A BBC TV series about the Lake District's most famous walker has provided an unexpected boost for a Kendal society.

Public interest in Wainwright Walks, a series of four programmes exploring the work of Alfred Wainwright which was broadcast on BBC4, has resulted in a "massive increase" in the number of people visiting the Wainwright Society website.

During 2006, the society's website was visited by around 2,500 different people each month, however in February this year, when the first episode of the programme was aired, the website was visited by over 8,384 different people.

The trend has also continued into March and during the first 15 days almost 6,000 different people visited www.wainwright.org.uk.

The programme has also led to an increase in sales of Wainwright's famous walking guides.