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Are we neglecting our homelands?

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Catherine Deshayes

 

We Brits are generally a fairly well travelled lot - but is all this foreign gallivanting coming at the expense of seeing our own country - a new poll has revealed that British children are just as likely to have visited Paris as London...

The poll by rail website trainline.com found that, by the age of 12, 23 per cent of youngsters have visited the French capital while the same proportion has been to the UK capital, according to the survey.

Children aged four to 12 have, on average, visited up to seven foreign countries by the age of twelve, but do not know where many British landmarks are.

With so many wonderful sights to see in their own homeland, it seems a shame that British children are missing out on a taste of Great Britain. How things have changed- fifty years ago, the vast majority of children would have never left the country, with holidays being enjoyed beside the sea in Cornwall or on the South Coast.

Fast forward to today and, thanks in part to the advent of cheap flights, the majority of British children (85 per cent) have been abroad by the age of 12, with almost one in five (19 per cent) venturing to North America and nine per cent travelling to Asia.

A mere eight per cent of parents said they thought that their children would be able to say where certain landmarks in Britain were located, such as Hadrian's Wall.

Just seven per cent believed their children could pinpoint Stonehenge on the map while three per cent said youngsters would know where the Giant's Causeway was.

Iain Hildreth, marketing director at thetrainline.com, said, "It's amazing to think that British kids will have seen so many foreign places by the time they hit their teens.

"It is surprising, however, to see the gaps in their knowledge about their own country in this report.

"With so much to do and see in the UK - and the great value for money that rail travel can provide - there really is no excuse not to be able to tell the Lizard from Lyme Regis," he added.

Check out homes for sale all across France at http://france.themovechannel.com/

Picture by Joe

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