On March 20, spring was officially sprung and Lakeland is certainly waking up from winter, with many of the region's tourist attractions poised to welcome the first visitors for the Easter holidays.

For those of us who live an work here, it is easy perhaps to take our environment for granted - and it's not until we experience the positive feedback from crowds of folk who have travelled from near and far to events such as the recent Festival of Food in Kendal, that we appreciate how much our area has to offer.

You can imagine my surprise when a group of Japanese holiday makers visiting the Farmers' Market in Kendal last summer greeted me like a long-lost friend!

It wasn't until they showed a picture of me and my stall in their tourist brochure that I realised how far the appeal of our local food had spread.

There is more to Cumbria than its food, of course; but agriculture - especially the farming of sheep in the uplands - plays an important role in shaping the landscape that all the visitors come to enjoy.

Spring is a specially busy time of year here, with lambing time for the Mule and hefted hill flocks of Herdwick, Roughs and Swales now in full swing until the middle of May.

Lowland breeds have been lambing indoors from early January and fields full of rapidly growing Texel and Suffolk cross lambs can be seen enjoying the first spring grass.

They will be ready for market as the last of the hogget hill lambs are sold, which means it is possible to buy Cumbrian lamb in the shops, markets and local eateries all year round.

In China, 2015 is the year of the sheep and in Cumbria wisdom tells us that good lamb needs roasting twice - once in the field and once in the oven.

Here's hoping for a good summer so locals and visitors alike can enjoy our lamb and our landscaper at their best!