Heartbeat Country: Conflicting Values, Coinciding Visions

Abstract

In this paper I consider a recent case of tourism in the village of Goathland in the North Yorkshire Moors National Park. Although tourism is a long-standing phenomenon in Goathland, over the last few years its nature and impacts have altered in such a way as to cause considerable concern for the resident community. The main catalyst for this change is the fact that Goathland is the filming location for the Yorkshire Television series ‘Heartbeat’, which has not only instigated a manifold increase in tourist numbers to the village but has also heralded a marked shift in the way the local environment is consumed by these visitors. By drawing primarily on the results of qualitative research, where interviews were held with tourists, residents, and key informants, I outline and discuss the value judgements contained within the production and consumption of tourism in Goathland, and carry this analysis onto notions of tourism impacts as voiced by respondents. Furthermore, I link these responses to wider concepts, such as the production and consumption of Englishness, heritage, the rural idyll, country lifestyles, and nostalgia to illustrate how these concepts inflect the local tourism process.