Lake District tourism experts have met in Kendal to discuss how to make 2010 a successful year.

Representatives from some of Cumbria’s leading hotel firms and tourism organisations attended an event at business advisors Moore and Smalley’s Murley Moss headquarters.

Ian Stephens, chief executive of Cumbria Tourism, said the sector had reason to be optimistic.

“Despite recent events there are many favorable factors for making the Lake District and Cumbria a very desirable destination for the UK holiday market, and all the indicators we use in terms of web bookings and other forecasts are showing that 2010 can be just as good as the first three quarters of 2009.”

Colin Johnson, head of Moore and Smalley’s leisure and tourism team, said: “It’s clear that most tourism businesses are optimistic and are prepared to fight tooth and nail to make 2010 a success by being innovative with their product and pricing.”

A NEW guide book packed with information on what’s going on in Cumbria this year has been launched.

The free, 70-page Events 2010 Guide lists nearly 600 activities between February and Boxing Day.

The guide, produced by the Lake District National Park Authority and Cumbria Tourism, was launched this week when 250,000 copies were distributed in the region.

It covers activities such as festivals and cultural events and also includes information about more than 300 guided walks across the Lake District.

Andrea Runkee, of Cumbria Tourism, said: “The message is simple: If you intend spending any time in the Lakes this year, this is the must-have guide.”

The guide is available from tourist information centres, libraries, hotels and guest houses, visitor attractions, motorway service stations, airports and train stations.

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

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.”

With its snow-crested mountains, perfect blue skies and a vast frozen lake, it looks like a stunning Alpine panorama. But this spectacular winter scene was captured far closer to home in the heart of the Lake District.

It shows one of the largest lakes in Cumbria – Derwentwater – almost completely frozen over for the first time in 10 years.

On the horizon and to the right, Bassenthwaite Lake – which is also fed by the river Derwent – is also covered with a layer of ice and snow after temperatures fell as low as minus 10 degrees.

‘It is absolutely spectacular,’ said Penny Webb, National Trust countryside officer for Borrowdale.
‘There is also snow over a lot of the ice so it is very white. It has frozen like this before but not for more than ten years.

‘It is like an Alpine morning here with blue skies and squeaky white power snow.’ The Lake District has escaped with just a few inches of snow in the last few days. But morning temperatures have plummeted to below minus 10C.

Paul Delaney, the National Trust’s supervisor for the north Lakes, captured the scene of the frozen lake on Thursday as he walked on Walla Crag near Keswick.

In places, the ice is between four and six inches thick, although pockets of open water remain in the centre of the three mile long, one mile wide lake.

Despite the risk of a potentially deadly dip in the water, tourists and locals have been unable to resist the temptation to take a stroll across the ice.

‘Some guys have ventured out, but it’s very dangerous,’ said Mr Delaney. ‘The National Trust has a rented house on Derwent Island and the tenants had to walk across the ice to get off the island. They were okay, but it’s risky.

‘If you go through the ice, by the time the rescue teams get to you it could be too late.’ The lake last froze over in the harsh winter of 1995 and 1996. Its surface is scored with giant fractures – up to three feet wide – created when cracks appear in the ice during the day and then refreeze at night.

The snow of the last few weeks has turned the Cumbrian peaks into snow-capped mountains. The snow is particularly dramatic on Skiddaw, England’s fourth highest mountain which lies to the north of Keswick to the right of the panorama, and on the distinctive peak of Causey Pike, in the centre of the image.

Derwent Water has inspired authors and artists for centuries. It was a favourite haunt of romantic poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge, writer and critic John Ruskin and novelist Hugh Walpole.

Beatrix Potter is said to have come up with the idea for The tale of Squirrel Nutkin while watching wildlife on she shore of the lake.

Daily Mail

Anyone who has booked themselves into a Lake District hotel for a break this year may like to watch a new 12-part series about the region.

The first instalment was broadcast on January 4th on ITV and the remaining 11 episodes will be shown on Monday nights at 20:00 GMT.

Rory McGrath presents the programme which will take viewers on a journey around the district and examine some of the area’s most colourful characters.

Ian Stephens, chief executive of Cumbria Tourism, commented: “This series is a great opportunity to put the Lake District and Cumbria into the homes of millions of potential visitors every week.”

He added that the shows will focus on the people who make the Lake District a tourist destination and offer travellers a behind-the-scenes look at the region.

Mr McGrath is no stranger to braving the elements in the name of television. He featured in the BBC’s Three Men in a Boat series alongside Griff Rhys Jones and Dara O Briain.

Following the airing of the first episode of the series, which featured the exploits of Thomas Noblett, manager of the Langdale Chase Hotel, near Windermere, the establishment has recieved more than 30,000 hits on its website and they have taken bookings for weddings from viewers.

“The programme has got to be good for the area,” said Mr Noblett. “We have had so much interest on the back of it and we booked two weddings that night. We got all those hits on the website and people were saying how much they enjoyed the show.

“People want to be part of the story and here’s a soap opera for them that’s real. We’re a 29-bedroom hotel and we’ve been inindated with people wanting to come and stay. Its going to bring a lot of business, not just for us, into the whole area and the whole county will benefit.”

Curmbria Tourism, which promotes the county to visitors, is expecting huge demand for its brochures this year and there are hopes the series will banish memories of flood-sticken Cockermouth and Workington from viewer’s memories.

“It is perfect timing for us,” said Julie Darroch, PR manager at Cumbria Tourism. “Our members are very concerned that the images of the flooding would have done a lot of damage – but now people are seeing the best of the landscape on prime-time national television and the fact that it runs for three months is great as well.”

Over 500 junipers have been planted on the moors above Coniston Water to help rejuvinate populations of the rare and environmentally important plant.

Once a common feature of the Lake District fells, junipers have seen a rapid decline over the past 50 years due to changing land management practices.

But now, as part of a widespread planting programme run by Natural England, the threatened plant has been re-established around Dodgson Wood.

Natural England joined forces with members of the Bethecar Moor Commoners’ Association, the Lake District National Park Authority and volunteers to complete Cumbria’s juniper planting for this year.

The Bethecar Moor Commoners’ Association will manage and maintain the plants, which are protected by tree guards.

Teresa Morris, Natural England’s land management and conservation advisor for South Lakeland, said: “Junipers are a protected species of national importance and there are only certain areas in England where they can survive, South Lakeland being particularly important.”

She thanked all those who helped with the planting and praised the efforts of the Bethecar Moor Commoners’ Association.

Westmorland Gazette

Volunteers who have walked the length of 120km (75 miles) of upland footpaths in the Lake District say the network is in good shape, despite the November floods.

The hardy hikers put in the effort as part of the Fix the Fells project, to evaluate what damage was caused by the unprecedented floods last year. The walkers completed the survey in a two-week period.

The good news is that most of the path network has survived unscathed, though some areas have suffered major damage.

The survey was carried out by staff and volunteers from the National Trust and the Lake District National Park Authority.

John Atkinson of the National Trust and project manager for Fix the Fells said: “The paths we build are designed to withstand heavy rainfall, but the work the volunteer lengthsmen carry out to maintain the paths is absolutely essential. They should be really proud of the work they do.”

Fix the Fells is a five-year project run by the authority with support from the Friends of the Lake District, the National Trust, the Ramblers, and the Tourism & Conservation Partnership, with a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

Grough

Lake District walkers are being advised to choose their routes with care as the area recovers from the recent devastating floods.

Staff from the national park have so far assessed nearly 900 paths and more than 800 bridges on Lakeland’s rights of way, 22 of which will need to be replaced. Low-lying routes near lakes and rivers have been worst affected.

The deluge in the last few weeks – the worst in memory – has played havoc with paths, bridges and some of the area’s information centres, though the Lake District National Park Authority is keen to emphasise that businesses are reopening and most of the district’s fells are accessible.

Mark Eccles, head of countryside services for the authority, said 892 paths had been assessed so far, along with 812 of the national park’s 1,319 rights of way bridges.

He said: “We are pulling out all stops to combat the worst effects of the devastating floods. A recovery group has been set up and is working hard to get services up and running again as soon as possible.

“We still haven’t got a complete picture, but our field-based teams are checking the safety of paths and putting up information notices where appropriate. Investigations show 144 bridges are damaged and at least 22 have to be replaced.

“There are also 21 paths where the surface has been washed away and we are advising walkers to choose routes carefully. We are working closely with Cumbria County Council and hope to get our countryside access information on its website later this week.

“It’s all about common sense. We are asking that walkers, horse riders and cyclists take note of cordoned off areas, along with ‘do not use’ and ‘take care’ notices. Riverside and lakeshore routes have been particularly hard hit and debris is still an issue.”

For those heading for the hills, Mr Eccles advised: “There are a huge number of routes open and the countryside can still be enjoyed. But we are saying plan ahead and take care, wear the right outdoor footwear and clothing, heed notices and where there is obvious damage, please keep clear.”

All the national park authority’s car parks are back in use, though toilets will need a thorough cleaning to bring them back up to standard. Keswick information centre is open and the Ullswater centre is running its normal winter weekend service, though Bowness Bay information centre will stay closed for some time because of substantial damage.

Proposals to extend the Lake District and Yorkshire Dales national parks are to be put to the public.

Natural England said the beauty of areas such as the Northern Howgill Fells and Birkbeck Fells makes them suitable candidates for inclusion.

A public consultation will begin in mid-December and end in March 2010.

The plans have been criticised by the Country Land and Business Association (CLA) which said tougher planning regulations could restrict local firms.

The areas proposed for inclusion in the Lake District are Birkbeck Fells to Whinfell, Helsington Barrows to Sizergh Fell and the Lyth Valley.

The Northern Howgill Fells, Mallerstang and Wild Boar Fell, Middleton, Barbon and Leck Fells, Firbank Fel, Lower Lune Valley and adjacent fells to the west, could become part of the Dales.

Orton Fells is being considered for inclusion in either national park.

The Friends of the Lake District (FLD) charity, which works to conserve the landscape, has welcomed the plans as a “real economic opportunity”.

But CLA surveyor Helen Lancaster said the additional layer of bureaucracy which exists within national parks could make it more difficult for local businesses to diversify.

A range of events will also be held throughout the area to raise awareness about the proposals, said Natural England.