Westmorland Dales Landscape Partnership


The Westmorland Dales Landscape Partnership Scheme finished in early 2024 with projects successfully delivered by a wide range of project partners, community groups and individuals. 
Over the coming months, we’ll be updating this site to highlight what’s been achieved, so please keep checking back.

Welcome …

… to the Westmorland Dales website.

The Westmorland Dales Landscape Partnership Scheme aimed to unlock and reveal the hidden heritage of the Westmorland Dales, enabling more people to connect with, enjoy and benefit from this inspirational landscape. Specifically, its objectives were to:

  • Reveal the area’s hidden heritage.
  • Conserve what makes the area special.
  • Engage people in enjoying and benefitting from their heritage.
  • Sustain the benefits of the scheme in the long-term.

This was achieved through a programme of projects developed and delivered through the Westmorland Dales Landscape Partnership, led by Friends of the Lake District and the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority, and mainly funded through the National Lottery Heritage Fund. It ran over a five-year period from March 2019 to February 2024.

Here you can discover what makes the area so special, find out about the scheme’s projects, and view and download resources produced.

The Westmorland Dales

The Westmorland Dales is a beautiful area of Cumbria lying to the north of the Howgill Fells and located within the north-west corner of the Yorkshire Dales National Park. It stretches from Tebay in the south-west to Kirkby Stephen in the east and to Maulds Meaburn in the north-west. At its heart are the limestone fells above Orton and Asby, rich in natural and cultural heritage, and with magnificent views to the Pennines, the Howgills and the Lakeland fells. It drains into the Lune river catchment to the south and the Eden river catchment to the north. Relatively overlooked compared with its better-known neighbours, our projects have aimed to reveal its heritage for more to enjoy without detracting from its unique qualities. (Click on map for larger image)


Contact information

Friends of the Lake District
Murley Moss, Oxenholme Road, Kendal, Cumbria LA9 7SS
Main Telephone:  01539 720788
Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority
Yoredale, Bainbridge, Leyburn, North Yorkshire DL8 3EL
Main Telephone:  01969 652300

This project, being led by Friends of the Lake District, will focus on the common land of the Westmorland Dales and its commoners. It will record the unique history of this type of land and farming, and culminate in a celebration to celebrate the area’s common land and commoners.

The number of active commoners is declining, and many of them are elderly and have no successors. There is less manpower to effectively manage the commons in terms of gathering and grazing. Time may be running out for some commons and it is important to capture their history and cultural heritage whilst we can.

In light of the most recent advice concerning the coronavirus, Covid-19, and in common with many, many other activities, we will be postponing the implementation of the oral history recordings but please do contact us for information or to register your interest in this activity as we will be reviewing the scheduling of this project periodically as further advice is received.

Despite the current situation, we’re looking for volunteers to help us to record oral histories of our commoners, conduct interviews and tell the story of the common land of the Westmorland Dales, its upland farming and its unique heritage.

More information about the 'Our Common Heritage' project is available here but if you are interested in becoming a volunteer then please do either email [email protected] uk or give us a call at our Tebay office on 01539 756620

This is just one of 21 projects being funded and run as part of the Westmorland Dales Scheme. More information is available at this link: Scheme Projects