A FAMILY that included a five-year-old boy and a 14-month-old baby found themselves stranded for several hours on a cold, wet and windy Lake District fell.

The family, from Cornwall, were rescued at around 2am from Piers Ghyll following a co-ordinated rescue mission involving members of the Keswick and Wasdale mountain rescue teams.

A spokesman for Keswick Mountain Rescue Team, who were called to assist the Wasdale team at around 8.30pm, said: "During the night of Monday, February 19, the two teams were called out to search for and assist a family of four lost in darkness in the Scafell Pike area.

"Both teams worked to locate the family and they were found safe and well, though suffering the effects of exposure, and evacuated to Wasdale," he said.

He added the little boy was lifted from the fellside on a stretcher, as he was exhausted and the conditions were extremely wet and windy.

He also said it was an example of how dangerous walking on the fells could be with very young children.