Regenerative Tourism- don’t be scared, it’s a simple principle which has a massive impact on the areas you enjoy and travel to, whether it’s here in Borrowdale or wherever your travels take you next. 

Firstly, you don’t need to be a hippy or own a tambourine to help, so please read on…… we can all play a part via some simple choices or get more hands on for those of you who are more passionate to have a greater effect.

We have all seen the effects of mass tourism during our travels, and unfortunately, the Lake District with all its beauty and wonderful people, hasn’t escaped the invasion. However, travelers don’t need to be detrimental to the areas they go to enjoy; visitors and their actions don’t need to be limited to just sustainable travel, where the positives are just enough to balance the negative effects of them being there.

Regenerative tourism goes one step further and strives to leave a place better than it was before we arrived. Now that sounds appealing, doesn’t it?  I know what you are thinking: you came here on holiday to have a nice time and to splash around in the hot tub rather than spending the next few days rebuilding dry stone walls, and I agree. However, let me share some simple ways you can have a positive effect, while at the same time enhancing your stay.

Support the local economy.

This can be as simple as doing more activities with local companies, or going out for an extra meal, or being more selective where you shop. Instead of reverting to your regular supermarket brand, be a rebel and take a look at Booths in Keswick, which is actually the closest supermarket to the cottage. It’s a high-end northern supermarket that carries a large selection of Cumbrian-produced provisions which help support the local community. However, for any meat products, you can buy directly from the farms right here in Borrowdale. Take a walk into the village and turn left after the café and stroll 5 mins to Hollows Farm, where you can buy a variety of things raised right here around the village (Ruby 077834 82024)! Or pop down to Nook Farm in Rosthwaite, just down the valley, to see what they have on offer (Faye (07885 721786). Now that’s going to be a lot tastier and fresher while delivering a positive outcome from your visit. You see it doesn’t have to be hard, and your time here will be more memorable.

Get involved locally.

In the kitchen you can usually find the small bi-monthly Borrowdale News. It’s a small publication but has large aspirations of preserving the history and culture of the valley for future generations (also available online www.borrowdalestory.co.uk, and look for the Borrowdale News tab). It carries interesting local articles and updates on local events which pulls the community together. Why not join one of the coffee mornings or other activities which they promote, get involved in the community and make some new friends while you are here.

Help the environment.

This isn’t just digging a hole to plant a tree; you can participate in many valuable ways and again some are super easy.

Most of us grew up reading Beatrix Potter’s The Tale of Squirrel Nutkin, so keep an eye out for these beautiful creatures as they too call Borrowdale home. Unfortunately, our native red squirrels are under threat by the invasive American grey squirrel which were introduced into the UK back in 1870. The grey squirrels are larger and outcompete the reds for food, while also transmitting squirrel pox which is lethal to the reds. You can do your part and help the red squirrels, by simply reporting your sightings to the local red squirrel group -easy! More importantly, if you spot an invasive grey squirrel these should be reported as quickly as possible as well. Reporting is very simple, and all sightings should be done on the following website: www.keswickredsquirrelgroup.co.uk

Or book an outing with a guide from the Cumbria Wildlife Trust and learn about the environment via one of their three trips: ‘The Lost Rainforest’, ‘Wetland Wildlife Hideaway’ or on Friday nights ‘Night-time Wildlife Adventures’  www.cumbriawildlifetrust.org.uk .The money they raise will all go to supporting local wildlife conservation in Cumbria. Or you can get more involved and volunteer for a few hours or more and join them doing activities where an extra pair of hands or eyes helps them with their campaigns, from beach clean ups to nature surveys.

The Lake District National Park are often on the lookout for volunteers, and they post opportunities online as they start new campaigns throughout the year www.lakedistrict.gov.uk, or reach out to them directly at volunteers@lakedisctrict.gov.uk to see how you can make a difference.

We have all stumbled upon interesting flowers or animals when we have been out and about in the great outdoors and wondered what we were looking at. Now you can turn this curiosity into micro-volunteering by down-loading the ‘Look Wild’ app and taking a photo. That’s right just taking a photo is going to help. The app will educate you on what you have found, while helping the National Park build a database of the species and their location in their ever-expanding data base. If you can find something rare which the app struggles to identify, then the online community will jump in and help ID it.

Reducing your impact.

At peak times the Lake District has a lot of visitors, but another way to help the environment is to seek the quieter areas of the Lake District to help disperse the quantity of people from the more popular areas. The good people at Herdy have come up with some lovely suggestions which you can find at the following link if you fancy doing something less known www.herdy.co.uk/herdysleep/quiet-relaxing-places-in-the-lake-district

Think about it, you are already in the middle of the Lakes and surrounded by some of the most stunning scenery in the Lakes, so why jump in the car when you can do a few lovely walks locally and even do Catbells right from the back door.

The valley is also serviced by a very reliable bus service every 30mins which will take you to Keswick and this will help reduce the traffic on the B5289, www.stagecoachbus.com/promos-and-offers/cumbria-and-north-lancashire/keswick-buses-explore-the-area-during-your-visit . However, my favorite way to town is to walk down to Keswick Launch’s dock at the Ladore, and glide across Derwent Water to reach Keswick to run my errands. Not only does this cut down on road traffic, it reduces our carbon footprint and also support a local business- now we are getting the hang of this Regenerative Tourism with three positive attributes while having fun seeing the valley via boat!

As you can see there are many simple ways you can get more out of your stay while at Grange Bridge Cottage, by taking important steps to leaving the place better off after your visit. But it’s not all about you, we have also been busy as well trying to do our bit.

During the revamping of the cottage, we have taken steps to reduce her carbon footprint by:

• insulation between floors and in the attic to reduce heat loss.

• Her heating and hot water system was completely overhauled with a modern boiler and carefully placed radiators, and the whole system can be controlled remotely to turned down the systems after guests depart.

• The kitchen’s antiquated equipment which supported her past life as a tea shop, has been replaced with the latest Miele equipment and her oil guzzling Aga retired and removed.

• All lights at the property are now low energy LEDs and the original incandescent lights are gone

• And we also provide free EV charging for our guest’s electric cars, to explore the Lakes and to make their way home at the end.

We strongly support local businesses, not only throughout the refurbishment where all trades lived locally to the village, but also the kitchen and boot room granite flooring was commissioned from Honister mine just 5 miles away. The property continues to be supported by locals who maintain and prepare the property for your stay. More recently, we just commissioned Bendrigg a charity in Kendal who specializes in disability education and activities, produce our accessibility statement and make recommendations. Our website is also loaded with recommendations of local businesses for you to find activities to enjoy and worthwhile local pubs and restaurants to sample.

We also pledge to give back to the community by donating the net income from one rental a year and splitting this between our two nominated charities. We also encourage our guests to join this effort via special envelopes located in the welcome folder.

• Keswick Mountain Rescue- no explanation needed  www.keswickmrt.org.uk

• Borrowdale Institute- www.borrowdale-institute.com The valley comprises of a few small villages who pull together as one to make Borrowdale what it is. The Borrowdale Institute is the local village hall which services all, and in December we will donate 50% of the charity proceeds which will go towards bringing the residents together after most of the tourists have left for the year.

These suggestions are not comprehensive, but they are a start for you to find your own ways to help. If you do find an amazing way to make a difference, which you think other guests will enjoy, then pretty please do let us know so we can share your suggestion.

Many thanks for reading this. We can all do our part and while some of our tourism activities might strain the areas we love, hopefully by making thoughtful decisions we can enrich our experiences, feel good about our actions, and try and leave places better than they were before our visit.

Now go off and start planning……