Save Our Lake District (SOLD)

Zip wires, recreational 4x4s and motorbikes, gondolas or poorly considered path surfaces are all symptoms of a wider problem. We now find the Lake District National Park being ridiculed in the press and enough was enough. It is time for action.

Attend the first event

Houseboats Off Grasmere

Saturday 1st February

Wow, what a day! The Big Day Out protest march through Grasmere was both a celebration of a proposal to put holiday boats on Grasmere lake being withdrawn and a show of strength calling for an end to inappropriate development in the Lake District National Park.

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Strange week. On Monday, Yellowstone National Park in deep snow enjoying the very varied wildlife and pristine landscape in a tightly managed park (Im1- bison and tree). On Saturday, walking around Grasmere lake (video) in really heavy rain and strong wind with many hundreds of others (+ some very hardy swimmers -see tags), demonstrating against increasing commercialisation of Lake District National Park, organised by the Friends of the Lake District as part of their SOLD (Save Our Lake District) campaign, and 'HouseboatsOffGrasmere'. The various (some say - theme park) commercial proposals are reported by BBC news (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cumbria-51309246 ). Yellowstone NP is ~ 3,400 sq mi in size, and receives 4 m annual visitors; LDNP is only 912 sq mi and had over 19 m visitors (28 m tourist days) in 2017, up 4 m from 2015. One wonders how the proposed themed developments, will allow most visitors to benefit from the ‘quiet enjoyment’, and the ‘well known link between health and wellbeing when visiting a protected landscape’ featured in the 2018 ‘State of the (LDNP) Park Report’. At least the sun shone (briefly) today Sunday to illuminate the majesty of the local landscape (Im2). #friendsoflakes, #houseboatsoffgrasmere, #lakedistrictnationalpark, #cumbria, # lakedistrict, #yellowstonenationalpark, #bison

A post shared by John Macfarlane (@johntmacfarlane) on Feb 2, 2020 at 2:15pm PST

23rd January 2020 *Breaking News*

Lowther's Grasmere Gentlemen's Yachts (Houseboats) application to the Lake District National Park Authority for a Certificate of Lawfulness has been WITHDRAWN. We mustn't be complacent. The bigger picture for the Lake District and how it is managed for us all, for the future and for our much-loved landscape needs addressing.

We must stand, not just for Grasmere but for all our lakes and spaces, we cannot allow another application of this nature to ever be submitted, this is our nations park, a free space for all to enjoy and we must protect it with every ounce we have in us.

The group is running an event on the 1st February 'Big Day Out' focused on bringing everyone who visits, not just Grasmere but all the National Park together to highlight the activities and opportunities which are threatened by the 10 x 40ft Houseboats by Lowther Estates Trust plan to impose on us.

For the latest information on this campaign visit its Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/HouseboatsOffGrasmere/

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