The Great Outdoors. There’s nothing quite like it. The mountains, the lakes, the rivers and streams, the flora and fauna – all are reasons why nearly 20 million visitors come to the Lake District each year*.

It’s the scenery, and the peace and quiet that attracts many, but there is also the appeal of exploring the landscape – the pull of the fells.

Advancing out into the clean air of the mountains and countryside, over rocky, rough, undulating, and unruly terrain, not only works out the body, but it works out the mind too. By exploring the histories of popular outdoor activities well associated with the Lake District – fell walking, climbing, mountaineering – we can discover the stories and the impacts that these activities had on people then, and how they still resonate today, hundreds of years later.

This exhibition aims to showcase how being active outdoors can truly provide a long-lasting, positive effect upon people, and how the history and heritage of these activities are intrinsically linked with the Lake District. In a time when the coronavirus pandemic made getting outside more difficult, never has it been so crucial to show how the outdoors improves not just physical health, but mental wellbeing too.

The Armitt shares the emotions of everyday people in this exhibition, and we have worked collaboratively with other organisations, such as the local Mountain Rescue Team and Blackdog Outdoors – a charity that promotes outdoor exercise to improve mental health and wellbeing – to begin to discover these stories.

We invite you to explore the history of fell walking, rock climbing, and mountaineering in the Lakes, discovering how the natural landscape has inspired people today, and we hope you’ll leave your own tales about why you are drawn to the fells.

Discover more about mountaineering on our collections page here.

*STEAM 2018: Cumbria Tourism

POSTER DESIGN BY TOM MARTLEW – COMPETITION WINNER

EXHIBITION DESIGN BY MR CREATIVE