This September saw Japanese visitors enjoying a ten-day study programme in the Lake District. In a partnership between Hidden Lakeland and The Lake District Foundation, nine undergraduate students on the University of Tokyo’s Global Education for Innovation and Leadership programme stayed in Ambleside and Kendal to gain better understanding of the opportunities and difficulties presented by sustainable tourism in the Lake District National Park / English Lakes Unesco World Heritage Site. Up for consideration was everything from how the current cultural landscape came into being and is managed, to the way services are provided to tourists, and the best way to use a great big hole in the ground.
The students stayed for eight nights in the heart of the Lake District at the University of Cumbria’s Ambleside campus, arriving on Tuesday September 6th. Two of their days in Ambleside were spent in the lovely Beehive classroom on campus but most of the learning was delivered outdoors. After an initial day of induction and context-setting at the Beehive which peppered presentations from representatives of Cumbria Tourism, the Lake District National Park Authority and World Heritage UK with a campus tour and walking tour of Ambleside, the group enjoyed a walk-and-talk tour on Thursday from Ambleside to Dove Cottage via Rydal Hall and the Coffin Trail, before an afternoon workshop hosted by Wordsworth, Grasmere, looking at William Wordsworth’s legacy for the Lakes as a place to visit.
All of Friday was spent on walking up the Great Langdale valley with our host for the day, Nick Lancaster, who led the students through a range of topics from Neolithic axe factories and business sustainability to current staffing problems in the Lake District, including visits to Langdale Estate, Elterwater Quarry and finishing with tea and presentations from National Trust representatives at the Sticklebarn. Meanwhile, Saturday took us over Kirkstone Pass by bus to meet Sam and Claire Beaumont of Gowbarrow Hall Farm near Ullswater to learn about regenerative agriculture and nature-friendly farming, before a boat trip with Ullswater Steamers back to Glenridding.
Monday saw us back in the Beehive for a morning lecture on farming and diversification and an afternoon workshop hosted by the Lake District Foundation, before two “experience” days, giving students the opportunity to directly experience how conservation work is carried out in the region: the first, from Friends of the Lake District and Fix the Fells, our hosts for an educational walk up Helvellyn from Wythburn Church on Tuesday, and the second, from Cumbria Woodlands, guiding us for a walk around Great Howe on Wednesday, to learn about ancient woodland restoration.
We ended our time in the central Lakes fittingly at Rydal Mount – the house where Wordsworth’s journey ended with his death in 1850 – before transferring to Kendal in readiness for a town tour and two workshops on Thursday: the first, hosted by Kendal Town Council, to learn about the town’s vision for a sustainable future, and the second hosted by Friends of the Lake District, where the students were encouraged to consider conflicts over land use in the Lake District National Park and what makes the Lake District special. The programme climax was a joint cooking experience for the Tokyo students with local hospitality and catering students at Kendal College looking at local food, the carbon impact of menu setting and the issues faced by the hospitality industry in and around the Lakes.
Transport is a particularly thorny issue in terms of a sustainable Lake District and all the travel involved in providing the programme was undertaken by public transport which, in the Lake District, meant Stagecoach Cumbria buses. This allowed lots of point-to-point walks, starting and finishing in different places. All of the journeys involved in the programme went well and were undertaken using Stagecoach’s ‘Group’ tickets, in this case £66 for a week of unlimited travel for up to five people.
Although the students are still in the process of preparing feedback on the programme, their reactions and impressions ranged from the perils of trying to cross local roads in the absence of pedestrian crossings and problems with internet connectivity to an appreciation of volunteerism, widespread initiatives to reduce the use of single-use plastics and foster biodiversity and surprise at just how good much of the food is here. The students spoke warmly of their experiences in the Lakes and their gratitude to everyone involved with the programme’s facilitation and delivery. Best of all, with two of the nine travelling outside Japan for the first time, and none of the students ever having been to the Lake District before, all nine students have already said that they’ll be back.
We will be waiting for them, of course. In the meantime, huge thanks to all the wonderful guest lecturers, site visit hosts and guides, without whose expertise, passion and knowledge this study tour programme would not have been possible. Thank you so much, Sarah Swindley and Pam Purcell of the Lake District Foundation; Jeff Cowton of Wordsworth, Grasmere; Helen Wright, Prof. Chris Loynes, Prof. Lois Mansfield and Prof. of Practice, Nick Lancaster of the University of Cumbria; Alex McCoskrie of World Heritage UK; Gemma Procter of Cumbria Tourism; Emma Moody, Mairi Lock and Annie Duckworth of the Lake District National Park Authority; Colin Sneath of A Day’s Walk; James Archer, Jacob Theobald and Rob Clarke of the National Trust; Sam and Claire Beaumont of Gowbarrow Hall Farm; Kay Andrews and Lorayne Woodend Wall of the Friends of the Lake District; Bryce Flannaghan of Cumbria Woodlands; Helen Moriarty of Kendal Town Council; Nick Taylor of Kendal Futures; Dan Visser and Michael Coletta of Langdale Leisure Ltd; Richard Axford, Paul Waring, Graeme Hedley, Yannick “Rockstar” Lequitte, Andrew Salt and the catering students of Kendal College; Blue Badge Guides Konomi Nagashima and Alison Pickering; and last but never least, my partner and Mountain Leader, Ian Rodham. Special thanks also to Prof Nicola Liscutin and Prof Nanyan Guo of Tokyo University, for trusting me with your students and for your generous support throughout the process of developing, facilitating and implementing the programme. Taihen kansha itashimasu.