Fine words and lofty ambition wrapped around the prosaic provision of beds in youth hostels could have been an early attempt at “greenwashing” but slogans can change minds.
Fluffy
Heading into the New Forest Hilary and Margaret arrived at their second hostel early. The warden greeted them with hostility. The hostel wasn’t open until five pm she told them. Worse, they were under 18 - juveniles - and she didn’t take juveniles.
After Hilary assured her they had paid in advance, she admitted them with newly discovered friendliness.
They would sleep in a downstairs room, on camp beds as they had the night before. Blankets on the beds delighted Hilary, “lovely blue fluffy ones with YHA embroidered on them”.
Quite decent
They cooked omelettes for supper. The warden fussed as she cooked her own meal nearby. They nicknamed her “Old Greyie” but she was “really quite decent”.
Miss Nunn, more popularly known as “Nunny”, had run a Holiday Fellowship Guest House in a small cottage in the village, until persuaded to switch her allegiance to YHA in 1934. On the edge of the New Forest, the National Trust owned and protected much of the land around West Wellow.
In 1936 she moved to a larger house because the hostel had become so popular, “an excellent illustration of how an enthusiastic person can build up custom with practically no capital”, benefitting YHA, the local community and herself. [1] The old hostel had accommodated 14 but the new one had room for 20.
Escape
After supper, Hillary and Margaret escaped the busy hostel on their bikes, enjoying freedom without panniers. They loved being out in the country, among “mighty forest oaks and beeches and the stillness of the lanes”.
They abandoned their bikes, and scrambled through heather and gorse to the top of a hill. From there they sat and gazed at the country around them.
“The heather stretched away until it was lost in the dimness of the surrounding hills … here and there rivers and streams ran down, and the silver sparkle of their waters could be seen amongst luscious green banks.”
They stayed until it grew too cold, when they ran for their bikes. That night not even noise from the many others staying kept Hilary awake. The day had left her exhausted.
Life long
She had seen her first herd of New Forest ponies. She was filled with peace, stillness and a sense of comfort. The countryside and its beauty were giving her the education YHA intended.
After the Portsmouth High School for Girls Hilary went to Swanley Horticultural College, a training college for women where she studied for three years.
Her youth hostel journeys had fuelled love of nature and brought her a life long career in agricultural and horticultural research. After retirement she took up agriculture on a smallholding in Somerset.
Future action
Others who stayed in youth hostels became activists for the countryside. They campaigned against by-passes and big roads invading the countryside. They lobbied against dams that drowned lovely valleys and fought for greater access to the countryside.
Campaigners like Len Clarke, Pauline Dower, Herbert Gatliff and Tom Stephenson were well known associates of YHA. Alongside them, many others joined committees, wrote letters and demonstrated for the protection of the countryside.
They celebrated the countryside by staying in youth hostels. They fulfilled YHA’s hopes and dreams. They made YHA’s aims more than a cloak of words in which to wrap the prosaic business of providing cheap beds for young people on their holidays.
Not just puff
Two years after Hilary and Margaret's trip, YHA joined others in the campaign for national parks, the foremost attempt to protect the countryside in Britain.
In 1949 legislation brought about widespread protection of the countryside and the creation of the first British national parks.
With laws to protect, in modern terms, “terrestrial ecosystems”, YHA reaped the rewards of its lofty ambitions.
Hope fulfilled.
The early hope of youth hostels, to encourage love, care and understanding of the countryside, had been more than fulfilled.
YHA had demonstrated that travel and tourism do educate no matter how cynical that ambition can at times seem. Coupled with widespread activism, tourism can bring about real change.
Green, sustainable tourism can do the same. It’s the kind of hope history can offer.
Notes
Image - West Wellow hostel in the 1940s. This shows a different hostel to the one where Hilary and Margaret stayed. “The hostel … moved again in 1940: it had slightly changed its position, and was now first turning on left after leaving the Salisbury- Southampton road. The name Tarryhere was carried forward from the pre-war hostel, possibly because it was the same warden’s house address, though the warden had moved to a smaller cottage. The hostel itself was a small single-storeyed cottage to replace the former larger house.” [2]
All quotes from Hilary Hughes’ diary except [1] and [2] Martin, John, Historical listing of all youth hostels, unpublished, available at the Cadbury Research Library, University of Birmingham. https://calmview.bham.ac.uk/GetDocument.ashx?db=Catalog&fname=YHA+Historical+listing+of+all+youth+hostels+and+associated+accommodation+Y900003.pdf