New: The Lake District Survival Guide

It has long been a bugbear of mine that the vast majority of books about the Lake District take themselves – and the area – too seriously. Whether a book's about walking, nature, local history or photography there are very few titles out there that take an affectionate look at the funnier side of Cumbrian life. (I mean this is the county that gave the world jam-eaters, gurning competitions and the Tizzie-Whizie for God's sake!)

I was delighted, therefore, to come across the work of Ian Young on a blog of his last year.

Ian, a cartoonist from Back o'Skiddaw with a sense of humour and a wicked turn of phrase had been putting pen to paper to create light-hearted illustrations about the curiosities of Lakeland life for a while. I read his blog posts chuckling, then read them all again, chuckling some more. Then I dropped him a line and asked if he wanted to make a book.

A year later and I'm delighted to announce the launch of the Lake District Survival Guide, which is, in equal measure, amusing, silly, occasionally touching, but always entertaining. 124-pages of irreverence are compiled into a lovely little hardback with chapters including ‘Wainwright in Therapy’, ‘Lakeland Stereotypes’, ‘Sheep ID Parade’, ‘Mythical Beasts’, ‘Melvyn Bragg’s Cultural Corner’ and ‘How to Get Battered’.

I've included two of my favourites below - Wainwright at a fancy restaurant, and a well-earned poke at United Utilities's fantasy pipeline.

The Lake District Survival Guide is now available to buy in our Shop.