
In The Lonely Lake, crowds flock around a jetty from which a flotilla of packed little craft set off for a trips around the lake. Two individuals stand out , a cowled and cheery motorcyclist with a pipe has paused at a stall, and a lone bearded figure gestures towards the water, his eyeline echoed by a courting couple crossing his path, perhaps towards some crash-landing Icarus out of frame. Otherwise , all is Wodehouse, Bateman and Pooter, bonnets and foxfur.

The rural Thames is a highway of crowded punts, noisy hoi-poloi wave their Union jacks, chuck bottles over the side and sing along to not one but two concertinas.
Elsewhere Bourgeoisies in pith helmets throng an ancient tomb, posing heroically for the camera. Stately homes unsettle, intimidate and bore their visitors.

By 1934, Watts had a brief from the LMS Railway promote their lines and hotels and to draw attention to the things in-between them, the towns and coastal attractions of Lancashire Over the Sands, and the fells, mountains and lonely lakes of Westmorland and Cumberland...
THE HOLIDAY SPIRIT

A farmer, pitching hay by the side of the railway tracks near Kendal has seen them too; one leaves a slipstream of flowers; another carries a plate of fruit, another has a suitcase hoisted on its' shoulder. they are pursued by four more winged figures, and a winged dog.
Elsewhere
below, all are oblivious, mistaking duck ponds for Windermere, lost in their search for golf courses and perch fishing.
These
bewildered and bumptious figures populate the 1934 map; we even hear
their thoughts and complaints. But Watts' demographically decreed
family are more finely drawn, so as to encourage identification.
Granted wings by their LMS purchase, these adventurers pursue the
scented garlands of the Holiday Spirit. They are dressed for some
sort of non-specific down-time..their walking boots and outdoor clothes
presumably are in those suitcases that Hermes is lugging along ahead,
as specified in the LMS offer. The Holiday Spirit herself carries the
father's golf bag. Unburdened, almost supplicant in his gratitude, he
both follows and leads the way.
ENGAGEMENT

This one
is here to promote ease of access, to smooth away any doubts about
the transition from suburbia to Arcadia.
There are
no footpaths here, only railtracks. Why would you walk? The only
walkers are a spindly man bent under a rucksack, while his
hectoring partner hurries him along to Helvelyn before sunrise.
Mountains are rendered uniformly but not topographically; detailed
information is available elsewhere. This is not what this map is for.
Rather than tell you what you will find it tells you what you might: A wishful mermaid rises from Morecambe Bay; she pines for an LMS bed. Perhaps you need only catch her.
Full of literary and artistic lures, using a language devised by Watts and hired by the industry it serves, the Watts map describes a moment in the development of visitor culture and its co-opting of the arts into a leisure offer. In recognising this, we must recognise our own place in a later stage in that development.
Rather than tell you what you will find it tells you what you might: A wishful mermaid rises from Morecambe Bay; she pines for an LMS bed. Perhaps you need only catch her.
Full of literary and artistic lures, using a language devised by Watts and hired by the industry it serves, the Watts map describes a moment in the development of visitor culture and its co-opting of the arts into a leisure offer. In recognising this, we must recognise our own place in a later stage in that development.

"In
the context of how the arts fit into people’s everyday lives, (the
research) provides
new insight into the patterns of arts consumption and
attitudes towards the arts, how people spend their leisure time and
what competes with the arts for people’s attention.
It
also considers socio-demographic factors, media consumption and
lifestyles.
The
research can be used as a tool to inform marketing and audience
development plans for arts organisations, local authorities and other
agencies working in the arts. It also contains insights that
organisations might find useful for fundraising and in the
development of an arts activity itself." ( ACE Arts Audiences Insight, 2011)

by Lindsay Ward Photography
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