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?

The idea that the hills are best left to the sheep as that would represent their 'natural state' is such monumental bollocks.....

I am all in favour of rewilding, but it is slightly more complicated than that if you're talking about addressing the impact of thousands of years of mis-management by humans.

“Then you have the problem of whether the middle classes are actually buying into the tax regime given that they tend to not benefit from much of the state's offerings,. e.g. child benefit”

Or the many subsidised theatres, art galleries, concerts etc that the middle classes benefit from? Or the fact that the rates they employ other people at (in their businesses, nannies etc) are set at a level that reflects that the NHS will keep them as healthy as possible as employees and they don’t have to pay for health insurance for their workers as companies in the states do?

Everyone benefits from taxes.

Well said Blouse.

Althyough there is a case for keeping humans out of the countryside surely to let animals thrive - the National Trust too over whether uplands are best allowed to revert to nature of if we should let sheep stay on them as they have been on them for 5000 years.

There'd be no need for sheep and farmers if it wasn't for humans. The sheep have only been there for 5000 years because humans needed them for food and wool. If there wasn't a market, there'd be no farms, ergo no sheep.

Did anyone see the new "Holiday With Jane McDonald" program tonight?
Ore Adube went to the Lake District. He even got sunshine! and did point out how unusual that is, and how many days rain the area gets. He stayed in a high end 5* hotel that was over £400 a night though!

The thing about rewilding, imv, is that trees would grow with impassable brambles in between until the trees get a large canopy. You can then walk through the trees but you can see no view. The reason people are attracted to the Lakes and the Highlands is surely largely the viiews. On the higher hills/ mountains you are above the treeline so there will be a view but the green and pleasant land we think of as the countryside will be green and pleasant trees not grass. You have to shoot a lot of deer, or fence them off, to let the trees grow in the first place as they have no predators so would hugely inrease in numbers, I assume, if the sheep and cattle went.

I like the idea of rewilding places but I also want some hills to walk on.

Trees would be good. There is evidence that more free growth would reduce flood risk.

Plenty of countries manage to have both forest and hills. You just have to walk through the forest on the way up the hill. "I want a view" isn't a good reason to continue wrecking the ecosystem.

Most rewilding plans involve both the reintrodution of predators and the fencing off of areas to deer.

Sheep are around in such numbers because we breed them. If we stopped breeding them, numbers would go down.

Rewilding would be a good thing, especially in Scotland. The landscape of heather and pine monoculture is not natural and is one of the reasons why midges are so bad - they poliferate as a result of a disturbed ecosystem.
Traces of the Caledonian rainforest remain only towards SW Scotland. Much of Scotland would be covered in forest.

I think I was misread or I mis-wrote. I am not on the side of the sheep on this but it is a huge issue of the National Trust and for hill farmers. The sheep as they now are are Johhny come latelies as indeed are humans I suppose. Where land can be bought from farmers and rewilded and sheep removed that is fine by me. I eat about one bit of lamb a year so not exactly in huge need of sheep on a personal basis.

I am worried that reforestation is going to mean swathing hills in conifer plantations. More lucrative than ancient oak woodland. How to you persuade farmers/ landowners /governments to follow the non profitable route.

The uplands where most of the sheep are will not take trees of any kind as it is often above the tree line.

Places like Kielder which I think is or was teh biggest man made pine forest in England up in Northumberland were we spent quite a bit of time as children seem a reasonable compromise - below the tree line - lots of trees and hardly any people. Ideal. The more people we can keep out of the countryside the better so people can go there for the day and aim not to see a single other person - my ideal.

@Underhisi

I’ve just noticed that Fell Foot now have a changing places toilet. Maybe you could try there?