WARNING - By their nature, text files cannot include scanned images and tables. The process of converting documents to text only, can cause formatting changes and misinterpretation of the contents can sometimes result. Wherever possible you should refer to the pdf version of this document. PAGE 4 1. More than a line on a map Image: Drawing of Cairngorms National Park (looking south) with orange line outlining the Park boundary PAGE 5 Telling stories about a place shapes its identity and gives your listeners a chance to make their own connections with it. Image: Drawing of Cairngorms National Park (looking south) with orange line outlining the Park boundary PAGE 6 More than a line on a map This document is for anyone who interprets the places that make up the Cairngorms National Park; for anyone who communicates with people so that they enjoy, understand and value this vast, unique landscape and its communities. It describes four key themes that make the Cairngorms National Park unlike anywhere else in Britain, and it will help you use those themes to link your stories to the outstanding reputation of the Park as a whole. A Coherent Vision The guide presents four key themes that define the Park’s coherent character, and that can structure the way we present this vast, varied, magical place. You can think of these key themes as the big ideas that hold the Park together, or as ‘take home messages’ – the impressions that will shape what people tell their friends about when they get back home. Image: colour photo of a boulder covered plateau In each section you’ll find examples of how the key themes might be used in different situations. In section 6 you’ll find more about how making links to these Park-wide themes can help you. Image: colour photo of wooded area The Cairngorms National Park Authority and its partners will support you as you work with the ideas in this guide – through advice and professional guidance, and through grant aid. But the people who will actually make the National Park mean something are the people who can present these themes through their daily contact with visitors. You, in other words. PAGE 7 The designation ‘National Park’ has international status. It’s a badge for a nation’s outstanding landscapes, and it brings with it real opportunities to conserve and enhance them – to make sure they stay exceptional and unique. It also recognises that this huge, diverse area has a distinctive character and a coherent identity – qualities held in common by all the varied places and communities that make up the whole. The designation can also make people think positively about how the area should be managed, and how they should behave. The qualities and stories that define the Park are shared by lots of different people – landowners, managers, agencies and communities. A map of the Park could show a maze of lines marking out territory, defining ownership and responsibility. But the stories that make the National Park cross those boundaries. The boundaries are invisible to wildlife, as well as to the people who come here, hoping to share in what makes this place so special. The way people understand the Park, and how they feel about its conservation, will be shaped by the experiences they have here. Their contact with interpreters and interpretation is a vital part of those experiences. In the Cairngorms National Park, all the work of delivering the Park’s aims is the result of cooperation, with organisations, businesses and individuals working to shared goals. That applies just as much to interpretation as to more practical goals such as conservation, or promoting sustainable development. So for the Cairngorms National Park to exist as more than just another line on the map, for visitors and residents to appreciate how exceptional it really is, for it to work as a mechanism for maintaining and enhancing the place for the future, we need to share a sense of the stories that define it. We also need to use those stories as themes that unite and provide a setting for individual places. If we don’t, the area will just be a collection of parts, many of them important and interesting, but not exceptional or unique, not part of a shared character, not a National Park. Interpretation is ... This guide is for anyone who sees interpretation – the art of helping people explore, understand and appreciate the places they visit – as a core part of their business. Interpretation can take many forms, from a guided walk on a hill top to a museum exhibition; from a roadside panel at an historic site to an inspiring site- specific sculpture. What they all have in common is that they are opportunities to give people something of the essence of a place, and to encourage them to explore and find their own connection with it. Image: colour photograph of a girl working outdoors That’s what this guide is about. But if your work involves any direct contact with visitors, perhaps through running a guest house or a restaurant, you may well find ideas in here that will be useful. PAGE 8 More than a line on a map You are the Park The Cairngorms National Park Authority is there to coordinate delivery of the Park’s key aims. But it isn’t going to present the Park to visitors, or tell the stories that make the Park greater than the sum of its parts. It’s not set up to do that: it doesn’t own any land, run any visitor centres, or directly employ any Rangers who can talk about the Park. And anyway, it’s not really the best organisation to do this important work. For the Cairngorms National Park to have real meaning, its stories need to be told by the people and places that own them, the people and places that are the Park. All the individuals that live and work here, all the organisations and businesses that operate here, are the Park. The way you communicate with people, the stories you tell them about the place, will shape what they think of it and whether they see it as somewhere so valuable that it deserves the high status of being a National Park. This doesn’t mean losing individual identity, or that everyone has to say the same things. It means using the shared stories described in the four key themes of this document to heft your interpretation to the National Park. And as you find ways to tell the stories of your site or your community in the context of the National Park’s identity, it will give your stories more weight and impact. A Park for the future The qualities that define the Cairngorms National Park are a good match for emerging trends in tourism. Research shows that future visitors to Scotland will be: Image: colour photo of cyclists taking a break • looking for a greater sense of authenticity in the experiences they have • keenly aware of environmental issues • eager to try new experiences and exciting sports. The Park is well placed to meet these expectations. In a 2004 survey, 75 per cent of visitors said they would like a better understanding of the Park’s character, and of what makes it special. Among tourism businesses in the Park, 71 per cent reckon that encouraging visitors to conserve the area’s landscape and wildlife is very important to their future success. Good interpretation that’s linked to the Park’s key themes is central to these trends. For more about future trends in tourism, see Scottish tourism in the future, available from www.tourism-intelligence.co.uk PAGE 9 Image: colour photo of Alan Rankin Personal View Alan Rankin, Tourism Chief Executive Making a link to being in the Cairngorms National Park helps to differentiate this area from anywhere else in Scotland. Visitors see National Parks as beautiful, exceptional places, so putting ourselves in the context of the Park means that any message we put out has a head start on anywhere else. The qualities of the Park that we emphasise are its dramatic hills, the wildlife, and the amazing array of things to do and see, along with its unique culture. Once people are here, on site interpretation needs to give them some continuity with the impressions they’ve got as they plan their trip, but it can do far more than that. Good interpretation can be the ‘wow’ factor in their journey, and take them beyond what they expected. That helps build loyalty, and a loyal customer is easier to bring back and more likely to influence others to come and visit. They’re also much more likely to see the Park as somewhere that needs looking after. So interpretation that builds a consistent sense of the Cairngorms National Park benefits businesses – and it benefits the Park. Making the Park work Image: Cairngorms National Park brand outline If people are to get a sense of being in the Cairngorms National Park, of what makes it tick and of what makes it special: • The people and places within the Park must see themselves as part of it. They must represent and use the Park as something that adds value to their particular place or interest. • The audience for interpretation – visitors or local people – must get a sense of the key themes that define the Park’s character, and that are described in this guide. • Tourism-based organisations and businesses must be clear that the Park is a powerful and over-arching destination, and present themselves within it. If you’re working with publications, displays or web sites, experience has shown that using at least two of the following elements is key in making a link to the Cairngorms National Park: • use of the words ‘Cairngorms National Park’ in text • use of the Cairngorms National Park brand • use of a map or outline map of the Park. This doesn’t mean that the existence of the National Park is just another layer you have to add to your interpretation; something you have to tell people. It means using the themes in this guide as an inspiration for the way you communicate; finding ways in which your site or your work is uniquely part of the Cairngorms National Park rather than anywhere else in the world.