By: Koos Koopman & Rodney Kaan
On the third day we visited a bog and National Park named “Storre Mosse”, where we had a tour by Hans Fransson. Our task was to pay attention to the 5 stages of a visit (Matre, 2009).
The invitation stage is about the susceptibility of the park. The website is easy to find on Google. The official site is also in German or English. The second find on Google is a Dutch site.
The second stage is the arrival. This stage is about the elements that are available at the beginning. For the beginning is it important that it is easy to find the park. After leaving the highway there are signs that lead to the park. On the parking lot signs lead you the way to either the toilet or the Naturum visitor centre. The toilets fit in the environment. It are wooden cabins. “The visitor centre is supposed to be a gate to nature” according to Hans. The Naturum visitor centre fits to this idea. It is also a wooden building and it has huge windows to get in contact with nature. There are also telescopes to focus more on nature.
The third stage called the stay this stage is about the visit itself. Hans brought the food/drinks and the snowshoes we needed. Before we could go into the nature reserve Hans gave us as a group the job to carry the food and drinks. This makes you part of the tour. The theory of Steve van Matre (Matre, 2009) from his book “Interpretive Design and the dance of experience” is a way to describe the tour of Hans.
It is step four in the designing, called interacting. The theory says it is important for visitors to leave with something in their Head, Hands, Hart and Stomach. When you can manage this the visitor leaves with a positive memory about the visit of the park. The food Hans brought was more than expected and better than we used to in the Netherlands (Stomach). At a point in the tour Hans told a story about the age of the peat (heart), then he went into the peat with his arm to take some for us to feel the peat (hands). In the beginning of the tour Hans told about the three species of Sundew that occur in Storre Mosse (head). “You have to be careful here otherwise the Sundew will eat you” according to Hans. Humor is one thing Hans himself thought is very important for a nice tour: “Let nature be fun, than people stay interested”. Humor is one extra component Hans added to this theory.
“Departure” is the fourth stage. This is the end of the visit. We were invited to go to the visitor centre. At the visitor centre you can buy a souvenir or get a postcard to remember the great day you had. This leads you into stage five.
Stage five is the follow-up stage. This is about a revisit of the park. This can be done by sending a card you can get at the visitor centre. Another good thing is that the park sends you a certificate after you did the guide-tour. This makes you feel connected to the park. By looking at your souvenirs or certificate, when you’re at home, you remember that you are somehow part of the park. It invites you to go back for another visit and maybe bring some other friends or family.
Conclusion: Storre mosse has found a good way of leading their visitors through their park. The park has the five stage of Matre in it. It starts at their website where you can get inspired to visit the park by great photos. After that it continues in the arriving-stage where you get the first impression of the park. Storre Mosse does the job well, because the parking lot looks attractive. The visit itself, visiting-stage, is also well done. In which Hans, without knowing, uses the theory of Matre and also added his own ingredient named: humor. The depart-stage is where the visit ends. At Storre Mosse the tour ended at the visitor centre where souvenirs and postcards were taken back home. That brings us to the last stage, the follow-up, where visitors still get in contact with the park by receiving a certificate.
That shows that the park really does its best to let the visitors experiences the best day of their life.