Guests staying in Lake District accommodation this September will be able to check out the first ever Ambleside Outdoor Festival.

Located in the heart of the region with easy access to stunning views of the beautiful landscape, Ambleside is the perfect location for a celebration of all things outdoors.

The inaugural festival will celebrate the culture and natural beauty of the Lake District, highlighting the abundance of year-round activities available there.

A range of events will take place over the four-day festival, with some highlights including climbing walls, kayak instruction, open water swims and abseiling.

For more experienced visitors, several competitions will be held such as the uphill road bike time trial, fell race and hill climb. There are also cycle races for both novice and veteran riders.

If visitors find themselves tired out by all the activities, they can relax with the wide range of low-octane events being held throughout the festival.

Adventure lectures and photographic exhibitions are just two of the options people will have to explore.

The festival runs from September 16th to 19th and although it is free to attend, many of the events will require entry fees and visitors may want to book in advance.

Cumbria Tourism has teamed up with some of the country’s top cycling instructors to offer a bumper programme of free bike-related activities for all the family throughout this summer.

‘Passport 2 Pedalling’ has something for everyone, providing beginners with 30-minute taster sessions on mountain bike skills at events across the county to half day organised rides through some of the Lake District’s most stunning scenery.

For those who want to try something a little bit different, there is even ‘beach biking’, at various beaches along Cumbria’s coastline with all kinds of competitions ranging from ‘biggest skid’ for children and young at heart adults, and a ‘how deep can you go’ challenge exclusively for adults.

Penrith based cycle guiding and training company, CycleActive will be running the majority of the sessions.

Chris Ford, Director of CycleActive said: “We wanted to come up with things that everyone could do that would offer great training and great fun at the same time. We’ve also brought in a brand new fleet of junior bikes of all sizes, which are available free of charge so there’s nothing stopping people from getting involved if they want to have a go.”

Supported by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), Passport 2 Pedalling is part of a wider scheme to get Cumbria recognised as the UK’s undisputed number one adventure holiday destination – the Adventure Capital of the UK.

The free cycling activities are also being used to kick-start the Passport 2 Pedalling Cycle Challenge, which calls on people to ride 2,012 Cumbrian miles before the start of the London 2012 Olympic Games.

The Opening Ceremony of the Games is on July 27th 2012, and to successfully meet the challenge, people would have to cycle approximately 20 miles each week from now until July 2012 – or the distance of Whitehaven to St Bees on the popular Hadrian’s Cycleway on Cumbria’s West Coast.

Compared to 10 years ago, almost 50 per cent of the UK population now goes on an activity break with cycling being one of the fastest growing activities for people to take part in.

Andrea Runkee, Adventure Capital Project Manager at Cumbria Tourism, said: We’re offering lots of free cycle rides and activities to encourage more people to get out on their bikes this Summer.

“The Government is looking for new ways to improve people’s health and get them involved in exercise and are committed to getting one million people taking part in more sport by 2012. There is no better place to do this – and more importantly, to enjoy it – than here in Cumbria.”

Dr Rebecca Wagstaff, NHS Cumbria’s Director of Public Health, said: “This is a great scheme to get people both living in Cumbria and visiting the county out and about exercising in our beautiful surroundings. Cycling is a great source of exercise and its easier on your joints than running or other high-impact aerobic activities. Exercise is important as it doesn’t just help you stay in shape and improve long term health, but it also helps to boost people’s moods, making them feel happier and healthier.”

Cumbria has a wealth of cycle routes suitable for all levels of ability from peaceful country lanes for beginners to England’s highest mountain passes for more extreme cyclists. The forest parks of Grizedale and Whinlatter have purpose built mountain bike trails while the lakeshores, old railway lines and gentle bridleways provide more relaxing escapes.

People who have booked hotels in the Lake District over the weekend of March 20th and 21st are in luck because the National Trust has announced that it will not charge entry to any of its sites over the weekend.

Speaking ahead of the British Tourism Week, co-chair of the project Bernard Donoghue highlighted the offer, which coincides with the event.

“Regardless to whether you are a member or not, just go along to your local National Trust property and it’s free of charge,” he noted.

Anyone visiting the Lake District that weekend could find that a trip around some of the sights associated with Beatrix Potter is the best way to take advantage of the offer.

The National Trust owns Hill Top, the children’s author’s house, which still holds all her belongings exactly as she left them.

A gallery and museum about her life is located in the nearby village of Hawkshead, where fans of Beatrix Potter’s characters can see some of the original illustrations from her books

Tickets are on sale for this year’s Kendal Calling festival at £85 for the weekend.

Tickets sold out last year which this year has also introduced a deposit scheme which enables ticket buyers to pay £30 now to secure a ticket and pay the rest later at no extra cost.

500 early bird discount adult tickets including 3 days and nights camping is priced at £65 (normal price £85), a child (11-14 years) weekend ticket is priced at £45, and children under 11 can attend for free, but need a ticket. A campervan ticket is priced at £40.

Kendal Calling is held in the Lake District, over the weekend of Friday 30th July to Sunday 1st August and is a wholly independent festival returning for its fifth year and returning to the Lowther Estate, Kendal, in East Cumbria.

Festival goers can expect a circus big-top main stage, dance tent, Kaylied ‘folk’ tent, Croissant Neuf tent, a new music ‘Calling Out’ Stage, chillout area, and camping is available.

2010 sees the festival grow to 8,000 capacity so expect all the regular favourites (entertainers, beer tent, big top marquees, comedians, cabaret) plus many more new and innovative extras, whilst keeping the intimate vibe and friendly atmosphere.

You can buy tickets here

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.

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

The Keswick Mountain Festival is a celebration of outdoor sports in the Lake District, and as well as featuring organised walks, climbing, triathlon, water sports and navigation skills, there’ll also be a sizeable MTB presence.

Building on the success of this year, in 2010 there’ll be even more, with loads of activities to get involved in, the latest mountain bikes to try out and guided rides organised by Keswick Mountain Bikes.

There will be a loads of rides to choose from, including an Epic Trailquest and activities for the entire family, such as a Family Treasure Hunt.

You can also test your skills and pick up some tips on the demo track with Cycle Wise and check out some new gear with loads of brands and manufacturers.

Also in attendance in the Speaker Programme will be Sir Ranulph Fiennes, Andy Cave, Andy Kirkpatrick, Leo Houlding, Joss Naylor, Kenny Stuart, Dave Birkett and Doug Scot. Other activities include Ghyll Scrambling, Navigation Courses, Salomon Trail Race, River Canoe Trips, Climbing, Hiking, Fell Race, Family Activities, Scrambling, Sailing, Bouldering, Photography and loads more.

Entries are open for this year’s Great North Swim – and hundreds of amateur swimmers from across the region have already signed up to take part.

The event, run by the North-East sports firm behind the Great North Run, is held in the Lake District every year.

More than 6,000 people took part in the open water challenge last year, following the inaugural race in 2008.

The event features Olympic champions, club swimmers, and charity fundraisers, who line up together on the banks of Lake Windermere, England’s largest lake.

Only 1,000 places are left for this year’s event.

Colin Hill, project manager for organiser Nova International, described the race, sponsored by British Gas, as an “iconic swim in the sporting calendar”.

The event takes place over the weekend of September 4 and 5, with entries already full for Saturday, and organisers have warned that places could even run out before the New Year.

Mr Hill said he hoped the success of the event would give Cumbria a boost following the recent floods.

Colin Hill, project manager for Great Swim, said: “The British Gas Great North Swim has attracted swimmers from all around the country and is a big positive for Cumbria in the wake of the recent floods.”

Last year’s event featured some of the world’s top swimmers, including North-East Olympian Jo Jackson, from Richmond, North Yorkshire.

Great Swim is open to swimmers of all abilities aged 16 years and over. Entry is £35, including entry fee, an event pack containing Great Swim swim hat and timing chip), souvenir medal and T-shirt.

Entries can be made online at greatswim.org

With a population of 28,000, the Lake District market town of Kendal was once a manufacturing hub of the north, nicknamed the “Auld Grey Town”. More recently, it has been known for the eponymous mint cake, which powered Sir Edmund Hillary up Everest.

But the town is celebrated for another reason – its mountain film festival. Among mountaineers and adventurers, it’s as important a date on the calendar as Cannes or Sundance is to a movie critic.

Next week (November 19-22), up to 7,000 visitors will descend on the town to catch a glimpse of the best high-adrenalin action from the world’s top adventure film-makers.

“It’s the social event of the year for anyone who’s into mountains,” event director Clive Allen says. “And among the world’s mountain film festivals Kendal is known as the party one, no doubt helped by taking place in a former brewery.”
He adds that one of the main attractions is the chance to meet the stars of adventure and exploration. “There are not many sports where you can guarantee you will be rubbing shoulders at the bar with the top performers.”

Among the headline acts are British climber Leo Houlding, who has just returned from a 14-day epic ascent of Mt Asgard, a 1,400m peak in the Canadian Arctic. His achievement left the climbing community in awe.
Not only did Houlding parachute in as if he was in the SAS, he also base jumped off the summit. The film of the adventure, by climbing team-mate Alastair Lee, is one of the most eagerly anticipated in the festival line-up.
“If the experience had been any harder we would have freaked. It was really dangerous, too,” Houlding says. “Due to global warming there was a lot of rock fall, house size boulders were coming down. It was way more ‘out there’ than the Himalayas.”

Also speaking is the French “Spiderman” Alain Robert, who solo climbs skyscrapers with no ropes or safety equipment. (“He’s never spoken in the UK before,” Allen says.) In addition, Tarka L’Herpiniere and Katie-Jane Cooper will describe their recent fight for survival in Patagonia (featured on these pages recently).

Other highlights include the premiere of The Wildest Dream, a film about Mallory and Irvine’s fateful climb on Everest in 1924. And there are dozens of speakers, from Himalayan climbing legend Doug Scott to Major Phil Packer, the Iraq war veteran who, despite being paraplegic, has gone on to run the marathon, row the channel and climb the 3,000ft-high vertical rock face of El Capitan in California by making the equivalent of 4,254 pull-ups.

Another person who has come back from serious injury is the 33-year-old Norwegian base jumper Karina Hollekim. Until a few years ago she was one of the world’s top extreme athletes, regularly photographed skiing off cliffs and base jumping off mountains. Then, in 2006, a routine jump went wrong, her parachute failed, she hit the ground and shattered both legs. Lucky to survive, she was told she would never walk again. Three years and 20 operations later she has done just that.

Skiing and base jumping are out of the question, but Hollekim will tell the Kendal audience how she has been forced to be content with more mundane challenges, such as finding the motivation to face the day. “I appreciate things in a different way because I know how it feels to have what you love taken away from you,” she says.
Despite the extreme nature of her chosen career path, she feels her story is universal. “We all have setbacks, whether illness or the loss of someone close. We all need to find the strength and motivation to get back up on our feet,” Hollekim explains.

“Hers is a fantastic story,” Allen says. “She really bust herself up.”

Hollekim is speaking as part of The North Face Free Flight Night. Other themes in the programme of lectures and films include mountain biking and adrenalin. There will also be mountain art and literature on display. And there is an adventure film academy for anyone looking to get into film-making themselves.

Tickets (01539 725 133; www.mountainfest.co.uk)

Telegraph.co.uk

Families planning to take their young children to the Lake District later this month may be interested to learn that one of TV’s best-loved characters is due to make an appearance there.

Those travelling on the Lake District’s Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway on September 27th and 28th will have the chance to meet Postman Pat and his cat Jess.

During their journey, children can take part in a postcard quiz and win a range of prizes, before meeting Pat and his cat at Dalegarth station.

Youngsters can have their photographs taken with the famous duo and enjoy colouring activities and face painting.

Meanwhile, parents can keep themselves occupied by browsing craft stalls at the station and sampling some of the tasty homemade food on offer.

In related news, those planning to stay in hotels in the Lake District will find plenty of other attractions to explore, including the Lakes Aquarium which is home to otters, marmosets and piranhas, among other things.