Last updated at 09:11, Wednesday, 09 September 2009

There’s something about us Brits and our bits. Nudity=sex and naughtiness.

The only reason for you to take your clothes off in this country is to get in the bath or have sex.

Anyone who does it for any other reason is just, well, strange.

Over in Europe it is a different story.

In the south of France, Spain, Germany and parts of Greece there are nudist areas and beaches that are multi-million pound money-spinners, attracting holidaymakers from all over the globe.

Yet here in Cumbria – the coldest, cloudiest, wettest county in the country – there’s a place where you can lose your inhibitions and your underwear...

Nudist camps have been present in this country for decades, but throughout that time they have been the butt of cheap jokes and double-entendres.

The Solway Sun Club was started in 1953 and is still going strong.

Just five people chipped in £20 each to buy the 15 acres of partially scrubbed-up woodland and set about transforming it into a secret garden.

We were asked to keep secret the exact location and names of many of its members (let’s get the sniggering out of the way now shall we?).

Sadly, most naturists don’t want to reveal their identity, fearing the reaction of family, friends and society in general.

Which perhaps says more about those who keep their clothes on.

When the News & Star arranged to visit the club, we had to meet at a lay-by rendezvous before we were taken to the site.

I spoke to a long-serving, elderly trustee from the Carlisle area who refused to be named or identified in any way.

Is all this cloak and dagger stuff really necessary in the 21st century?

“It is one of the things about naturism – we don’t like broadcasting who we are because people look down on us,” he said with heavy emphasis.

“We have had to keep our heads below the parapet because people think it is a sex thing.”

But it seems to be more of a ‘back to nature’ thing.

Just a simple and straightforward way of trying to get closer to nature.

“I got into it as a lad before I came to Carlisle,” explained the trustee

“When I was 10 or 11 I used to go into the fells, take my clothes off and sit in a hollow listening to the peewits and curlews.

“With a tin of condensed milk with two holes punched in it, I thought it was heaven.

“It just felt a natural thing to do.”

He didn’t get the idea from his parents and certainly didn’t tell them about it, nor his friends.

His naturism was a secret then and it still is now.

There are friends that he has known for years that he would not dream of telling.

“There are quite a lot of good friends who don’t know and I would not want them to know. It is non of their business.”

Cumbria’s best-kept secret is somewhere off Junction 44 of the M6.

The Solway Sun Club seems a world away from the thundering motorway traffic and the everyday outside world.

It’s a calm and serene place with well-laid out and lovingly-kept gardens and wooded walks.

All of it has been created and maintained by members who travel from across Cumbria. the north east and Scotland.

It is almost like visiting a foreign country.

“The grounds are a garden of Eden, a paradise,” says the trustee.

“We are proud of what we have done.

“It is not cold – in a woodland enclosure it is warmer than elsewhere and without your clothes on, your body acclimatises to the temperature and the sun better.

“If it is cold, of course we wear clothes, but when the sun comes out, we don’t have to.

“The best thing is just the feeling of freedom.”

He stresses that it is a naturist club, not a nudist camp.

“A nudist camp is the old phrase, we don’t use it any more.

“It accentuates the nude aspect, rather than the natural.”

The relaxed and happy atmosphere of the camp gives you the impression that the people are here as much for the friendship as for the fact that they can sit around, swim or play games without any clothes on.

There are leagues for pool, darts and croquet.

There is a swimming pool (unheated) also a toilet block with hot water and hot showers.

There’s a sauna and a club house.

Membership ranges from families with young children to singles and couples with some in their 80s.

The season runs from April to October and the high points include the club’s birthday party in August and the end-of-year party in October.

Members usually come for a weekend, staying in caravans on the site.

There are 30 units which could be home to a family, a couple or a single visitor and there is room for that number to double.

The average age is middle-aged and the trustee explained: “Young families come, then as the children get older, they stop coming, then, when the children have left home the parents come back again as a couple.

The anonymity that many naturists feel they need is part of the culture of the club.

Although there is a close-knit community feel and people there call each other by their first names, they don’t ask each other where they are from or what they do.

Membership is strictly controlled. Each applicant is carefully vetted before admission.

But there must be some who come for voyeuristic reasons?

“I can usually tell if they’re genuine over the phone,” sighed the trustee.

“We get bothered by single men, but no-one is allowed to turn up on the day without an appointment.

“Some visit then don’t come back, they just come down out of curiosity.

“We try and keep an equal balance of sexes and prefer to enrol couples and families.

“We only take in single males if we get a balance of single females.

“The balance is very important, a female does not want to be outfaced by males.

“Any member may remain dressed until they get used to our way of life.”

Those that stay return year after year, decade after decade.

Adrian and Margaret Butler travel across at weekends from the north east and celebrated their 40th anniversary at the club.

“We are in a world of our own there,” said the trustee.

“We don’t really like the publicity. We have only agreed to this to get some new members.

“We are happy as we are, but it would be good to get some new people involved.

“It is up to them to be keen about it, but you don’t know what it is like until you have tried it.”

For more information on the Solway Sun Club, call 01228 380947 or go to: www.solwaysunclub.co.uk

First published at 09:04, Saturday, 22 August 2009
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk