Becky Heaton Cooper, the director of the Heaton Cooper Studio in Grasmere, is hopeful the Lake District will soon gain World Heritage Status

WE have been watching for several years as the Lake District has worked towards World Heritage Site status. It is now awaiting the decision by UNESCO.

As the Lake District Centre for the Interpretation of Landscape, the Heaton Cooper studio was one of the original stakeholders in the bid by the Lake District National Park Authority.

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But what exactly does it mean? The Lakes bid is in the Cultural Landscape category, defined as representing the combined works of nature and of man. More fully, "illustrative of the evolution of human society and settlement over time, under the influence of the physical constraints and/or opportunities presented by their natural environment and of successive social, economic and cultural forces, both external and internal".

It was the early picturesque interest in the Lake District that led to changes to the landscape that were designed to improve its beauty. These include villas, formal gardens, picturesque tree planting and viewing stations – places like Claife station, and the Grotto at Rydal Hall.

The Picturesque movement also influenced the development of Romantic thought, principally through the writings of William Wordsworth and the other Lakes poets. They produced a new and influential view of the relationship between humans and landscape.

So it’s likely that Wordsworth would be watching current judgements closely. His Guide to the Lakes of 1810 said that the Lake District should be deemed "a sort of national property, in which every man has a right and interest who has an eye to perceive and a heart to enjoy".

The key ideas that developed from this movement explored the possibility of a sustainable relationship between humans and nature, and the value of landscape for restoring the human spirit.

Anyone who has visited the studio here, and seen the works by several generations of the Heaton Cooper family, along with exhibitions by visiting landscape artists, will surely recognise that value.

And as increasing numbers of visitors came to the Lake District to enjoy traditional open access to the extensive common land of the fells for walking and climbing, the area became acknowledged worldwide as a genuinely inclusive site for outdoor recreation, personal development and spiritual refreshment.

The work of the Heaton Cooper artists is a continuing artistic link in the history and development of cultural Lakeland.

Our family tree is a pictorial essay on the development of art in the Lake District and includes the sculptor Ophelia Gordon Bell, and Julian Cooper, the son of William Heaton Cooper and Ophelia, who is an internationally-known painter of mountain and rock landscapes. The most well-known works are by Alfred and William, each distinctively capturing the magnificence and beauty of rock and fell, stream and lake.

We hope that their work will gain further international recognition now. The government has pledged to provide resources to protect World Heritage Sites so having this status could attract more funding and investment into the Lake District.

Estimates suggest that just a one per cent switch to cultural visitors who spend more on accommodation, leisure and food and drink could boost our economy by about £20m per year, and the profile of the Lake District will be elevated internationally.

Steve Ratcliffe, the chair of the Lake District’s World Heritage project management group, has said: “We have submitted a strong bid to UNESCO, showcasing how the landscape is a living example of a cultural landscape. It has been shaped by the people who farm and work in the Lake District over thousands of years, alongside the millions who visit and take inspiration from this special place every year.”

We’re proud to have been involved in the process and will watch with fingers crossed this summer.