Today we have been planting the tall and regal melancholy thistle and the roadside verge favourite wood cranesbill. Although the seed for such upland meadows was put in when we restored them, some are reluctant to come through and need a helping hand! Read more
What a beautiful day it was to hold our first ever workparty at our newest property, Middle Bleansley, near Broughton in Furness; a part of the Lake District that genuinely feels like unspoilt old Lakeland. Read more
It was a blustery day up at Friend’s of the Lake District’s Mazonwath land. Great to have such a big age range along, all keen to get to grips with the challenges of dry stone walling where the challenges were indeed huge! Read more
On Monday we returned to Dam Mire Wood at Threlkeld for a workparty. What a different place to two weeks ago when we had our grand opening! All was quiet except for the birds singing and insects buzzing. Read more
We've expanded our volunteering opportunities on our property workparties in 2022 as there is much to do and we have big ambitions for how we manage, develop and enhance the land that Friends of the Lake District owns and manages.
The work is coordinated by our property manager Jan Darrall, who oversees the management of all of our properties. Jan will be updating this diary to highlight the amazing work carried out by our volunteers, provide reports on site visits and discuss plans and ideas for future projects and plans for our land.
Friends of the Lake District's goals are to:
We strive to achieve these goals in a number of ways, not least through the ownership and management of land in Cumbria and the Lake District. We work to improve public access, improve flood resilience, create new woodland and develop rich habitat in our ongoing work to care for and celebrate Cumbria's rich natural and cultural heritage.
If you'd like to volunteer with us and join us on any of our wonderful workparties in 2022, visit the workparty section of our website for a full schedule of dates and booking facilities for upcoming dates.
We set off for our first workparty in three years in our glorious Hows Wood in Eskdale in the drizzle, mist and clag. Then the sun shone and the Lake District really did shine and the rain drops sparkled. No problem finding our way home over the passes on the homeward trip! Read more
We tackled a variety of jobs which included fettling the tree planters (ponies and cows rubbing causes the posts to loosen), moving and sorting stone for the walling, path clearance, thistle digging and some tree tube tidying up! Read more
An action packed week on Friends of the Lake District’s land this week. Our first workparty of the year at Gillside and Tongue Woods , work on the Helm near Kendal and on Friday we have the public opening of Dam Mire Wood in Threlkeld Read more
We are getting towards the end of the planting season now so today was a last chance to plant some more of our stock of trees at High Borrowdale. We have been so busy planting the new 420m long hedge and adding 2500 upland hay meadow plants that we have not been able to fit in tree planting since January. Read more
Wed 6 April to some people is important as the start of the financial year… for us it was important as it was our monthly dry stone walling day at Mazonwath, near Orton. Read more
Despite some snow flurries, Mike's Wood shows lots of signs of spring with primroses and daffodils in flower, catkins and bluebells coming up and birds providing a wonderful music concert all day long. Read more
Well it’s been another busy week as well as a beautiful, sunny one on Friend’s of the Lake District’s land as March draws to a close. Read more
The old adage ‘many hands make light work’ was certainly true for our first plug planting day at High Borrowdale. 17 years after we re-created our first hay meadow, we decided to add a bit more diversity and colour by plug planting species that have been slow to germinate and grow. Read more
Spring felt it really was on its way at Sweden Wood above Ambleside. The birds were singing, foxes were running, the pussy willow was glowing and there was frog’s spawn in the pond at the top of the site. Read more
We went on a first visit to our now newest property – we are delighted to announce that last week the legal transfer was finalised on land at Middle Bleansley near Broughton in Furness; now our most southerly piece of land. Read more
On Wednesday we were joined by 9 volunteers on the Helm near Kendal. We had a range of tasks to complete and this saw volunteers cover pretty much the whole of the 32ha site! Read more
On Tuesday lots of our Friends of the Lake District staff joined us at High Borrowdale to help with the planting of the new 420m hedge. For several new staff this was their first trip onto one of our properties. Read more
Friends of the Lake District has land right across Cumbria diverse in location and in habitat. The one that unifying feature is that we allow open access on foot for everyone; not just our membership but anyone who wishes to visit. Read more
This week it’s dry stone walling week for our trusty volunteers over at our land at Mazonwath, east of Orton. The art of dry stone walling is an ancient rural craft and has been going on for centuries. Read more
The sun shines on our volunteers at High Borrowdale as we begin planting 420 metres of hedgerow bordering our upland haymeadow, providing a valuable wildlife habitat and slowing run-off of water from steep gillsides Read more
Our dedicated volunteers returned to Greenbank Wood this week. The impact of Covid and lockdown has meant that we have not had a workparty at the site for a couple of years so there was a lot to do. Read more
It’s the busy season at our High Borrowdale site at the moment. Work is fast and furious carrying out preparation work to plant 420 metres of new hedge. It's exciting to be creating a new and vibrant habitat on an already rich site. We need extra hands too if you'd like to join us! Read more
Although it was a damp and dreary day, it was a very exciting day for us. We held our first ever workparty in Resp Haw and Bull Coppice woods in the beautiful Rusland valley. There were some lovely signs that spring is coming closer with catkins on the trees and the first shoots of the bluebells on the lower slopes of the wood. Read more
We are delighted to have received confirmation that our land at Dam Mire Wood in Threlkeld has been registered and included on the Queen’s Green Canopy (QGC) map. A volunteer planting effort of 100 trees at the site makes this our second entry on the Queen’s Green Canopy (QGC) map. Read more
We were delighted to receive confirmation that a volunteer planting effort of 500 broad leaf trees on our property at High Borrowdale has been recognised and included on the Queen’s Green Canopy (QGC) map. Read more
A winter check on Gillside and Tongue Gill woodlands at Grasmere which we manage on behalf of Friends of the Lake District members Bev and Jo Dennison. Read more
It was a positive day, not only due to the energy of the volunteers but as tree planting is about looking forward, creating new things. This is the start of a busy few months for us on our land at High Borrowdale with two exciting new projects getting underway. Read more
On a dull and drizzly day at Dam Mire Wood in Threlkeld yesterday, hardy volunteers arrived from Keswick, Cockermouth, Mungrisedale and Watermillock to lend a hand and begin the transformation of the two hectare piece of land gifted to Friends of the Lake District by member and local resident Prof Mike Hambrey. Read more
Timelapse footage of our brilliant volunteer wallers at Little Asby Common. Some fast work afoot, a four second lunch break and supercharged sheep under winter skies on our common land at Little Asby. Read more