5:46pm Thursday 29th July 2010
A HOTEL chain has sunk almost £100,000 into conservation projects in the Lake District.
A footpath improvement project on Red Screes, off Kirkstone Pass, is the latest countryside scheme to benefit from English Lakes Hotels cash.
Bags containing 110 tons of rock have been flown in to help repair the eroded footpath, which attracts thousands of ramblers every year.
Others to have benefited from English Lakes Hotels’ funding includes Barkbooth Lot Nature Reserve, near the Winster Valley, Warton Crag Nature Reserve, near Carnforth, the Cumbria Outdoors Sustainability Programme and Fix the Fells, the conservation group that is doing the Red Screes work.
“We are delighted that along with our customers we can make such a positive difference to the local environment,” said Simon Berry, the owner of English Lakes Hotels.
“It’s critical that tourism businesses like us help protect our greatest asset - the stunning landscape of the Lake District.
“The reason for most of our customers coming to the Lake District is for the beautiful landscape and they are as committed to looking after it as we are.”
Mr Berry, the managers of the company’s six hotels, Nurture Lakeland Director Sue Savege, and Richard Fox, Fix the Fells project manager, took part in a walk up Red Screes to celebrate the landmark fundraising figure.
“What’s absolutely critical is the consistent funding which we’ve been getting from English Lakes Hotels,” said Mr Fox. “If everyone gave us funding like this then the job would be sorted.
“I would encourage all companies to get involved with Nurture Lakeland and do the same because it’s in everyone’s interests to look after the area.”
The English Lakes Hotels includes the Low Wood Hotel, Waterhead Hotel, and Storrs Hall Hotel, all based on the shores of Windermere, the Wild Boar at Crook, Lancaster House, and the Midland Hotel in Morecambe.
The money has been raised over the last 15 years through the group’s visitor payback scheme, in which £1 is added to every customer’s bill. The guest is told that the money will go towards conservation projects in the Lakes.
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