New book answers hundreds of questions about the Lake District

Or how many miners died in how many pits scattered across Cumbria?

Or perhaps you are interested in how migration going back two millennia has created the mix of people who live in the wildest and many would claim to be the most beautiful corner of England.

The answers to these and hundreds of other questions feature in a new book entitled The Lake District in 101 Maps and Infographics.

The book is full of fascinating facts and figures, presented in an elaborately illustrated glossy coffee table style.

The 144 pages cover everything from the ten highest Wainwright fells to the year of the upland farmer to mountain rescue fatalities.

“The graphics cover just about everything people want to know or think they know about the Lakes,” said publisher David Felton.

“In a way it is vaguely political as it outlines raw data, including second home ownership and levels of poverty.

“People often talk about these things without having the data available. Now they can.

“Some of the facts and figures are quite frivolous, like a section on ghosts, but others give a real insight into how Cumbria has changed.

“The farming section shows how many small farms have disappeared over the last 80 years, and how many mega-farms there are now.

“It shows the absolutely huge increase in poultry, while the number of horses has nose-dived.

“It shows how barley which was once a huge part of the agriculture in Cumbria has virtually disappeared as farmers have switched to other crops. And of course the impact of foot-and-mouth is played out in the data.

“As much as possible, I have tried to leave the reader to draw their own conclusions about what the statistics mean, but where there are obvious trends in the data, then that is explained in words.”

Mr Felton, 41, who lives in the Naddle Valley south of Keswick, described the book as “a labour of love” featuring 18 months research and input from dozens of academics and passionate local people around the county.

Mr Felton is a creative entrepreneur who left the music industry in southeast England five years ago to start a new business, Inspired by Lakeland, a publisher and gift producer inspired by the wild places of Britain.

This is his fifth book. Previous joint ventures with local artists, authors and illustrators included a best-selling Lake District Sticker Book and the Lake District Quiz Book.

The Lake District in 101 Maps and Infographics and the sticker books both feature artwork by Kendal-based Evelyn Sinclair.

A key part of Inspired by Lakeland is its ethical framework; where possible print is kept local - at H&H Reeds in Penrith; profits are spent on planting trees, both with H&H and independently; manufacture of towels is kept with the UK; and a percentage of profits is invested back into the

county.

In a previous innovative project, Inspired by Lakeland formed a partnership with the people of the Ullswater Valley, to publish an official guide to the Ullswater Way, sold locally, and with 50% of profits invested back into the valley.

And £1,500 was donated to the National Park earlier this year to help fund path maintenance around the Way.

“This partnership between small business and individual valleys, plugging money back into communities and the landscape is a way of putting money back into the area that both inspires the business and draws so many potential customers,” said Mr Felton.

Inspired by Lakeland was awarded the inaugural Beatrix Potter Community Business award by the National Trust.

• The Lake District in 101 Maps and Infographics , ISBN: 978-1-9998940-3-0, is out now published by Jake Island Ltd. RRP £14.90p. Available from Waterstones and other independent bookshops and through Amazon.