The Pioneers of Nudism

If you go down to the woods today, you're sure of a big surprise...

Who knows what nature intended, but these folks certainly seem to be having a whale of a time. The Spielplatz naturist resort in Hertfordshire was a decade old when these scenes were filmed, founded by Charles and Dorothy Macaskie in 1929 (and still going). This amateur film, shot on 9.5mm stock, gives an intimate insider view rather than the usual prurient or perplexed outsider take.

A narrative film within a film, in which a drunken tramp is 'converted' to the cause, is somewhat abandoned (it's never quite clear if he's being punished or baptised), but in general the whole affair is very relaxed. Whatever your thoughts on naturism, like many social clubs the appeal of the resort appears to be the camaraderie of a group of like minds who have left their everyday cares behind.