2007 - a start

2007 was the year of discovering naturism as a lifestyle.

It was always in there somewhere. I've never understood how functions that are an essential part of every life, the way we're made, are somehow wrong, and yet violence and cruelty, something that we ought to be able to exist without, are readily accepted. Having grown up through the 1960s and 1970s I suppose I assumed that the world, or at least the part that I inhabit, was heading towards greater tolerance and diversity. Nevertheless, my only practical action through these decades was to insist on nudity in bed.

This changed when we were on holiday in Dorset in September 2006 and went to Studland beach. I hadn't knowingly been on a naturist beach before, and had associated outdoor nudity only with the "nudist colony" idea of tea and volleyball. Here was a much better idea, an open beach with plenty of space, where dress was your choice, not according to one or other set of rules. We spent an hour or two here, in the water and sunbathing on the sand.

So I went home and tried to find other more local opportunities by buying a few books and using the Internet, especially following the debates on uk.rec.naturist, and reading the websites of BN and NUFF. And this is when I discovered that, rather than progressing in acceptance, in many ways the style of naturism at Studland where clothed and unclothed could mix was under threat. Many beaches where nudity had been accepted for decades were being "closed" by local authorities and police. This despite nudity of itself not being illegal, and indeed the recent Sexual Offences Act being worded to make it clear that non-sexual nudity with no intent to shock was not an offence.

Now I wanted to get further into naturism both because I expected to enjoy it and with the hope that I might at some stage be able to do something to help promote it.

The first action was to spend more time naked in the house, which I found good, and which my wife readily accepted. It's a good break between work and play to change dress completely, and to make the play undress instead is just a small improvement. Then the second step was to remedy the obvious defects in the photos from Studland: the brown extremities with pink everywhere in between.

The back garden was the only immediate opportunity for taking in the sun. Ours is quite small, but we have a 1.8m fence and some greenery going up higher than that, so there are a few spots which are both sunny and out of sight, with the aid of a windbreak or a few garden chairs. I can't be entirely secret, but I'm counting on nobody being able to complain if they have to come up to the fence and look over, or peer through a gap. 2007 was not a good summer, but I managed to get a little bit of a tan with no obvious lines.

The next step was obviously to go somewhere more open, where you can walk about. By this stage I'd decided to join BN. It is the only national body, at least for now, and its ability to promote naturism depends on numbers and income. It also produces a useful magazine, to complement H&E. From the opportunities advertised there, the best bets looked to be Abbey House Gardens and one of the BN beach days.

Abbey House was an excellent choice. It is not only very pleasant as a garden, but the clothing-optional atmosphere just exudes relaxation and calm. Cath came along, perhaps a little apprehensively, mainly to accompany me. When we got there it took her only about 5 minutes to decide that she felt silly dressed. We spent a very happy few hours there, walking around and sunbathing on the lawns. The only hard part was having to get dressed before we went home. I am not much to look at; today is when I accepted that it doesn't matter so much.

The gardens seem to work, with a mixture of clothed and nude; though the nudists are a big majority on the clothing-optional days. But we and others noticed that there are some who read the discrete sign on the gate advising that there will be nudity today and turn around. One can only hope that the Pollards are able to continue with these special days.

We chose the Holkham beach day, which happened to be on the hottest day of the year. It was a bit of a struggle to get into East Anglia and the car park was packed; it's also a long walk from the car park to the small area where nudity is corralled. There were hundreds of naturists here, of all sizes and ages. The BN tent was giving out tea, and yes there was volleyball. But most of us were just enjoying the sun, sand and water. The warm welcome persuaded Cath to join BN.

For our annual holiday in 2007 we hired a chalet in the French Alps. Naturism was not a factor in its choice, but it turned out to have a lovely secluded sun-trap of a garden and I was able to spend some time there. As most of the French go back to work at the end of August, in September the place was almost deserted and opportunities arose for some more sun and photography in photogenic places.

What to do about promoting naturism, without coming too close to offending some policeman's view of the law? The first action is to sound out the people around me, and try to influence any negative ideas they might have. I have a BN sticker ("Go naked...") in the car. I have included, mostly tasteful, nude shots with the printed holiday photos. No-one has stopped talking to me. Many have asked questions. Some have even asked for copies of the photos.

Several years ago I tested the water a little by adding to the "about me" page on my personal web site a logo of Nigel made up from five nude poses. I had only one negative reaction to this, from a colleague who was known for passing around pornographic e-mails. The image was later enlarged and strung over the bar at the hotel where I had a (surprise) birthday party, where it again provoked little comment. I discount comments received from Americans who stumbled on the web image.

I wonder what 2008 will bring? Extension of time and distance I hope. Maybe a trip to one of the European resorts.

(Some of the icon images are links.)

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