While you’re enjoying your hotel stay in the Lake District or North Lancashire, have you ever thought of helping out with some tree planting?

Celebrate National Tree Week with English Lakes Hotels

National Tree Week, an initiative spearheaded by The Tree Council, is celebrated in the UK every year at the end of November.

It’s a key time for trees as this time of year marks the beginning of the planting season.

Supporting The Local Environment

At English Lakes Hotels Resorts & Venues, we’re always looking for new ways to do our bit for conservation, the environment and to reduce our carbon footprint.

Whether it’s using natural, renewable resources through our hydro-electric turbine at Low Wood Bay Resort & Spa, or making the most of the sun’s energy with solar panels at Lancaster House Hotel, we want to help make a difference.

Tree planting in the Lake District and North Lancashire represents one of our core environmental commitments – our aim is to help breathe new life into those areas which have much less tree cover than they have in the past.

Planting new trees to create more future woodland cover is vital in terms of mitigating the effects of climate change, maintaining habitats and protecting land from flooding, as well as helping to preserve the beautiful scenes of the rural countryside for everyone to enjoy for generations to come. 

It’s why we recently donated £5,000 from the English Lakes Hotels Sustainability Fund to The Lune Rivers Trust to create new areas of woodland.

As part of an overall initiative to plant over 1,800 new trees, the funding will cover 0.33 hectares of the project along a section of Ellergill Beck, to the North of the Forest of Bowland.

Why Are Trees So Important In Your Hotel Stay?

Too often we take trees and woodlands for granted, despite the huge popularity in the tranquillity of rural, nature-based hotel stays.

It is often said that the UK has one of the highest concentrations of ancient trees in Europe.

Our guests always marvel at the peace and beauty of the 72 acres of ancient woodland we look after around The Wild Boar Inn.  These so called ‘Cathedrals of the countryside’ have been around much longer than anything we have built and are a life-giving feature of the landscapes across the Lake District and North Lancashire.

According to The Woodland Trust, the UK’s native tree species and woodlands are not in great ecological shape and are showing declines in wildlife.  But there is good news in that tree planting projects across the country are starting to bear fruit and to address these challenges.

Get Involved In Tree Planting During Your Lake District Hotel Break

At English Lakes Hotels, we’re determined to contribute to the national target quoted by the Committee on Climate Change for the UK to plant 1.5 billion trees – at least 30,000 hectares per year – and achieve net zero emissions by 2050.

You can get more involved and help make this happen with a simple decision.  When you check out after your stay with us, you automatically make a £1 optional donation to our local tree planting and sustainability projects administered through Cumbria Community Foundation.

Since establishing our sustainability fund in the late 1990s, we have raised over £250,000 for local conservation projects.

In 2019, we partnered up with Cumbria Community Foundation to target more of our fund raising towards tree planting projects.  Thus far we have committed over £30,000 for a range of initiatives.

Make A Difference For A Greener Planet

You can also get involved through The Tree Council itself, especially during the winter planting season.  Why not plant a few trees or a hedge yourself in the garden, or get involved with a community project or tree planting event by connecting with your local Tree Warden Network.

And if you cannot do some hands-on planting yourself, you can make a donation to The Tree Council for them to plant a tree or a line of hedgerow on your behalf.  In this way we can all make a contribution towards a more sustainable future.

Visitors to English Lakes have donated an incredible £187,500 to date through our Visitor Giving scheme. If you ever wondered about how that money is used and if it’s making a difference, our Green Team went to find out. They spent a day with Rob Clarke, National Trust Basecamp Community Ranger and a wonderful team of Fix the Fells volunteers committed to keeping the Lake District hills maintained and accessible for millions of walkers each year. (more…)

In the third blog of our series on Help for Heroes and North East Military Vehicle Club trip to The Lake District and their visit to Low Wood Bay Watersports Centre, Kara shares her experience of being part of last year’s Lake District adventure.  (more…)

At English Lakes, we enjoy recommending local activities and events to visitors from around the world. For those wanting to explore the heritage of the Lake District, we’ve put together a list of five of our favourite heritage days out.
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Following a season of BBC programmes on the issues surrounding mental health, and particularly how sport or exercise can benefit our psychological well-being, we feel privileged that two of the ex-servicemen, Steve and Ryan, participating in a Help for Heroes expedition to the Lake District have shared their story with us.  (more…)

Whether your ideal day out in the Lake District is a gentle stroll by a meandering stream, a more strenuous hike up a mountain or a heritage rail journey, it would appear that there is something for everyone.  Here’s one for the more adventurous. (more…)

For our hotel guests and day visitors who enjoy the delights of a leisurely day out in the Lake District, have you considered taking a trip down memory lane on one of Cumbria’s many heritage railways? They are a great way to see the Lake District whilst learning about the area’s culture and history. (more…)

On a glorious day out in the Lake District there can be no better pastime than wandering through some of the finest examples of garden design in the country. With landscape architects the calibre of Thomas Mawson, Guillaume Beaumont and even William Wordsworth himself, you will find yourself spoilt for choice. Here are five that we think top the list. (more…)

Throughout winter the Lake District hotel guests are always treated marvellous picture post card views of snow-capped peaks, some guests even come to the area just for the snow sports! If it snows on your Lake District Holiday, sledging can be great fun for the whole family… (more…)

Low Wood Bay has a long history of encouraging visitors to enjoy the waters of lake Windermere – either by boat or open water swimming. (more…)

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