AS AN international visitor to the Lakes District, I first want to thank all the kind people I encountered along the paths and in the hotels and guest houses.

his was my first visit, and I was attracted to the region through the literature of Wordsworth and an American naturalist, John Burroughs. The World Heritage designation was also a sure draw.

For the duration of my career I have been involved in heritage, and along the way (especially as CEO of New Zealand Historic Places Trust) I have had more than a little to do with applications to World Heritage status.

While here in your beautiful region I found myself debating the line between an understandable and attractive regional quirkiness and a demonstrated lack of interest in the visitor. I fear that if the district does not address these following specific matters, there will be problems ahead, perhaps even fatal ones.

I will frame these in the form of questions:

1. Why is there no continuous footpath alongside the road from Fell Foot to Bowness? I saw many people struggling to continue on where there was only a small verge and high stone walls, while cars, buses, and lorries whizzed by.

2. Why is the train service so confusing and unreliable from Windermere to Oxenholme? Unaware of the need to transfer on the Northern from my Virgin train, I asked the conductor how I get to Kendal where I was renting a car. He said I could walk or take a cab.

Fortunately, another person in the employ of the same railroad simply guided me to the shuttle across the way, waiting there for passengers.

However, on my return, there were no trains. The bus driver told me the back story, emphasising that the lack of reliable service was actually making kids late to school most days. This is a serious matter for services on the gateway of a World Heritage Site.

World Heritage status is quite an honour, but it is a bit like the city that is awarded the Olympic Games. It’s time to get ready for the hordes, and while doing so it is (for better or worse) essential to view your treasured region from the hordes’ eyes many of whom come without knowledge of the difference between Kendal and Coniston.

Good luck, and thanks for all the work you already do to make one’s stay here very enjoyable and rewarding.

Dr William Tramposch

Mendocino, California