In recent years there has been a shift
in defining cultural heritage away from assessing
sites as discrete locations, towards seeing heritage places, objects and values as
embedded in a cultural landscape. The cultural landscape results from an organic
evolution involving both human and natural processes. In environmental terms, the
concept of cultural landscapes supersedes the notion of the pristine wilderness,
untouched by human hands. It also shows what is needed locally is a clear appreciation
that the landscape contains our roots and our stories but that it offers many different
narratives and identities. Any one of these can serve as a value system to unify a tract
of countryside and guide a landscape management plan.
