1st Edition
Designed for Recreation A Practical Handbook for All Concerned with Providing Leisure Facilities in the Countryside
Originally published in 1969, at a time when there was an ever-increasing number of people going to the coast and countryside at weekends and on holiday, this book filled a gap by providing detail on the physical results of all that needed to be done for the leisure-seeking public. It discusses juggling the needs of the public whilst maintaining the quality of the natural environment – a balancing act which remains as relevant in the 21st Century as when the book was first published. The book is intended for all those making provision for public recreation and countryside protection. The passing of the Countryside Act in 1968 in the UK necessitated detailed work for local authorities: the design and siting of car parks; public lavatories; litter bins, camp and picnic sites; swimming pools and information centres to name but a few. Elisabeth Beazley discusses the principles involved and illustrates successful and cautionary examples from both sides of the Atlantic as well as Continental Europe
1. Behaviour Patterns and Site Use: Picnicking and Camping 2. Information on the Spot: Information Centres 3. Signs and Notices 4. Self-Guided Trails 5. Access Roads and Car Parks 6. Links and Barriers For People on Foot 7. Picnicking 8. Camp Sites. 9. Public Lavatories and Camp Wash Units 10. Buildings in the Landscape 11. Colour and Texture in the Context of the Countryside 12. Shelters, Cabins and Hides 13. Pools and Small Lakes 14. Marinas and Boat Harbours: Siting Problems 15. Small Swimming Pools 16. Litter
Biography
Elizabeth Beazley was born in the Wirral and served in the WRNS in World War II. She qualified as an architect and worked for Lionel Brett in Oxfordshire, where her work included involvement with Hatfield new town. She subsequently freelanced and made several extended visits to Turkey and Iran in the late fifties and sixties to work on archaeological digs with some of the leading experts of the period. She became a specialist on the vernacular buildings of the Iranian plateau. She combined a career as an author with freelance work as a landscape architect, particularly in the field of visitor access at a time when car ownership was becoming universal. She undertook a significant amount of work for the National Trust, serving on its Architectural Panel for many years. Erddig in North Wales and Culzean in Ayrshire are but two properties that strongly show her influence
