We’re busy working on expanding the current itineraries we have on the Visit Eden website.  We plan to start with itineraries which are area specific – Appleby and Kirkby Stephen, Ullswater, Alston and the North Pennines and Penrith. We then may develop the section for themed itineraries such as food and castles.  If anyone has any ideas for other itineraries or would like to suggest things to feature do let us know. 

This week marks the launch of the 301km (188-mile) Roof of England Walk – a new multi-day walking trail that explores the North Pennines National Landscape and UNESCO Global Geopark.

The Roof of England Walk is a journey around the North Pennines, with its name reflecting its lofty location in the uplands of Northern England. By following this route, people will feel that they are literally on the Roof of England, walking some of the country’s highest footpaths and enjoying views of open moorlands, big skies, and enticing horizons.

Read more on our website and visit the Roof of England website.

We’re busy adding events for Autumn and Christmas to our what's on section.  If you are planning events for the coming months, do let us know about them and we can promote them on our social media accounts and visitor e-newsletters.

We are also keen to add events for next year to the website, so do send us details of any events planned for 2026. If you have any special offers planned tell us about them too and we can look to add them to our social media campaign.

The Eden Tourism Network is made up of over 100 representatives from tourism businesses in Eden.  The network allows tourism businesses in Eden the opportunity to share information and discuss the latest tourism developments and issues.  The group meet on a quarterly basis at venues throughout the local area. 

It’s free to join and new members are always welcome. The next meeting will be on Tuesday 9 December, 2pm to 4pm, at the George Hotel, Penrith.  If you would like to find out more about the meetings please get in touch email tourism@westmorlandandfurness.gov.uk

Following the success of the Eden Tourism Network, we held a series of drop in sessions in the Furness area to see if there was an appetite for a similar group there.

We have now completed our three informal drop-in events in the Furness area, one in Barrow, Dalton and Ulverston. The sessions provided the opportunity for business to talk about current issues, what they see as priorities moving forward and how we can work in partnership more to benefit the area.

We also talked about potential interest in setting up a Furness Visitor Economy Partnership. The next step will bring together all the businesses who came along to the sessions to establish if and how they would like progress an active partnership.

We will keep you up to date with any developments. Please feel free to get in touch with us if you would like discuss further.

We plan to hold a Westmorland and Furness Tourism Summit in spring next year.  This is following feedback from our operators who also wanted the Summit to be held in Eden. 

Watch this space for more details!

Up to date information on the current Business Support and Funding available can be found on our Invest in Westmorland and Furness website.

Support is available around the area, whether it’s information about finance, planning, licensing, broadband, recruitment, exporting or otherwise, there’s always someone who can help

Cumbria Business Growth Hub is pleased to be a delivery partner for Enterprising Cumbria on their Cumbria Accelerator programme supporting existing businesses located in Cumbria.

They are able to offer three hours or 12 hours of one-to-one advice and guidance to any hospitality/tourism business who would benefit from a fresh perspective. You can choose to work with a business adviser on any current issues/challenges/opportunities or just review where you are now and plans for future growth.

Their adviser team can support in areas such as marketing, digital marketing, business planning, finance and bookkeeping, HR, sales and pricing, access to Finance (the only service available in Cumbria), funding and applications, business growth, leadership, innovation, sustainability, bidding and tendering, social value, supply chain, change management and AI.

As part of their 35 strong adviser team they have three specialist hospitality/tourism advisers:

• Andrea Whigham – a highly experienced business adviser with over 40 years in the hospitality, retail, and tourism industries, working at all levels across the UK;
• Jackie Lancaster – key skills are revenue management & implementing booking engines together with some sales and marketing support;
• Nick Lancaster – a well-known figure in Lake District tourism Nick has championed environmental sustainability, accessibility and destination management.

As part of support you can also tap into the workshops being delivered through the wider Cumbria Accelerator programme and of course they will also signpost you to further support if appropriate to your business need.

To express your interest to access fully funded business adviser support please email info@cumbriagrowthhub.co.uk – you can view details of their full adviser team here

We continue to promote Eden on our social media accounts – Facebook, X and Instagram.  Our latest campaign was over the summer which featured a themed post each day and events taking place over the summer. This has a reach of over 430,000 and 492,000 impressions.  Our next campaign will be for autumn and will highlight events, attractions and things to do in Eden.