Here are some facts about the Lake District.
- The Lake District is the largest National Park in England, and one of the most popular. It is located in the county of Cumbria, in the northwest of England.
- England’s highest mountain, Scafell Pike, lies within the park. The Lake District is also home to over a dozen lakes, including England’s largest, Windermere.
- Despite the area’s name, only Bassenthwaite Lake is actually named ‘lake’; the other bodies of water are named ‘water’, ‘tarn’ or ‘mere’, for example, Windermere.
- The Lake District is home to Britain’s wettest place, Seathwaite which receives about 140 inches of rain per year.
- Only about 41,000 people live in the lake District National Park, although over 15 million tourists visit each year. Between them they annually spend almost 1,000 million pounds.
- The Lake District has featured in many of the popular children’s books by Beatrix Potter and Arthur Ransome, as well as various mysteries, and a short story by Ernest Hemingway.
- During the early 19th century, the area was popular with poets including Coleridge and Wordsworth. Wordsworth lived most of his life in the lakes, which inspired his well known poems.
- There are over 6,000 archaeological sites in the park, and more than 1,700 listed and historic buildings.
- Cumbria is home to more microbreweries than any other British county, as well as several Michelin starred restaurants.
- During the 16th century, graphite was discovered in the hills and used to make pencils, and to mark sheep. Today, the Pencil Museum in Keswick attracts almost 100,000 visitors each year.
- The water from Thirlmere is carried almost 100 miles in an aqueduct to Manchester, providing water to a million homes. The aqueduct was built in 1894, following an Act of Parliament.
