The picturesque Lake District is one of few places in the UK that never loses its charm all year round.

In fact, the winter months bring an almost mystical appeal to the stunning north-west region with fascinating walks and attractions still going strong in January.

As England’s largest National Park, the area provides the perfect environment for a host of activities from rock climbing and paragliding to more gentler activities such as a boat trip on lake Windermere, England’s longest lake – an Windermere hotels are never short in abundance.

Boasting Scafell Pike – England’s highest mountain, and Wastwater – England’s deepest lake, ‘The Lakes’ offers some of the UK’s most stunning scenery, inspiring artists such as Turner and Ruskin to some of the country’s best loved writers, such as William Wordsworth and Beatrix Potter.

With such a wealth of beauty, culture and hospitality it isn’t hard to see why the Lake District remains the perfect setting to explore and enjoy – even in the crisp winter period. If the magical fell walks aren’t your thing, there’s still so much to do outdoors so don’t let the snow put you off!

Lake District hotels feature some fantastic off-season discounts so here are a few ideas for things to do whilst there.

Go Ape!

Climb the trees, slide across high wires, crawl through tunnels, cross rope bridges, walk the planks and zip down to the ground! Go Ape!, in the Grizedale Forest, is an award-winning high wire forest adventure course of rope bridges, tarzan swings and zip slides up to 40 feet up in the trees! Opening in March 2008, the new Go Ape Whinlatter, go on give it a try!

Aquaseiling

Those in search of a serious rush to the head should try aquaseiling – abseiling down a fast-flowing waterfall. Aquaseiling is a sheer adrenalin activity in awesome surroundings and can form part of a longer scrambling journey.

Via Ferrata

At the Honister Slate Mine, high up in the Borrowdale Valley, the new Via Ferrata lets you experience the mountains in a novel way. Secured to a fixed cable, you follow a Victorian miner’s route along the craggy cliff-face of Fleetwith Pike using steel ladders and solid bridges to reach the 2126ft summit, where you can gaze at uninterrupted views.

Ghyll scrambling

Another physically challenging organised activity is ghyll scrambling. Wearing protective clothing, you slide, jump, scramble and slither your way along the course of a stream, tackling all the obstacles you come across. Expect to get wet!

Anyone visiting hotels in the Lake District next month may want to know what entertainment is on offer in the evenings.

A must-see event for any literary fans is one featuring the works of Anthony Trollope, one of the region’s best known authors.

In an engaging show, actor Edward Fox, also from the Lake District, will take to the stage at the Theatre by the Lake to perform the one-man show about Trollope’s life and works.

The audience will be guided through his life and meet some of his most famous creations along the way.

Characters that will make an appearance include the warden Septimus Harding, Mrs Proudie and Mr Obadiah Slope.

Fox will use extracts from Trollope’s novels to portray the author, as well as providing excerpts from his autobiography.

Tickets for the show cost £15, with only one performance scheduled for February 7th.

Located at Lakeside in Keswick, the theatre itself offers spectacular views across Derwentwater, Borrowdale and the Western Fells.

Grasmere is ideally located within the Lake District so that every valley may be explored, with just a short journey from the Luxury Lake District Hotel that is Rothay Garden.

Grasmere is ideally located within the Lake District so that every valley may be explored, with just a short journey from the Luxury Lake District Hotel that is Rothay Garden. The village of Grasmere is beautiful and charming positioned perfectly in the heart of the Lake District National Park. Many tourists choose to visit the close by ‘honey pot’ towns of Hawkshead, Ambleside, Coniston, Keswick, Bowness and Windermere. The River Rothay runs nearby and to the north west of Grasmere, is Helm Crag, with Nab Scar and Rydal Fell lying to the east, and Silver Howe and Yew Crag to the west.

Rothay Garden Hotel is built from the locally quarried grey green stone, so reminiscent of the region. The surrounding area is noted for its beautiful scenery and there are many delightful walks which suit a range of abilities. To the south of the village is Grasmere Lake where there are some gentle walks amongst the lower ground around the lake. Or Grasmere is located centrally for the more challenging walking of Helvellyn, Scafell Pikes, Skiddaw and the Langdale Pikes. It was this spectacular scenery in Grasmere that inspired much of the poet William Wordsworth’s best works; he described the area as “the loveliest spot that man hath ever found”.

Of all the Hotels in the Lake District, Rothay Garden is no ordinary Lakeland hotel. It is in fact one of the finest and contemporary four star Lake District Hotels. It is perfect for both a winter or summer break and the two acres of riverside gardens are a wonderful and relaxing place to let life pass you by. It is a comfortable, quality hotel where you can escape life’s pressures and seek peace and quiet.

Many Lake District Hotels try and offer good catering but Rothay Garden really does offer excellent food really makes the difference between a break away from home and a memorable trip to treasure.

There are many hotels in the Lake District but staying at Rothay Garden means you are also in the right place to visit the Grasmere Festival of Stars which takes place on the last weekend in November every year.

i-newswire.com

A TV advertising campaign and website built around a new hit TV series are weapons in the Lake District’s fight to beat bad publicity after winter floods.

The Lakes Hospitality Association has launched a television advertising campaign for hotels and guesthouses in the Lake District and set up a special website www.lakewindermere.tv, designed to capitalise on the popular TV programme The Lakes.

The first of a series of adverts on ITV1 started on Tuesday this week and will go on air around the TV show and other well-known programmes, such as This Morning, ITV Early Evening News and Emmerdale.

The TV campaign will be shown in the Yorkshire and Tyne Tees area, where a large proportion of Lake District business comes from.

With the dedicated website, which is crammed with dozens of offers from hotel and guesthouses, the Lakes Hospitality Association will be able to closely monitor where inquiries are coming from.

The TV campaign is jointly funded by the Lakes Hospitality Association and Windermere Lake Cruises and hoteliers and guesthouses – The Howbeck and Windermere Suites, The Newby Bridge Hotel, Fairfield Guest House, The Knoll and The Coppice.

Jonathan Denby, chairman of the Lakes Hospitality Association, said: “The double-whammy of floods and snow cut the number of visitors to the Lakes by half. We need to show the world that the Lakes is fully open for business.

“At the time of the floods I asked the North West Development Agency (NWDA) for funding for a TV campaign to match the money given to Yorkshire Tourism of £30 million over three years. The NWDA were not sure of the efficacy of TV advertising, so we intend to demonstrate to them with our TV campaign – that TV advertising is just what the Lakes needs to bring back the tourists.”

The Lakes Hospitality Association is a trade association representing the interests of 500 accommodation providers and others associated with hospitality in South Lakeland.

Westmoreland Gazette

The Lake District is the perfect location for children. Endless activities to keep them occupied for example watersports, walking, Go-Ape, a zoo and the Ravenglass-Eskdale railway. It has long been an area popular with families.

An area full of activities and stunning scenery is the area of Keswick and Bassenthwaite. There are many Keswick hotels that offer child friendly rooms with excellent leisure facilities on site. These facilities include heated swimming pools, gyms, tennis courts, putting greens and some even have games rooms with both board games and computer games such as Wii consoles installed. The practical facilities within these hotels come in the form of flexible meal times for children, the use of complimentary high chairs and cots, bed time books and stocks of essential items such as nappies, baby milks and food and dummies.

The Bassenthwaite Lake area encompasses some of the most well equipped hotels Lake District. The lake is one of the largest in the English Lake District situated at the foot of Skiddaw and in such close proximity to Keswick, it is a great location. The lake is 4 miles long and is the shallowest of all the lakes with its maximum depth just 70 feet. For parents interested in bird watching, it is one of the best places to spot an Osprey.

Bassenthwaite the village itself is one of the most beautiful Lakeland villages and is an ideal base for discovering the woodlands of Thornthwaite Forest and the trails of Dodd Wood. It is the northernmost and only true ‘lake’ in the Lake District; it is renowned for its peacefulness, accessibility and continually changing scenery caused by changeable weather and seasons. When the adults need to get away there’s Mirehouse which is most definitely worth a visit.

Alfred Lord Tennyson stayed at Mirehouse whilst writing his poem ‘Morte D’Arthur’ in 1835. It is a private house but open to the public on Wednesday and Sunday afternoons. The grounds and a tea shop are open daily though. Further on from Mirehouse is an open air theatre erected by the Tennyson Society is the location where Tennyson was thought to have written most of that famous poem. All around the lake and the surrounding area is a strong literary feel along with a popular place for artists.

Cumbria’s tourism industry could be given a boost with the opening of a new luxury hotel in the Lake District.

According to the Westmorland Gazette, businessman Stephen Leahy has bought Holbeck Ghyll near Lake Windermere and intends to turn it into lavish accommodation.

He said that the establishment will offer more than just a hotel and board, as he intends to throw in new services such as supercar hire, lake cruises and helicopter airport transfers.

The 26-bedroom hotel is already home to a Michelin star restaurant, which the owner intends to keep, preparing top meals and packed lunches for guests enjoying daily excursions.

“Whatever guests want, we will get it,” said Mr Leahy, who is also the chief executive of the Select Group if businesses in Manchester.

The news comes as Cumbria tourism officials are preparing to launch a new campaign aimed at boosting visitor spend in the Lake District.

They are offering a Freedom of the Lake District pass similar to existing schemes in London and York, which will give visitors discounts on top restaurants, retail outlets and attractions.

Award-winning Ullswater Steamers, which has four vessels operating lake cruises on Ullswater in the Lake District, is back in business following a forced suspension due to the flooding in the area late last year.

The steamers, which offer the chance to combine a lake cruise with some of the most famous and spectacular walks in the Lake District, were keen to be back in operation as quickly as possible.

Despite the chaos that disrupted the area, Ullswater Steamers was up and running within a week. The family-run firm prides itself on its motto ‘open every day except Christmas Eve and Christmas Day’ but its fleet had to go into dry dock for seven days for the first time in its 150-year history.

Like the rest of the Lake District, tourism around Lake Ullswater, marketed as ‘arguably the most beautiful of all the Lakes’, has long been back in business,with everybody anxious to convince travellers that holidays are back to their best.

A key destination is Glenridding at the foot of Helvellyn – England’s third highest mountain and one of the most popular walking routes in the Lakes.

The best-known hotel on Ullswater is Sharrow Bay, with its Michelin-starred restaurant that overlooks the lake. Although the hotel wasn’t breached by water, more than 30 guests had a prolonged but enjoyable stay when the only road in was impassable because of high waters.

Sam Hall, from the hotel, said: ‘Our guests watched it all unfold from the picture window that looks on to the Lake. The only issue we had was when we ran out of ingredients for sticky toffee pudding’

Daily Mail

More than 200 rooms across a number of Lake District hotels and guesthouses are up for grabs over the next three weeks following an appeal to boost tourist numbers in the area after last November’s flooding.

Up to 40 accommodation providers have donated an allocation of ‘free’ rooms with breakfast for the remaining two Sunday evening’s in January and on the first Sunday in February.

Visitors will pay the bargain price of just £9.99 per person for a Sunday night stay at many of the county’s leading establishments including the four-star lake-fronted Low Wood Hotel in Windermere, and the five star boutique guesthouse, Number 43 in Arnside.

The Lakes Hospitality Association and Cumbria Tourism are working together on this national initiative to encourage visitors back to the Lake District.

Last November’s unprecedented flooding is estimated to have cost Cumbria’s tourism industry over £2.6 million in lost and cancelled bookings.

Ian Stephens, Chief Executive at Cumbria Tourism, said: “Although much of the flooding was isolated to specific parts of Cumbria, tourism businesses countywide still experienced a significant downturn in business due to widespread media reporting at the time.

“We want to encourage people to come and see for themselves that we are open for business at what is typically a quieter time in the tourism calendar, and if we can attract new visitors to the area with this offer, we are confident that they will continue to return again year after year.”

Jonathan Denby, chairman of Lakes Hospitality Association, recently called on accommodation providers to get on board with the plan to boost visitor numbers and has donated free accommodation at his three South Lakes hotels for the campaign.

He said: “This ‘Open for Business’ campaign is a gesture of goodwill from the Lake District to welcome customers’ back and to show that the roads are clear, the shops are open and the hotels and attractions are ready and waiting to welcome visitors.”

Goosemire Cottages, the family owned and run Lake District self catering business, are pleased to launch their January sale.

Everyone is looking for a bargain at this time of year so why should the sales be confined to the high street? Goosemire Cottages are offering discounts on full weeks booked in each of their 46 self catering properties. The discounts range from £30 – £50 depending on the property size.

The number of self catering holidays in the UK has risen quite dramatically in the last 2 years. Various factors have contributed to this for example the poor Euro exchange rate resulting in tourists staying in the UK and the cost savings of self catering compared with a hotel stay. A self catering holiday allows freedom, the ability to cook within the property so saving on restaurant bills and is an excellent type of holiday for families and pet owners.

Goosemire Cottages have available 46 traditional Lake District cottages for discerning visitors (Ranging from 1 to 7 bedrooms, sleeping up to 10). Most are rustic 17th or 18th Century Lakeland cottages or lovely barn conversions, where antiquity and modern comforts have been beautifully combined. The atmosphere and idiosyncrasies of each property are reflected on their website which offers full online booking facilities and information and images on each of their properties.

For more information on the Goosemire Lake District cottages January sale or their last minute booking discounts, visit their website here

Two of the country’s leading names in the arts will be appearing in Cumbria next month in a special benefit concert to help the victims of the Cumbria floods and recognise the effort made by some of the rescue organisations who helped out at the height of the floods.

Singer Lesley Garrett and actor Brian Blessed will be appearing in A Concert for Cumbria, as well as the Cumbria Youth Orchestra and leading pianist Andrew West.

Keswick’s Theatre by the Lake have kindly donated their venue and staff time to hold the benefit concert, which will take place at 7.30pm on Wednesday, February 3. The artists performing in the concert are also donating their services and several businesses are donating goods and services.

The concert, which has been organised by Cumbria County Council, is aiming to build on the already considerable fund-raising efforts in the aftermath of the November floods.

Money raised through ticket sales and charitable donations will be shared 50/50 between the Cumbria Flood Recovery Fund and the rescue organisations who helped keep people safe when the floods hit. These include RNLI, Lake District Search and Mountain Rescue Association, Bay Search and Rescue, Red Cross, North West Air Ambulance, International Rescue, RSPCA, The Police Dependants Trust, The Fire Fighters Charity and St John’s Ambulance.

Cumbria County Council has offered priority booking to a selected list of guests, by special invitation. Tickets will be available exclusively to these guests until Monday,January 25, on which date any unsold tickets will be made available for sale on a first come, first served basis through Theatre by the Lake from 9.30am onwards on the hotline 017687 81100. Tickets will cost £25 (no discounts) plus invitees are being asked to make a Gift Aid donation of £25 when they buy the ticket. It is thought that this is the best way of ensuring the charities receive the maximum possible donations.

Lesley Garrett’s performance will allow fans a sneak preview of her full recital due later in the year on Saturday, June 5, at Carlisle’s Sands Centre. For more details of that performance visit www.thesandscentre.co.uk or call 01228 625 222.

Coun Roger Bingham, Chairman of Cumbria County Council, said: “It has been an extraordinary effort to pull together a concert with such big names in the arts at such short notice. The artists themselves must be thanked for donating their time for free, as must Theatre by the Lake for hosting the event and putting in a great deal of staff time to help organise the event. Many other businesses and suppliers have also offered spectacular support.

“A Concert for Cumbria will raise money not only for the victims of the flood but also reward the sterling work of the rescue services over that critical flood weekend. It will be a night of celebration to mark the great efforts in the flood recovery operation. There’s still plenty more work to do, but a lot has been achieved in a very short space of time.”

Westmorland Gazette