So, how do you make the Lake District 'change and diversify' because it is too heavily weighted toward 'white middle-class able-bodied people'?

[Nanny0gg]

Richard Leafe, the Cumbria park's chief executive, said the Unesco World Heritage site must change to merit continued public funding.

I mean, it's mountains and lakes. What can you do?

And isn't that a tad patronising as well?

So should every path be made accessible then? How about this one up to a popular tarn? (Picture attached). How would you make that accessible without significantly impacting on the natural landscape?

MintyMabel you haven’t got my point properly. I have researched ways to get maximum accessibility for someone with a physical disability in fact and I do know how difficult and limiting it can be. Like I said, accommodation needs massive improvement so everyone has pretty much the same choice when it comes to that.
However, not everyone can access every peak, fall or valley in the Lakes. That’s not what it’s there for. The more inaccessible places are available only to certain levels of mobility and fitness.
Do I think everyone should be able to go to Tarn Hows and have suitable parking, toilet facilities etc? Absolutely.
Do I think higher peaks need to be made accessible to the detriment of the landscape and ecology? No. Not for my benefit, that of the wheelchair user I’m with or anyone else.

Trying again with the picture, but if it doesn't work, think a rocky crag with a narrow path leading up.

I don't think anyone thinks every path should be made accessible but those saying nothing should change presumably have more than one toilet they can use in the whole of the Lake District.

Sathnam Sanghera wrote a good article a few years ago about some of the reasons why BAME people may be less likely to visit the countryside and national parks. He points out that white people on low incomes living in urban areas are also less likely to visit the countryside. (He's from Wolverhampton and his mum had never visited the countryside in 40 years of living in the UK).

As someone who lives and works in the Lakes I can categorically refute the assertion that the tourists are overwhelmingly white.

Anecdotally (yes I know the plural of anecdotes is not data), when I went to the Lake District last August I saw many non-white people, some of them taking the bus from Windermere to the White Cross Bay holiday park. There are also many international tourists.

Improving public transport and creating more accessible footpaths without stiles would help, as would more opportunities for school children to visit (I first visited the Lakes on a school trip aged 13). Bill Bryson and various other public figures have called for action to double the number of children visiting national parks. Perhaps there should also be more focus on the less-visited national parks, like Northumberland. This might ease some of the pressure on the Lake District, which can get very crowded in summer. It won't appeal to everyone, however; not everyone enjoys walking or spending time in the outdoors in fickle weather.

You obviously load people on to trucks and force them to move to all different parts of the U.K. and rename the towns to sound less whore middle class. Stalin style.

@WhenYouCantRunYouCrawl - no one is saying that every path should be made accessible. Clearly an assessment needs to be made and the most suitable paths should be.

Are there not some entirely lowland paths (around some of the lakes, maybe) that could be made wheelchair accessible?

I don't know about taking down cultural barriers, sorry. Look at Zell am See in Austria, a moderate size town on a cold large lake surround by mountains, in a nominally very white country, with heaving numbers of conservative Jewish & observant Muslim Arab tourists in it. What formula does that town have that Windemere lacks?

We live in an area on some sort of 'disadvantaged inner city area'' list. The kids from the primary school get taken to the countryside at least once per year. But they dont like it, find it boring, too cold, nothing to do etc etc. You cant make people like something just by exposing them to it.

MintyMabel you haven’t got my point properly.

I have your point. I hear your point every fucking day of my life. It is wrong.

That a little has been done isn't enough. And sure, if I could find a fucking hotel, I’d be happy not to get to the top of whatever that bloody mountain is.

They need to make it warmer, flatter and drier. It's too cold, wet and hilly!

41MiniEggAddiction why so angry? I have no issue with improved public transport or building more toilets as I said in my previous post.

I don't think anyone thinks every path should be made accessible but those saying nothing should change presumably have more than one toilet they can use in the whole of the Lake District.

This.

Until you live it, you just don’t get it. It would be lovely if people could step out of their world even a little bit to try to understand.

But they dont like it, find it boring, too cold, nothing to do etc etc.

That’s a problem with the organisers, not the kids.

Our school go on similar trips and the kids come back knackered, dirty and happy.

I've just booked a week for me and the kids in a nice hotel for next summer. Even with some booked activities like pony trekking it's cheaper than I paid to drag us to Spain on a package this year. The Lakes isn't just Windemere which can be dear. You can camp and youth hostel for much lower prices too.

I don't know WhenYouCantRunYouCrawl but if/when I go there, I fully expect to be able to reach the top on my mobility scooter.

How are other races/classes/colour being prevented from visiting the area? Surely if they wanted to go they would just go!

I don't know about taking down cultural barriers, sorry. Look at Zell am See in Austria, a moderate size town on a cold large lake surround by mountains, in a nominally very white country, with heaving numbers of conservative Jewish & observant Muslim Arab tourists in it. What formula does that town have that Windemere lacks?

There are tons of Japanese tourists in the Lake District. Is the same true for this Tell am See? Why do vaguely similar resorts in entirely different countries have to have the same 'formula'?

We could use Center Parcs in whinfell as an example. When I first started going there when DC were babies (it wasn't actually center parcs back then) - about 18 years ago, it was i would say predominately white middle class although they did cater well (as far as I could see) for disabled visitors. As the years went on, I'd say there was definitely a more diverse mix of people. However, despite being on the edge of the lakes, I wonder how many people ever venture out?

Over the years, we mostly have spent time out in Keswick or the surrounds whilst at CP or more likely nowadays, we stay in other accommodation in the Lakes, we probably do 1 or 2 trips a year. I think that maybe a start would be to get people to venture out of CP?

What you do find though is that affordable accommodation is rarely on a bus route and you do need a car etc to be able to access the best of facilities. One year we camped nr buttermere and did manage to get the bus into Keswick, it was open topped as well and DC loved it.

Why should other groups howsoever defined like the same thing as one subset of the white middle class? An Asian friend once took his elderly parents to the countryside. They were not at all smitten with the beauty; they wondered why the city was so crowded when there was all the empty space not far away, which could be used for bigger houses for all. Different Strokes for different folks and all that ...

So should every path be made accessible then?

Who said that?!

More macdonalds franchises would be a start.

I was in the Lake District a few weeks ago and it was full of diversity - no idea whether they were locals or visitors
Personally I prefer quieter areas we didn’t stay long as was too busy - the local fells and round trough of bowland were more peaceful bar a few sheep

Zell am See has the ski lift infrastructure = step free access to nice restaurant a decent chunk of the way up the mountain.

The only ski lift in the lakes is a drag lift that is a substantial hike from any road - not usable in summer!

Look at Zell am See in Austria, a moderate size town on a cold large lake surround by mountains, in a nominally very white country, with heaving numbers of conservative Jewish & observant Muslim Arab tourists in it. What formula does that town have that Windemere lacks?

As a PP said.... I drove through Windermere this summer, there were 'heaving numbers' Japanese tourists...What is Windermere lacking exactly?

Are there not some entirely lowland paths (around some of the lakes, maybe) that could be made wheelchair accessible?

Yes, and they are.