as they do, where pressures are emerging, and how we design practical, inclusive and effective responses.

This two-day ORN Masterclass will move beyond responsible recreation as a concept and focus on what it looks like in practice.

Structured around a highly interactive “Bring Your Challenge” approach, the event will take participants through a practical journey from understanding environments, people and pressures, through to designing interventions, influencing behaviour and delivering action on the ground.

The Masterclass will include the soft launch of the new Responsible Recreation Toolkit, designed to help organisations move from audit and diagnosis through to action and evaluation. Delegates will explore how the toolkit can be applied in real landscapes, with real pressures and real organisational challenges.

Across the two days, participants will benefit from:

– practical examples of responsible recreation in action;

– expert speakers, panel discussions and participatory labs;

– breakout sessions focused on people, place, pressures and interventions;

– opportunities to test ideas against live challenges;

– networking with peers from across the outdoor recreation, conservation, access and land management sectors;

– optional site visits illustrating recreational pressures to either the Stonehenge Landscape managed by National Trust or MOD land on the Salisbury Plain (more information below).

– time to develop approaches that can be taken back into their own organisation or landscape.

The programme will explore themes including environmental impacts, visitor behaviour, user conflict, communications, stewardship, site design, sensitive habitats, recreation pressure, events, monitoring and evaluation.

Delegates will leave with practical tools, fresh insight, peer learning and a clearer plan for how to respond to responsible recreation challenges in their own context.

This will be a working Masterclass, designed for people who want to move from discussion to delivery.

A big thank you to the Defence Infrastructure Organisation / Ministry of Defence for hosting this event.

Site Visits

There are two options for site visits.

The first site visit to the Stonehenge Landscape will examine the complex issues involved in managing this UNESCO World Heritage Site. We will explore the approaches taken by the National Trust to enable access, while protecting internationally important archaeology and benefitting nature. The issues examined will include sustainable visitor access, the challenge of roads and PRoWs, stock management, heritage crime and the effects of climate change. The visit will include time at both Durrington Walls (home to the builders of Stonehenge) and the Cursus (built a thousand years before the Stone Circle).

The second site visit option will be to MOD land on the Salisbury Plain to explore the challenge of 4×4 disturbance on protected sites. This MOD led site visit will give you an insight into the UKs largest military training area where we will consider the challenges arising from motorised recreational activity in this complex, working landscape. An essential training environment within a highly designated natural landscape, dotted with historical features, we will discuss balancing designated landscapes with PROW and public demand, education and interpretation, stakeholder engagement, and volunteer coordination.

Logistics

Cost

🎟️ Ticket price: £249 (Members can use their allocated free and discounted tickets via the Primary Contact for the organisation). Use the ‘Book ticket’ on the banner above to secure your place. If you wish to make your booking by PO/invoice, please email elizabeth@outdoorrecreation.org.uk. 

Accessibility

Tidworth Garrison Theatre is a fully accessible venue with lift and disabled bathroom facilities.

Getting There

By public transport:

– From Salisbury Railway Station – From the station walk 0.6miles to ‘Whites’ on Castle Street and get on the Number 8 bus to ‘Andover Bus Station’. Get off the bus at ‘Trinity View Road’ and walk 0.2 miles the theatre. Journey time approx. 58 mins.

– From Andover Railway Station – From the station walk to Andover Bus Station on Station Approach and get on the Number 8 bus to ‘Blue Boar Row’. Get off the bus at ‘Tidworth Garrison Theatre’. Journey time approx. 32 mins.

Given the distance from the venue to nearby accommodation options (see below), a car may be the most convenient option. We encourage participants to carshare as much as possible and this information will collected during the booking process so we can match those without cars with those able to carshare during the duration of the Masterclass.

Southampton, Bournemouth, Bristol and Heathrow are the nearest airports.

Accommodation

Nearby hotels:

– Gray Manor Hotel ££ (c. 3 miles from the venue) *accessible rooms

– Holiday Inn Salisbury – Stonehenge by IHG ££ (c. 8 miles from venue) *accessible rooms

– Travelodge Amesbury Stonehenge Hotel £ (c. 8 miles from venue) *accessible rooms

– George Hotel, Amesbury ££ (c. 9 miles) *accessible rooms

– Hawk Inn, Amport ££ (c. 9 miles)

– Premier Inn Andover £ (c. 11 miles) *accessible rooms

– Travelodge Andover £ (c. 12 miles) *accessible rooms