Our part in the future of the Lake District

View of a jetty on Derwentwater, the Lake District, Cumbria.

This is about the Lake District; its dramatically beautiful valleys and fells, its people and culture, its wildlife, and what it means to us as a Nation, and to people from even further afield. And it’s about the National Trust’s part in helping look after the Lake District for everyone, for now and for the future.

The National Trust has been looking after special places in the Lake District on behalf of the nation for the past 120 years. It’s our birthplace, our spiritual home, somewhere we care deeply about. 

A changing landscape

The landscapes of the Lake District have constantly changed to meet the needs of society and will continue to do so. The National Trust is at the forefront of thinking about how to best manage and adapt to this change. We’ve been making the case for support for land management that brings public benefits such as access, clean water, healthy soil, and high quality food; and which in the process secures the natural and cultural fabric of the Lake District so that it can continue to enrich society for generations to come. 

At the heart of our work will be our ongoing commitment to our conservation purpose; to recognise and protect the special places and ways of working that are important to the Lake District. We know that we don’t have all the answers. And we can’t, and have no wish to, work in isolation. We want to have conversations with people, from those who live and work here, to the much wider community who love the Lake District and visit for its beauty. And from these conversations we want to work together to create a shared future for this special place.

" A sort of national property, in which every man has a right and an interest who has an eye to perceive and a heart to enjoy "
- William Wordsworth
Seathwaite Valley in Borrowdale, Lake District

Nature and culture entwined 

This is a defining feature of the Lake District; you don’t get one without the other. People have been here building bridges, hefting flocks, writing poems for most of the years since the ice crept back up to the North Pole, 12,000 years ago. When we get the balance right, we’re part of nature in the Lakes. This sits at the heart of what we imagine for the future.

Stunning sky and the light on the fells at Thorneythwaite

Our principles for looking after the lakes 

We have been looking after special places in the Lake District on behalf of the nation for the past 120 years. These six principles guide the work that we do to look after this landscape as society's needs change around it.

Read our six Lakes principles
Rangers from the upland team on site on a Lake District fell Play Video
Video

Case study: Path rangers in the Fells

Watch our Fell Rangers hard at work building and repairing paths in the Lake District. The National Trust has repaired more over 200km of paths damaged by erosion in the past ten years - but we need to complete another 2,000m at a cost of £300,000 to keep the Lake District in good condition for years to come.