What’s on

The heat is on at the Lakes Chilli Fest (chillifest.co.uk) at Levens Hall near Kendal on 15 and 16 August. Fiery food from Cumbria and further afield will be served up at a variety of food stalls, with live music, fire-eaters and the like.

Cumberland and Westmorland wrestling, hounds trails and fell races are just some of the sports to watch at the Grasmere Lakeland Sports and Show (grasmeresportsandshow.co.uk) on 30 August.

The Streets and Ash are among the groups at Kendal Calling (kendal calling.com) from 31 July to 2 August. Pitch your tent in Lowther Deer Park, the festival’s new venue. Meanwhile, classical works headline Lake District Summer Music (ldsm.org.uk) at venues across the county from 31 July to 15 August, with a programme that includes Indian compositions as well as traditional favourites.

Solfest (solwayfestival.co.uk), at Silloth, will mix live music with artistic workshops and a market from 28 to 30 August. And Mintfest (lakesalive.org) champions the best contemporary international street arts in Kendal, from 28 to 30 August.

See the sights

High-wire, pyrotechnics and more high-energy arts events will bring the streets and shorelines around the county to life throughout August with Lakes Alive (lakesalive.org). Catch Dance Daze today in Penrith, when dancers will take to the market town’s streets, or see Workington turn into a giant pantomime set, on 15 and 16 August, for Once Upon a Summer’s Day.

Get active, if only for an hour or so, with kayaking, ghyll-scrambling or a bit of plain old horse riding. Destination Cumbria (destinationcumbria .co.uk) is offering cut-price deals on a huge variety of challenges.

Just open, The Bond Museum (thebondmuseum.com) in Keswick showcases 007′s favoured modes of transport, from Aston Martins to a Russian T55 tank. Open daily.

See the new bronze sculpture of Ulverston’s famous son, Stan Laurel, and his comedy partner, Oliver Hardy. And call in at the museum dedicated to the comedy duo at its new home at the Roxy Cinema. (laurel-and-hardy.co.uk).

Visitors to the Lake District will be able to park by phone this summer.

The move is designed to make life easier for the national park’s eight million plus visitors.

Already widely used in the south, it means motorists won’t get stuck if they don’t have any change for the parking machine.

Lake District National Park operates over 45 car parks – most of which are free – but in the 16 pay and display areas there are plans to roll out payment by phone.

National park head of car parks, David Coxon, said: “It’s very simple. You just register as a user, get a number and then enter your location and length of time you need. If you find you are at the top of Coniston Old Man or shopping and need longer, you simply call the number again to extend the time.

“Staff checking car parks will have mobile links to a web service showing which cars have registered. It’s an easy to use, easy to run operation and I’m sure our visitors will be pleased to have such a hassle-free way of paying for parking.”

Credit and debit card parking payments have already been introduced at Hawkshead, Glenridding and Coniston, but David said the mobile service offered far greater flexibility and didn’t need new meter machines.

He added: “We want to make access to this world renowned landscape as easy as possible and hope this will be an added incentive in encouraging drivers to park up and explore the area.”

Operating for a 12-month trial period, parking by phone will start on August 1.

Visitors to London can nor find free parking, near tube stations by using the new texting service by Free To Park

National park supporters restored a fellside sheepfold to celebrate their organisation’s 75th anniversary.

Volunteers from the Friends of the Lake District and the national park set to restoring the disused structure, which was close to total collapse. The farmer on whose land it stands is so pleased with the result he says he will start using it again.

The volunteers rebuilt 22m of drystone walling that make up the sheepfold, which is almost 150 years old and was originally used for gathering sheep, dipping and washing them.

The fold can be seen from the Nab Scar to Heron Pike section of the classic Lake District upland walk round the Fairfield Horseshoe.

Chris Hodgson, the tenant farmer at the site at Rydal, said: “I’m really pleased with the quality of the restoration work carried out by the Friends of the Lake District and Lake District national park volunteers.

“Now I have a useable sheepfold in an area of the fell I can gather the sheep into. Old features are always better looked after if they have a continued use, like stone walls and barns.”

Jack Ellerby, policy officer with Friends of the Lake District said: “One of our members told us that the sheepfold needed repairing as they didn’t want to see it completely tumble down.

“These historic features are linked to the cultural evolution of upland farming systems in the Lake District and should be preserved for future generations.”

Steve Gaskell, Lake District national park ranger said the sheepfold was an important landscape feature and was used for shelter in winter months. “Our voluntary rangers have significant experience in repairing drystone walls and were pleased to work with Friends members in their anniversary year,” he added.

Gordon Brown is swapping the Suffolk seaside for a holiday in the Lake District this summer.

Along with Sarah, his wife, and two young sons he will again seek to relax at a British destination rather than going abroad. The Prime Minister will hope that he has better luck than his previous two attempts to enjoy a holiday in Britain.

Two years ago he travelled to Dorset after only a few weeks in Number 10 as Prime Minister. But he was called back to London for foot-and-mouth crisis meetings after just four hours on the south coast and did not return.

Last year Mr Brown was dogged by political problems during the summer holiday. On the first day of his break in Southwold, Suffolk, David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary, wrote a stinging article criticising the Prime Minister’s leadership, sparking another crisis.

That came just after Labour had been humiliated in the Glasgow East by-election, losing a seat in its heartlands to the SNP. Mr Brown’s holiday departure this year is also likely to coincide with another by-election loss in Norwich North next Thursday.

Mr Brown’s closest colleagues and advisers have been stressing to him that he needs a proper holiday before the long run into next year’s election. He has been accused of being “weary” after months of bitter political battles including the expenses scandal and attempts by Labour MPs to force him from office.

As well as the region’s most popular lakes, such as Windermere and Coniston, there are a number of other attractions the Browns could enjoy including the Pencil Museum in Keswick and Ostrich World in Penrith.

Mr Brown has always been a reluctant tourist and will again spend some of his anticipated three-week break at his constituency home in Scotland. Downing Street last night refused to comment on Mr Brown’s holiday plans.

The Prime Minister’s absence from Number 10 is likely to trigger a bitter fight among his closest colleagues about who is running the country while he is away. Lord Mandelson will expect to be in control after effectively assuming the position of deputy prime minister with his new title of First Secretary.

But he will face opposition from Harriet Harman, Labour deputy leader, who believes she should be in control. Alistair Darling, the Chancellor, will also expect to be consulted.

The recession has forced politicians of all colours to think about taking their breaks at home rather than in exotic foreign climes.

Telegraph.co.uk

The final additions for this month’s Kendal Calling festival have been announced.

he latest additions for the Kaylied Stage are Tunng, Casiokids, Black Diamond Bay, Kate Rogers, and Sam Quill.

Preston based Jelly’s Last Jam, and The Blims have also today been confirmed, as has Kiss tribute band Arockalyspe Now.

Co-founder and organiser, Ben Robinson, said, “There’s some quality folk acts coming out of the UK at the moment and it’s more popular than ever. Dent Folk Festival was a great success in Cumbria last week and we’ve no doubt our folk acts will be attracting the crowds at this year’s Kendal Calling.”

These latest acts join the likes of The Streets, The Zutons, The Rumble Strips, Beardyman, Chase & Status, Shy FX, Iration Steppas, Skream, Andrew Weatherall, The Sunshine Underground, Crazy P, Noah and The Whale, Steppa, Exodus, The King Blues, Fight Like Apes, Hereldeduke, Craig Charles, The Travelling Band, The Kabeedies, Cornershop, The Yards, Riot Jazz, Kasms, and more.

For the line-up details as available please click here.

This year there will also be snow at the festival with the addition of a SNO!zone with more than 80 tonnes of real snow. The indoor snow slope, which is based in Castleford, near Leeds, will haul the snow over the Pennines to create the SNO!zone Off Piste area at the Cumbrian festival.

The Alpine themed area will provide a place to chill out after watching bands as well as including a 30m real snow slide and snowboard simulator as well as DJs playing a variety of hip-hop, reggae and summer tunes.

An adult weekend ticket is priced at £70, a child (11-14 years) weekend ticket is priced at £40, and children under 11 can attend for free, but need a ticket. To buy tickets, click here.

Kendal Calling is held in the Lake District, over the weekend of Friday 31st July to Sunday 2nd August and is a wholly independent festival returning for its fourth year in a new location at the Lowther Estate, Kendal, in East Cumbria.

HF Holidays, the UK’s largest walking and leisure activity holidays provider, and the National Trust have completed extensive restoration projects at Coniston in the Lake District.

At Monk Coniston on the Coniston Estate, HF Holidays – who have leased this lakeside property from the Trust since 1945 – have just finished a £600,000 restoration programme including roof repairs and exterior and interior renovations.

HF Holidays operates the property as Country House Hotel base for its walking and leisure activity holidays and the work represents a significant investment over 12 months.

At the same time, National Trust volunteers have finished a three year project to restore Monk Coniston’s Victorian Walled Garden and the footpaths leading from the garden to Coniston Water and Tarn Hows. The extensive works were supported by £450,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund and other investors.

A garden celebration event was organised by the National Trust with a presentation held in the 17th century dry stone wall barn at Monk Coniston Hall to mark the success and achievements of the restoration project.

The event culminated in the presentation by Lord Cavendish of an award from the Dry Stone Walling Association (DSWA).

John Croxford, House Manager of Monk Coniston said: “We are delighted to be able to help the National Trust celebrate this spectacular project at the time when our year-long renovation is also complete. As one of the HF Holidays Country Houses owned by the National Trust, we are in a very privileged position to be able to share the National Trust’s vision and see our guests benefit from this joint investment into the Estate.”

Members of the public are able to access the Monk Coniston grounds via a permissive path from the head of Coniston Water