February 20th. Update.

Is The Lake District The Adventure Capital of the UK?

Well the short answer is "Yes, I think it is." The Marketing people certainly want you to think that. My fear is that we may just turn The Lake District into one giant Adventure Theme Park. This I think, would almost certainly take some of the adventure out of the place.

I've now lived up here for about 20 years and I have to say that even though today was a bit cold, it is a lovely place to live. For sure, sometimes I do miss the hustle and bustle of the larger towns and cities of my Pre Family Age, but today I was happy enough to enjoy the sunshine and the snow capped hills as I walked my dog through woodlands around Coniston.

It's fair to say that we have had a quiet half term, although we have done a couple of sessions on the lake and in the gorge. Church Beck certainly does need a good wetsuit, and probably wetsuit gloves too, in order to make it fun without freezing.

Returning to my dog walk, I really did get the feeling that Spring was in the air; birds singing, sun shining, and may be even the first hint of buds appearing on the trees. Who needs an adventure activities provider anyway? You can enjoy all this on your own. Just get out there and experience it.

Well, before you start thinking that I must be mad; talking myself out of lots of lovely clients, let me reassure you that I'm not. (Talking myself out of clients any way.) I know that I sometimes take all this fun outdoor stuff for granted. This adventure stuff is easy, isn't it?

Well what makes it easy for us, is that we do have a lot of experience of working with people, and we also have local knowledge of where to go, what to do and how to make it all work. What we want to be able to do is communicate that to you people. Those of you who think that it might be a good idea to get out and do stuff, but are perhaps a little uncertain about how to go about it. We not only want you to come out with us, but more importantly, we want to give you the skills, confidence and enthusiasm to go out and do it yourselves. To do this safely we must educate, and inform. The outdoors is, justifiably, a great source of thrills and excitement. Long may this situation exist. But we should also promote it as a place to learn and develop.

To me it is important to market The Lake District as The Adventure Capital of the UK, but we should also educate. If the outdoors is about anything, then it is about independence and discovery through adventure. Education has to be part of what we do. I very much prefer the idea that we try to communicate with you through education, not just marketing. Then you can make your own mind up for yourselves. Hopefully you will agree with us. The Lake District should be much more than a giant theme park.