ABSTRACT
Social change and restructuring at the national and regional level is the product of the complex interaction of a variety of underlying political, economic, environmental and social sub-forces. The particular study adopts the latter approach, the phenomenon of second home growth as both an indicator and element of social and more general rural change in the countryside. For the opponents of this particular consumption good, second homes are often seen as a root cause of a range of social ‘problems’. Abroad second home ownership was already being identified as a mature social phenomenon by the mid 1960s with the development of holiday villages to cater for that demand which could not be accommodated in the existing housing stock. Many of the more general studies end by examining the need for a policy response towards the expansion of second home ownership. Any move towards new legislative regulation over second home ownership will require a definition which is applied evenly.
