Be Car Free

Our “car free” campaign

Over the next year Nurture Lakeland will be working with around 50 accommodation providers in the Lake District to help reduce car travel within tourism.

Reducing car travel doesn’t need to be boring. We don’t necessarily want people to put themselves out of their way and get on a bus. We want visitors to realise what amazing things there are to do right on their doorstep of their accommodation.

This way, visitor’s can free themselves of parking charges and traffic jams. They can absorb themselves in local culture and landscapes. Visitor’s can take their time, enjoy their holiday at their own pace and maybe even take advantage of the situation and enjoy sampling the local fine ales!

Businesses get involved!

We will be working with several tourist hubs, identified as priority areas in terms of high visitor numbers and car travel. These include Keswick, Ambleside, Bowness-on-Windermere and Coniston. We’re looking for any accommodation providers to take part, ranging from budget self catering to 5* luxury hotels. All we ask is that you are committed to helping to look after the Lakeland landscapes by acting as advocates for car free days out and encouraging guests to ditch their motor!

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How the campaign works

50 accommodation providers across the honey pot zones will work with Nurture’s Sustainability staff who will provide their guests with a range of information about sustainable transport options and the best places to explore locally. Bespoke resources will be produced, incorporating public transport, bike hire and local walks, linking in with popular attractions and days out.

Aims

The key aims of the campaign are:

• To support businesses in promoting car free days to their visitors
• To compile existing information about alternative transport and make this more accessible for visitors
• To reduce Carbon emissions in the area

The campaign is a crucial stepping stone in encouraging visitors to travel around the Lake District in a more environmentally conscious way and also provides tourists with interesting days out for memorable experiences.

Benefits

• Reduced CO₂ emissions and congestion levels will benefit everyone who lives, works and visits the Lake District
• Decreasing the amount of harmful CO₂ emissions from car exhausts will benefit the environment and wildlife
• Tourism operators will receive advice and resources to help them promote their local area
• Visitors will have easy access to information that will help them enjoy their stay

Reflecting on our pilot project

In early 2010 Nurture Lakeland launched an exciting sustainable transport pilot campaign in the tourist honey pot sites of Ambleside, Windermere and Bowness. The pilot allowed us to work with 10 accommodation providers and test out methods to help visitors enjoy days out locally without their car.

The pilot proved a success and we are delighted to be able to now take this work forward and continue to campaign for a more car free Cumbria.

Please browse through the sections of “Be Car Free” for examples of what was produced during the pilot. We look forward to providing businesses and visitors with loads of great resources very soon. Watch this space…