60 years of caring for the Lake District
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Date posted: 07/09/2026
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Time to read: 3
Ron’s volunteering journey
For six decades, Ron Wood has been giving his time to the Lake District National Park.
He first started leading guided walks in 1966, helping people to build confidence and explore the hills. Many years later, he is still volunteering with the National Park Authority, this year leading walks as part of the Lake District’s 75th anniversary celebrations.
Ron’s story is remarkable, but it also tells us something bigger about our National Parks: they thrive because people truly care for them. Across the UK’s 15 National Parks, people give their time, skills and knowledge in countless different ways – from helping visitors discover a place, to maintaining paths, supporting wildlife, protecting heritage and passing on traditional skills.
In the Lake District alone, hundreds of volunteers give their time throughout the year to help care for the National Park.
A lifetime of learning
During his time volunteering, Ron has learned and practiced a wide range of skills, from tree planting and hedge laying to dry stone walling.
It’s the latter that he describes as particularly satisfying. He has seen how sharing that knowledge on guided walks can change the way people see the landscape: what might first look like a pile of stones becomes something with craftsmanship, history and purpose.
For many volunteers, it’s an element of the work that makes it so rewarding. Volunteers can help people look beyond the immediate beauty of the landscape and discover its history, heritage and environmental significance.
Ron’s memories also offer a glimpse into just how much our National Parks change. In 1967, an outbreak of foot and mouth disease meant the fells were closed to visitors. Ron remembers being involved in asking climbers to leave the fells after restrictions were introduced, with access remaining closed until January 1968.
Almost two decades later, he remembers a very different challenge. The summer of 1986 brought severe drought, with water sources on the fells running dry. Ron recalls making the journey towards Brownrigg Well near the summit of Helvellyn, a spring that was traditionally thought never to run dry and finding himself wondering when the drought would finally end.
His memories are a reminder that National Parks are constantly changing, and that caring for them means responding to whatever challenges each generation brings.
Looking to the next generation
And while Ron’s story stretches back to 1966, volunteering in National Parks is still a thriving part of the day-to-day life within them.
Across many National Parks, Young Rangers programmes enable young people to learn practical conservation skills including tree planting and footpath maintenance. The programme helps pass on practical skills and knowledge, giving young people the opportunity to discover what it means to look after a place, and why that matters.
By giving their time, volunteers help ensure future generations can continue to enjoy, understand and care for these special places.
While our National Parks are dynamic and changing, some of the fundamentals of caring for them remain the same. The Lake District for example, has changed over the past 60 years, but the need to care for landscapes, repair damaged areas and engage with the communities around them, remains.
Ron’s 60 years of volunteering are an extraordinary example of that long-term commitment, but it also symbolises that our National Parks are what they are thanks to the people who work in them and care for them every day. National Parks don’t look after themselves – people do.
It’s not every day you get to see one of our National Parks in biscuit form on @britishbakeoff!
Last night, The Great British Bake Off contestant @itsdoctoryan created a beautiful biscuit mosaic inspired by the Broads National Park, perfectly capturing the view at St Benet’s Mill, Thurne.
And it wasn’t just a feast for the eyes as the mosaic was made using treacle and ginger, honey and lemon, cocoa and malted milk, and pistachio biscuits.
Two great things combined: a beautiful National Park view and delicious biscuits. What could be better than that? 💚
Photo: Channel 4
#GBBO #BakeOff #NorfolkBroads @broadsnationalpark
You’ve likely heard of one - but what does it actually do?
Our 15 Parks wouldn’t be able to function without the authorities working behind the scenes to keep them running.
And each authority relies on people. People within the community, volunteers, staff and members. People that run businesses, or partner as organisations. People that are skilled and knowledgeable in a variety of areas from wildlife to accessibility.
Our National Parks are full of people and action, and it’s the Authorities that bring them all together.
💚
#NationalParksUK #NationalParkAuthorities
The Yorkshire Dales has one of the highest concentrations of caves and caverns of any of our 15 National Parks - a whole landscape hiding beneath the ground.
Our National Parks don’t just protect and preserve the landscapes we see every day. They also help care for historic and unique places discovered by our ancestors, like Ingleborough Cave and Gaping Gill, both of which were shrouded in myth and legend until they were explored by Victorians in the 1800s.
There’s so much more to our National Parks than meets the eye and sometimes, quite literally beneath the surface 👀
#YorkshireDales #GapingGill #Ingleborough
A week on from National Parks UK’s Big Volunteer Weekend, we’re still celebrating the people who make a difference across our National Parks.
Last weekend, hundreds of people came together across all 15 National Parks to give their time, share their skills and support our landscapes.
But volunteering in our National Parks doesn’t happen just one weekend a year. All year round, volunteers play an incredible variety of roles – from leading guided walks and supporting education, to conservation, planting and caring for our landscapes.
Every volunteer makes a valuable contribution to protecting our natural and cultural heritage. We simply couldn’t do what we do without you. 💚
So, to all our volunteers: thank you for your time, energy, enthusiasm and everything you bring to our National Parks.
If you know someone who volunteers in a National Park, help us spread the thanks by sharing this post. 🌿
#Volunteers #NationalParks #NationalParksUK
Mae’r Bele yn un o famaliaid prinnaf Cymru, ond mae eu niferoedd yn tyfu yn raddol. Mae hynny’n newyddion da i’n coetiroedd ac i’r Parciau Cenedlaethol, sy’n darparu rhai o’r cynefinoedd pwysicaf ar gyfer bywyd gwyllt ledled Cymru a Phrydain.
Ym Mannau Brycheiniog, mae’r prosiect adfer wedi gosod blychau nythu yn y coed, ac mae gwaith monitro wedi nodi presenoldeb y Bele, gan gynnwys grwpiau teuluol. Mae’r ffilm arbennig hon yn dangos un ohonynt ar waith. 🐾
Mae’n atgof hyfryd o’r hyn sy’n bosibl pan ddaw coetiroedd iach a gwaith cadwraeth arbenigol at ei gilydd i roi’r gofod sydd ei angen ar rywogaethau prin i wella.
Pine Martens are one of Wales’ rarest mammals, but they’re slowly making a comeback. That’s good news for our woodlands, and for National Parks, which provide some of the most important habitats for wildlife across Wales and Britain.
In Bannau Brycheiniog (the Brecon Beacons), the recovery project has installed treetop den boxes, with monitoring identifying pine martens, including family groups. This special footage shows one in action. 🐾
It’s a lovely reminder of what can happen when healthy woodlands and specialist conservation work come together to give rare species the space they need to recover.
#BreconBeacons #BannauBrycheiniog #PineMartins #Wales
It’s the Autumn Equinox 🍂
Our National Parks are always changing in time with the rhythm of nature, but this becomes particularly noticeable when autumn arrives.
Deer begin to rut, spiders’ cobwebs glisten in the fresh light, fungi become more prominent, and leaves begin to change colour.
What changes have you noticed so far? 🧡
#Autumn #AutumnEquinox #NationalParks
“You look after the National Park not for yourself, but for people who are coming, the ones who are following you.”
These are the words of Ron Wood, who has been volunteering for the Lake District National Park for over 60 years. His story reflects the vital role volunteering plays across our National Parks: keeping them thriving, communities invested, and people connected to and caring for our landscapes.
Over the decades, Ron’s incredible journey has seen him remain steadfast in his commitment through droughts, hand, foot and mouth disease, and the ever-changing rhythms of nature. Through it all, one thing has remained constant: his dedication to looking after the environment for those who come after him.
You can read Ron`s full story by clicking the link in our bio or learn more about volunteering at nationalparks.uk/volunteering 🔗
📸Photos by @lakedistrictnpa
#LakeDistrict #Volunteering #NationalParks
A quiet autumn transformation is beginning to take place. 🍁
Bracken gradually fades to burnt oranges. Mist sweeps across the horizon. Grasses brown and trees begin their annual shaking of leaves.
Our National Parks are never still. They are constantly changing and transforming with the seasons - a living rhythm of growth, decay, colour and renewal.
These four photographs perfectly capture our Parks on the cusp of autumn 📸
1. Dartmoor @ryanbrowningphotography
2. Lake District @jonny.gios
3. New Forest @acornsandscapes
4. Northumberland @calbrownphoto
#Autumn #NationalParksUK
