Skelwith Fold in Ambleside devastated after storms hit Cumbria

Bosses at Skelwith Fold park in Ambleside say the storms, which began in November with Storm Arwen and continued through February with storms Dudley, Eunice and Franklin, brought gales of up to 90mph batter the grounds.

"The devastation has extended right across Skelwith Fold's 130 acres of parkland above Windermere lake," said director Henry Wild.

"The main expense will be extracting the trees felled by the blast, and this has now been estimated at around a half-million pounds.

"You can't insure against this sort of damage, so we must dig deep into our pockets – and have already spent around £50,000 on plant and machinery to carry out the task.

"Our only consolation is that there will be some environmental gains which could benefit our wildlife and the diversity of plant species across the park.”

The hundreds of tons of fallen timber is being processed on the park by its grounds team, and non-usable branches and other tree parts will be used to create brush piles in the grounds.

These, said Mr Wild, provide important cover and nesting habitats for animals, and attract insects which represent a bounty of food for birds, reptiles and mammals.

The trees taken out by the winds, he said, have also opened up the canopy of leaves and branches which previously prevented sunlight from reaching the forest floor.

"It's a great shame to have seen so many mature tree specimens destroyed, but the timber will be used for new building projects we have lined up on the park,” he said.

"And we've now almost a lifetime's supply of material for wood chips which can be up-cycled on pathways, in the children's play area, and used as mulch.

"Although this has all come at a great personal cost to us, we're in this for the long haul and will just have to factor the weather into our risk assessments in the future.

"Happily we managed to complete the clear up from the storms in time for our re-opening in March, so at least we'll not be disappointing guests.”