Tarka Project Report 1988: Proposal 4:

To encourage understanding and appreciation of the area by stimulating and supporting study, research and survey, especially related to otters, other wildlife, and Henry Williamson and his works.

Interpretation has been a part of the Project's remit since its inception in 1989. A formative interpretive plan was evolved early in the Project's history which was limited in its scope and never formally adopted. The importance of interpretation to the achievement of the Project's aims was restated in the 'Options for the Future' report (May 1993).
The intention of the Project has been to establish a series of small interpretation centres around the area in partnership with the private sector and others. To date, these have included the Finch Foundry at Sticklepath, Eggesford Country Centre, Tarka Gallery at the Museum of North Devon, and Braunton Countryside Centre.
Other interpretation has included guided walks, walks leaflets with an interpretational element, newsletters, talks, exhibitions and slide presentations. Much of this effort has been reactive in nature and a new Interpretation Strategy was devised under the LIFE Heart of Devon programme to take a much more pro-active approach.

An Interpretation Strategy for Tarka Country: The Vision
It has been recognised that past Regional Interpretation Plans have usually been drawn up for areas of relatively homogenous landscape and geography. By contrast, the most distinguishing feature of Tarka Country is its extraordinary variety of landscape types within a relatively small area.
The Devon Landscape Strategy (1994) identifies 31 areas of distinctive landscape character within the County and it is a measure of this astonishing variety that no less than 13 'Landscape Character Zones' lie within Tarka Country.
Existing interpretive provision in the area is currently delivered by more than twenty different public and voluntary sector bodies as well as numerous private enterprises. The combination of diverse subject matter and numerous interpretation providers has resulted in a plethora of piecemeal, incomplete and uncoordinated messages being presented to visitors and locals alike.
The main aim of the Iinterpretive Strategy was to work as a tool for green tourism by encouraging the enjoyment, appreciation and understanding of the area, and the conservation issues affecting it, leading to a greater concern and action to help protect the environment. To achieve this the strategy sought to:

• co-ordinate the efforts of interpretation providers through an interpretation forum and partnership approach
• advance a more thematic, holistic approach, in which reciprocal signing of interpretive provisions and an area-wide overview of themes are important elements in the endeavour to present a clear, logical and complete story to the target audience.
• promote and prioritise interpretive themes compatible with green tourism aims, to be delivered through a range of sustainable media, minimizing the waste of resources and encouraging the involvement of local communities and the private sector in order to be of maximum benefit to the local economy.

The approach taken in the strategy was to review and assess the current resources of the area in terms of the current interpretive provision, the nature, needs and movements of the target audience, the natural landscape and wildlife, and the infrastructure of recreational routes and public transport.
The natural resources of the area are extremely varied and diverse, and it is unusual to attempt a regional interpretive plan over an area displaying such a heterogeneity of landscape types and where there are so many unrelated players involved. It ranges from the wild heather moorland and rocky cliffs of the Atlantic coast, through the rolling pastoral farmland of the culm measures with prominent villages of cob and thatch cottages clustered around stone churches, into the deeply dissected and still wooded river valleys of the Taw and Torridge, to the high hedgebanks, narrow lanes and culm grasslands to the north of Dartmoor whose granite tors form the brooding skyline to the southern boundary.
The diversity of the environment throws up an immense variety of issues and themes for interpretation and these needed to be assessed and prioritised against the following criteria:

• to be fundamental to the understanding and enjoyment of the appearance and functioning of the area today
• to be suitable for putting across the sustainability message, especially where the local story has application to the wider environment
• not currently being adequately dealt with in the area
• additionally to be able to be used for visitor management to encourage wider use of the area, especially away from the coast.

The four priority subject areas that emerged from this process were farming, water, tourism and extractive industries. An action programme identified individual projects at chosen sites along with a target timescale, to be worked up in a partnership approach co-ordinated through an Interpretation Forum.
Community involvement was sought in the design stage to help with the choice of suitable media, incorporation of local identity and to encourage a sense of ownership, and to maximise the potential for the local economy. Each interpretive provision should have an individual interpretive plan detailing its production, marketing and evaluation, to ensure maximum effectiveness and minimise the waste of resources. It should also be sustainable in terms of its long term management.
The key to the effectiveness of this strategy is for each piece of interpretation to reciprocally sign the other elements in the story in order to encourage the movement of visitors around the area, make clearer the complex inter-relationships existant in the countryside, and deliver a strong message in a comprehensive and consistent manner that will give them the maximum enjoyment and benefit from their visit.

A good example of this approach can be given by taking the farming theme and looking at the story of culm grassland. These grasslands are internationally important species-rich, acidic and wet, being found only on the western seaboard of Europe, and being particularly concentrated in northern Devon. Their present distribution is scattered and fragmented due to widespread loss since 1945, and their story can only be told by taking in a wide variety of locations throughout the area, since the inter-relationships are complex and wide ranging. The following elements would need to be explored:

• Culm Grasslands take their name from the Carboniferous Culm Measures which underlie much of North Devon.
• Culm Grassland was traditionally used for summer fattening of cattle for beef and the local economy of the area grew up around a local breed of beef cow, the 'Devon Red', which thrived on this rough pasture.
• Culm grasslands have been improved for agriculture over the centuries by spreading lime.
• Limestone used to be brought by boat from South Wales and burned in lime kilns which can still be seen along the coast. The processed lime was then taken inland to be spread.
• Changes in agricultural practice since 1945 have seen Culm grassland ploughed up, reseeded as rye grass leys and intensively managed with high doses of nitrogen fertiliser, and a shift in local farming culture to dairy farming.
• Areas of Culm grassland have declined rapidly in recent decades and remaining sites are small and fragmented, but they are still an important stronghold for the internationally rare Marsh Fritillary Butterfly.
• These changes have resulted in pollution problems from intensive farming, visual landscape changes, changes in local culture, and loss of habitat with consequent effects to wildlife.

This area-wide story therefore incorporates such diverse subject areas as geology, agriculture, landscape, natural history and wildlife conservation, water, transport, industry, local economy and social history. It also embraces a number of potential key sites spread across northern Devon, each managed by different agencies. No one interpretation provider would have the budget or remit to tell the entire story. Only a co-ordinated partnership approach, with individual organisations taking up parts appropriate to their own aims, yet acting within a larger cohesive framework can take up this challenge.
Reciprocal signing of interpretation between the various parts of the story allows visitors and locals to build up a complete and coherent story as they move around the area.

One way to tackle this would be to develop a 'Culm Trail' which would guide people through the area with the aid of a booklet, and using walking and cycling trails and public transport. Key sites would be identified for visiting which would each tell one part of the story, so that the visitor would gradually build up the full picture as they explored the area fully. Interpretation provision at each site would add to the overall picture and also tell the visitor where to go to find other elements of the story. Since each of these sites is owned and managed by different agencies a strongly co-ordinated partnership would be needed to achieve the final result, but would be of great benefit to all.
A percentage of the profits from the sale of the booklet could also be used for the conservation of these grasslands, demonstrating a truly sustainable approach with money from tourism going back into the care of that which people have come to see.

An Interpretation Strategy for Tarka Country: Postscript
A draft interpretation strategy was produced, but limited staff resources have halted plans to establish an interpretation forum. The Tarka Country Tourism Association is now increasingly involved in developing interpretation material and other provision, in line with the Interpretation Strategy, as part of enhancing visitor enjoyment and understanding of the area.

Issues:

• The need to develop a co-ordinated approach to Interpretive provision across the area.
• The need to present the subject matter to visitors coherently and holistically.
• The need to ensure the long term maintenance and economic sustainability of interpretive provision.