Recreation and Leisure
Ashdown Forest is the largest public access space in south-east England, and the largest area of open, uncultivated countryside. A 2008 visitor survey estimated that at least 1.35 million visits are made each year. The most common reason given for visiting the Forest was its "openness". Most visitors (85%) coming by car travelled 10 km or less and, interestingly, there were 62 dogs for every 100 visitors.
Despite such large numbers of visitors, the Forest has retained its celebrated tranquillity and sense of openness. The commons are freely open to the public, who are attracted by the large, elevated expanse of unspoiled heaths and woodlands where they may walk, picnic or simply sit while taking in the glorious views. Various bye-laws passed by the Conservators help protect the Forest environment for the public good, prohibiting such activities as, for example, mountain biking, off-road driving of motor vehicles, camping, and the lighting of fires.
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Famous quotes containing the words recreation and/or leisure:
“Playing snooker gives you firm hands and helps to build up character. It is the ideal recreation for dedicated nuns.”
—Archbishop Luigi Barito (b. 1922)
“A broad margin of leisure is as beautiful in a man’s life as in a book. Haste makes waste, no less in life than in housekeeping. Keep the time, observe the hours of the universe, not of the cars. What are threescore years and ten hurriedly and coarsely lived to moments of divine leisure in which your life is coincident with the life of the universe?”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)