NATALIE: So basically, the problem we’re addressing in our case study of the Horton Castle site is why so few tourists are visiting it. And we’ll find out more from our interviews, but I did find one report on the internet that suggested that one reason might be because as far as transport goes, access is difficult.
DAVE: I read that too, but that report was actually written ten years ago, when the road there was really bad, but that’s been improved now. And I think there’s plenty of fascinating stuff there for a really good day out, but you’d never realise it from the castle website – maybe that’s the problem.
NATALIE: Yes, it’s really dry and boring.
DAVE: I read somewhere a suggestion that what the castle needs is a visitor centre. So we could have a look for some information about that on the internet. What would we need to know?
NATALIE: Well, who’d use it for a start. It’s be good to know what categories the visitors fell into too, like school parties or retired people, but I think we’d have to talk to staff to get that information.
DAVE: OK. And as we’re thinking of suggesting a visitor centre we’d also have to look at potential problems. I mean, obviously it wouldn’t be cheap to set up.
NATALIE: No, but it could be a really good investment. And as it’s on a historical site it’d need to get special planning permission, I expect. That might be hard.
DAVE: Right, especially as the only possible place for it would be at the entrance, and that’s right in front of the castle.
NATALIE: Mmm.
DAVE: But it could be a good thing for the town of Horton. At present it’s a bit of a ghost town. Once they’ve left school and got any skills or qualifications, the young people all get out as fast as they can to get jobs in the city, and the only people left are children and those who’ve retired.
NATALIE: Right. Something else we could investigate would be the potential damage that tourists might cause to the castle site, I mean their environmental impact. At present the tourists can just wander round wherever they want, but if numbers increase, there might have to be some restrictions, like sticking to marked ways. And there’d need to be guides and wardens around to make sure these were enforced.
DAVE: Yes, we could look at that too. OK, well …
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