More than 180 businesses across North Yorkshire have joined a summer campaign encouraging visitors to swap text messages for postcards and rediscover the joy of handwritten holiday messages.
The Picture Perfect campaign, organised by the Tourism Network, is inviting people to put down their mobile phones and send a postcard to friends or family while exploring the Yorkshire Dales and North York Moors.
Restaurants, pubs, shops, attractions, guesthouses and holiday accommodation providers are taking part by supplying postcards, and in many cases stamps, to make it easy for visitors to send a message home.
Organisers say the campaign is already proving a success, with businesses reporting that visitors are embracing the nostalgic pastime.
Among those taking part is Kiplin Hall, near Richmond, which has created a dedicated Silent Space in its gardens where visitors can sit quietly and write their postcards.
Elsewhere, Goathland’s Homestead Kitchen has placed postcards on its restaurant tables, while Town End Farm at Appleton-le-Moors has combined traditional postcards with modern technology by adding QR codes linking to local walking routes.
Susan Briggs, of the Tourism Network, said the campaign was encouraging people to slow down and appreciate their surroundings.
“People are realising there’s a real joy in writing a thoughtful message and receiving proper post,” she said.
“As our visitors love the less hurried and more traditional way of life they find in North Yorkshire, and we know that more than 90 per cent of visitors say they’d recommend the area to others, 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.”
She added that encouraging people to stop and write postcards also benefits local cafés and pubs by giving visitors another reason to pause and enjoy the area’s hospitality.
The campaign comes 156 years after the Post Office first introduced postcards and taps into a growing interest in traditional forms of communication, particularly among younger people who have embraced the retro appeal of handwritten messages.
The Picture Perfect campaign will continue throughout the summer,
For more information, visit www.yorkshiretreasures.co.uk/postcards
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Surely the main disincentive to sending cards is the cost of the stamp. It used to cost less to send a card than a letter. When on holiday in France I can send a card anywhere in the world for less than it would cost to send one back at home to my next-door neighbour.
I love to send and receive post cards but the cost of sending one is often prohibitive these days.