Westmorland Dales Landscape Partnership Scheme

A lovely house by a blur river with stepping stones

The Westmorland Dales

The Westmorland Dales forms the north-west corner of
the Yorkshire Dales National Park and is a beautiful and
distinctive, but relatively little-known, part of east Cumbria
with a rich and varied geological heritage.

In an area which lies to the north of the Howgill Fells in Cumbria,
extending over 200 sq km from Maulds Meaburn in the north to
Tebay in the south-west and Ravenstonedale in the south-east,
the Westmorland Dales is an exposed, largely treeless, open
landscape offering expansive panoramas of surrounding upland
areas. Tranquil and remote with few intrusive elements, it is a
hidden corner of Cumbria providing wonderful opportunities for
exploration and dramatic night skies.

People walking past an old farm building

Landscape Partnership Scheme

The Westmorland Dales Landscape Partnership Scheme ran from March 2019 to February 2024. Its vision was to unlock and reveal the hidden heritage of the Westmorland Dales, enabling more people to connect with, enjoy and benefit from this inspirational landscape.

It had four key objectives:

Revealing the area’s hidden heritage
Conserving what makes the area special
Engaging people in enjoying and benefitting from their heritage
Sustaining the benefits of the scheme in the long-term

The scheme was a collaborative project with many partners involved. It was managed by Friends of the Lake District and the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority. Other delivery partners were: Cumbria GeoConservation, Cumbria Wildlife Trust, Eden Rivers Trust, Lune Rivers Trust, The Farmer Network, Woodland Trust and Electricity North West.

The scheme was funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund. The Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust provided significant match funding.

The partnership delivered 23 projects as part of the scheme, grouped into three areas of work relating to the themes of natural heritage, cultural heritage and connecting heritage. These projects were delivered by the Westmorland Dales Landscape Partnership team and partner organisations working with landowners, volunteers, community groups and others.