Yorkshire businesses encouraging visitors to enjoy old school skill - of postcard writing

It is considered by some to be a dying practice, but now more than 180 North Yorkshire businesses are inspiring visitors to rediscover the joy of holiday postcard-writing.

The firms across North Yorkshire are taking part in a visitor marketing campaign this summer, which is already yielding results as people set aside their mobile phones to write messages on postcards to friends and family.

The Picture Perfect campaign, a Tourism Network initiative, aims to inspire visitors to write holiday postcards as a way of encouraging people to slow down and take a break from digital life, while using the opportunity to send a personalised ‘thinking of you’ message to someone close.

Businesses, including restaurants, shops, pubs, attractions, guesthouses and self-catering providers cross the Yorkshire Dales and North York Moors who are supporting the campaign are providing postcards and often the stamps, or recommending places to buy and write them, to make it easier for people to indulge in the pastime.

Early indications suggest people are enjoying the novelty of penning personalised messages and finding the postboxes to send them; 156 years since the Post Office first introduced postcards.

Cecily Fearnley, of the Homestead Kitchen restaurant in Goathland, said: “We put postcards on the tables for lunch and quickly noticed people were using them – one little girl was writing to her grandparents.”

Other businesses are also adapting the initiative. Holiday accommodation provider Town End Farm at Appleton-le-Moors has combined the old-school postcard with modern technology by using a scenic local image to create cards for guests entitled ‘A Walk That Feels Like Home’ and incorporated a QR code to link to the owner’s favourite walk on the website.

Kiplin Hall in Richmond has also earmarked a new area of their garden, called the Silent Space, for people to sit quietly and write their postcard.

Susan Briggs, of the Tourism Network, said: “People are realising there’s a real joy in writing a thoughtful message and receiving proper post which is why postcards are having a moment, including finding a new fan-base at events such as music festivals with youngsters liking the retro novelty of sending a card.

“As our visitors love the less hurried and more traditional way of life they find in North Yorkshire, it’s a great way of making the Dales and North York Moors a talking point when a scenic postcard lands on somebody’s doormat.

"Encouraging people to send a postcard is the perfect way for them to pause, enjoy a drink, which then helps support local cafes and pubs, while enjoying the nostalgic feel of handwriting a message.”

The Picture Perfect campaign continues throughout the summer.