Coastal Camping in Cornwall

From the collection of

The Box
Established in 1992, the South West Film & Television Archive collection spans from 1893 to the present day containing more than 250,000 items. Formed from a variety of depositors, including broadcast news and programmes material from the Westward and TSW archive. In 2018 the archive collection transferred to The Box in Plymouth.

Coastal Camping in Cornwall


Home movie maker films family in Cornish field

By the 1970s camping was well established as tent holidays became accessible to most families and labour laws instituted annual paid leave for all. By the 1970s holidaymakers queued to get into the West Country and everyone seemed to holiday at the same time. How nice then to have a field to yourself in a more inaccessible corner of Cornwall at Sennen, very near to Land's End.

This film provides a quick video diary of arriving, visiting and leaving. If vlogging is the early twenty-first century phenomenon then home movie making is the late twentieth century one. Cine cameras become cheaper, more accessible and easy to use and treasured family occasions such as summer holidays, weddings, birthdays and outings, familiar to many, are popular as everyone becomes a filmmaker. This also spawns an industry creating content for broadcast and the internet. This forms part of the Parsons family collection. They were keen amateur filmmakers from the 1920s to the 1970s and returned to the same spot at Sennen capturing their exploits on different film stocks.


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