THE Cumbrian landscape has been a source of profound and life-changing inspiration to poets and artists for centuries and is loved by many.

In a new exhibition at the Wordsworth Museum, Grasmere, a Kendal-photographer and a Kendal-writer have explored the very shepherds that walk through this beautiful landscape during rain, snow and sunny days.

Land Keepers explores the people whose flocks graze the heights, and whose families have walked the fells for generations.

Wordsworth wrote about Cumbria’s fell farmers as the, ‘perfect republic of shepherds’ and this exhibition reveals the faces and stories of Cumbria’s vibrant shepherding community.

Photographer Rob Fraser and writer Harriet Fraser have spent the last two years with hill farmers, walking with them across the high fells, accompanying them to shows and sales, standing by them for shearing, lambing, scanning and inspections and being introduced to the precious but often unseen part of Cumbria society.

They have also spent time with people whose work focuses on environmental management and farming and commons policies. The exhibition brings together their experiences through photography and writing, and provides a platform for the voices of hill farmers in the early twenty-first century.

The collection includes large scale, hand printed black and white photographs taken on a traditional large format camera, colour images, information panels, poetry and language art.

Land Keepers reveals the faces of those who, for a thousand years, have been keepers of the Cumbrian fells, and looks ahead to the future of this unique patch of England where ancient and modern must both adapt.

Paul Kleian, head of marketing and communications at The Wordsworth Trust, said: “They spent two years out with the shepherds on the fells, listening to their stories.

“Through their exhibition they explore the idea that the land does not belong to anybody.

“I think it is fitting that the exhibition is here, at the Wordsworth museum, as it touches on the very things that inspired and interested Wordsworth - community, nature and society.”

Land Keepers runs until May 10. For more information visit https://wordsworth.org.uk/visit/landkeepers.html.

* The Wordsworth Museum has a new family activity room where children can dress up as Wordsworth and write their very own poems. See https://wordsworth.org.uk/home.html for more details.