Tourism

Rory launching Tourism week at Lowther CastleTourism is our main income-earner, bringing in over one billion pounds a year, and supporting over ten thousand families in Penrith and The Border. People come to Cumbria for its wild and unspoilt landscape, its traditional small farms and its close-cropped fells. Cumbria’s competitive advantage remains its rural beauty, and any long-term strategy for the area must recognise that it is the protection of our landscape which will protect our economy. I was instrumental in launching the Cumbria Tourism APG in recognition of this.

The hugely successful “Cumbria Day”, held in Westminster since 2013, showcases the best of what this county has to offer, and any wider strategy has to continue to promote the area further afield. The Lake District is an incredibly powerful and internationally recognised brand that we must continue to develop and reinvigorate. In so doing, I see no reason why we cannot find ourselves in a world where tourists coming from China, India or Brazil see a photo on top of Blencathra as much an essential part of any sight-seeing trip to the UK, as Big Ben or Stonehenge.

RORY TO LAUNCH THE REIVER RIDE

Rory will this Saturday be joining more than 50 horse riders on the first Reiver Ride to celebrate Cumbria’s Border Reiving history. Local riders and others from as far afield as Durham, York and Lockerbie will be travelling to Bewcastle for the inaugural Reiver Ride, which Mr Stewart will also be riding in. Two routes of […]

RORY HIGHLIGHTS THE IMPORTANT HERITAGE OF FELL PONIES AHEAD OF EXHIBITION

Rory visited a group of fell ponies on Roundthwaite Common to learn more about their heritage and current pressures breeders feel they are under. Libby Robinson, of Globetrotter Stud, took Mr Stewart to visit her mares and foals on Roundthwaite Common ahead of an exhibition she has organised, ‘The Heritage of the Hill-bred Fell Pony’, which opens at […]

RORY LAUNCHES ‘THE REIVER RIDE’

Rory is delighted to launch The Reiver Ride – a journey through The Forgotten Lands to celebrate the rich Border Reiving history of the area. The Reiver Ride on Saturday, September 7th, is the first of what will become an annual event, with different routes every year. Riders are invited to choose between two routes […]

RORY LAUNCHES CAMPAIGN TO SAVE ALSTON’S COBBLES

Rory, together with a group of locals, has launched a campaign to save Alston’s cobbles. Alston is one of only a handful of traditionally laid ‘A’ roads surviving in the North of England. The setts (rectangular cut stones as opposed to cobbles) have a very special place in the heart of the Alston community and […]

RORY DISMAYED AT DEREGISTRATION OF COMMON LAND

Rory was disappointed to hear that Cumbria County Council has approved the deregistration of 3,230 ha of common land owned by the Ministry of Defence at Warcop. He said: “Although I welcome the fact that 23 per cent of the total area – known as Area Victor – was not deregistered, as a passionate supporter […]

RORY CELEBRATES NEW APPLEBY GALLERY

Rory visited the Castle Fine Art Gallery and Shop to hear an update on its operations and tour its new exhibition – and indeed to commission a drawing of his mother’s house. The Castle Fine Art Gallery opened in August with the aim of selecting and showcasing regional artists through monthly exhibitions. Though Rory was unable […]

RORY TOURS STAINMORE COMMUNITY PROJECT

Rory visited the Stainmore Railway Company at Kirkby Stephen East to hear an update on their work and to meet their volunteers. The Stainmore Railway Company came into being in 1997, following the purchase of the Kirkby Stephen East station site by Stainmore Properties Ltd. in order to build and develop a Heritage Centre and […]

RORY CHAMPIONS TOURISM IN CUMBRIA ON CARAVAN SITE VISIT

Rory has visited the Troutbeck Head Caravan and Motorhome Club Site, to learn more about the contribution of caravanning to the local economy. Troutbeck Head Caravan and Motorhome Club Site, nestled under Great Mell Fell and looking up to Blencathra, has welcomed visitors to the Lake District for decades. Mr Stewart was met by Phil Monkman, […]

RORY PRAISES NEW EXHIBITION AT CUMBRIA’S MUSEUM OF MILITARY LIFE

Rory visited Cumbria’s Museum of Military Life in Carlisle Castle to tour the ‘Lest We Forget’ exhibition and learn more about Cumbria’s military history. Mr Stewart met with Stuart Eastwood, the curator, and the two toured the Museum together. Rory was shown around the permanent collection, which features items spanning three centuries. Many of them […]

RORY LEARNS ABOUT CUMBRIA’S ROMAN BATHHOUSE DISCOVERY

Rory has visited the offices of Carlisle-based commercial archaeologists Wardell Armstrong, to study their recent, major discovery of a Roman bathhouse. Wardell Armstrong, in excavations beginning in May 2017, have uncovered the remains of three separate rooms along the Northern bank of the River Eden, in central Carlisle. All the rooms contain evidence of under floor heating and were discovered […]