Policy Persistence and Cultural Resistance: The (Re-) Development of Horticulture in the Vale of Evesham

Rural geographers have frequently discussed the development of rural areas in
terms of paradigms. Focusing on the Vale of Evesham in the south Midlands of
England, UK, this paper instead uses the three cross-cutting themes of
historicity, conflict and neo-industrialisation to illuminate the development
trajectory of this locality based upon its strong horticultural tradition. The
emergence, growth and decline of a culturally, socially and economically unique
horticultural sector in the Vale is described against a backdrop of policy
persistence favouring other farming enterprises. The way in which historicities
of small-scale market gardening are being created, appropriated and reified for
local and tourist consumption, is discussed through analysis of four recent
horticultural-related inventions. These serve to deny the ‘real’ change occurring
in the Vale’s horticultural sector driven by neo-industrialisation, although a lack
of conflict is found to be associated with such change. The paper concludes by
outlining the prospects for future tensions over the (re)development of
horticulture in the Vale.