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The Countryside is Boring - and One in Ten Can't Recognise a Sheep

First things first: I'd like to make it clear that the title of this blog isn't my opinion, it's the findings of a Travelodge survey that reveals that 53% of Britons think the countryside is boring.

Travelodge specialises in this kind of things - surveys which reveal most people have nightmares about Amy Winehouse and leave behind copies of Cherie Blair's autobiography, etc, etc - but this time I'm just not sure I buy it. According to Travelodge:

  • 32% had difficulty identifying a pheasant
  • 22% couldn't identify a hare
  • One in ten adults thought it was a deer
  • 12% of adults thought a stag was a reindeer
  • One in ten adults could not identify a sheep
  • 42% couldn't identify an otter
  • 20% couldn't identify a weasel
  • 83% couldn't identify the common bluebell flower
  • 44% couldn't identify the popular oak tree
  • 74% couldn't identify a horse chestnut tree
  • 71% couldn't identify a pine tree

I just can't - won't - believe that one in ten can't indentify a sheep. Or that 80% can identify a weasel. Years ago I read about how London kids discovered the countryside for the first time when they were evacuated during the Second World War. One of them wrote home saying, "It's called spring Mum, and they have one every year..." I always thought it was a joke ... and it is - isn't it?

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