Has the Lake District gone wet in its search for more visitor diversity?

In the latest in his series of reflections on place and pathway, Will Gore asks whether such efforts are a threat to the landscape

Blencathra, a popular peak in the Lake District (Getty)

The quiet period between Christmas and new year is always a risky time for anyone making a media appearance, as the chief executive of the Lake District National Park Authority recently discovered.

Speaking to Sky News last weekend about the need to make the Lake District as welcoming as possible to all sections of British society, Richard Leafe quickly found himself accused of bringing identity politics into nature. His suggestion that the national park must adapt in “small ways” to attract a greater diversity of visitors was regarded in some quarters as political correctness gone mad.

For the most part, the rage that greeted him was concocted. The national parks are, as a matter of principle, for everyone to enjoy: yet there is no doubt that visitors are disproportionately white, middle-class, able-bodied and old. It should hardly be controversial to suggest that particular efforts might usefully be made to explain the Lake District’s merits to people from other backgrounds, and to encourage them to experience the area’s wonders.