Friends of the Lake District has owned land in Cumbria since 1937. We own land in order to enhance the landscape of the area; carry out practical conservation projects; increase access and model best practice in land management. Our land includes valleys, native woodlands, moorlands, uplands and commons. We encourage you to get out and visit some of these hidden Cumbrian treasures!
We own and manage land across Cumbria and the Lake District. This work is coordinated by our property manager Jan Darrall. Read more about our work in her Land Manager's Diary detailing the amazing work carried out by our volunteers and providing updates on site visits, events and our plans for the future. Read more
Our land includes valleys, native woodlands, moorlands, uplands and commons. We encourage you to get out and visit some of these hidden Cumbrian treasures! Read more
Friends of the Lake District is working with the commoners to enhance the character of this limestone landscape. The area is Open Access Land, so you are free to explore the site. Why not come and see some of the work we are doing? Read more
Mazonwath is a small site lying next to to Little Asby Common. It enjoys common rights and our purchase of the property in 2009 has allowed us to help protect the common and help the commoners with stock management to manage the common in a more environmentally friendly way. Read more
High Borrowdale is situated 8.5 miles north of Kendal, where we've planted trees, hedges and created new upland hay meadows. The best way to access it is from the A6, south of Shap. There is open access at all times and if you can't physically visit it, why not take a virtual tour? Read more
Situated near Oxenholme, just south east of Kendal, and although not a very high hill at 185m, it gives beautiful views of Morecambe Bay and over Kendal to the Lake District fells. Fell ponies and cattle help us with conservation grazing at the Helm. Read more
In 2017 we were given Bull Coppice and Resp Haw Wood, on the eastern side of the Rusland valley. The two woods form a block of ancient semi natural woodland, and are a mix of oak, birch, ash, small leaved lime, holly and other native species. A survey in 2023 revealed that some of the coppiced trees here are over 1000 years old. Read more
Through the generosity of Friends members and the landowners, we planted 6,000 trees in 2014/15, creating a new 7 hectare native wood along Tongue Gill beck, Grasmere. The new woodland provides a haven for red squirrels, and food supplies for many declining woodland birds. It is also an important wildlife corridor, connecting habitats together. Read more
A two hectare piece of land in Threlkeld gifted by member Prof Mike Hambrey. We've built a bridge across Kilnhow Beck and created a new path to the access the land, and worked with West Cumbria Rivers Trust and Threlkeld School children to plant over 1000 trees and install 'leaky dams' to slow the flow of water. Read more
A small one-and-a-half hectare woodland opposite the University of Cumbria's campus library on Nook Lane in Ambleside containing some large veteran beech and Scots pine trees dating back to the nineteenth century. Read more
Mike’s Wood was created in appreciation of a former Secretary of the Friends, Mike Houston in 1993. Thirty years later the former field is now a thriving native woodland of oak, alder, ash, birch, rowan, scots pine, hawthorn and juniper. 36 different bird species have been recorded here, as well as red squirrels, pipistrelle and noctule bats, and tawny owls. Read more
Hows Wood is in upper Eskdale and covers 20 acres (8 ha). Bought from the Forestry Commission in 1987 to restore the ancient native woodland. Conifers were removed, dry stone wall boundaries restored to keep out livestock and deer, a Bark Peelers Hut was conserved and a circular walk waymarked. Read more
Sweden Wood is on the north eastern outskirts of Ambleside, just off the path up to the Scandale Valley. We have planted the wood with native broadleaved and winter berry trees to help attract declining bird species such as spotted flycatcher and wood warblers. Read more