Keswick Mountain Festival to champion accessible adventure in 2024

The organisers of Keswick Mountain Festival (KMF) have announced details of features designed to promote accessible adventure at the event. Supported by the Lake District National Park Authority, this year’s festival will have an extensive programme of outdoor activities suitable for visitors with disabilities, along with an accessible zone in the Festival Village and a dedicated section on the KMF website. The 2024 Keswick Mountain Festival will run from 17-19 May and tickets are available now.

Founded in 2007, Keswick Mountain Festival (KMF) is one of the UK’s best-loved outdoor festivals, attracting thousands of visitors to Cumbria for its unique offer. The last KMF saw a significant expansion of content for visitors with disabilities and that will be taken to another level for 2024.

The festival’s main hub is the Festival Village on the undulating terrain of Crow Park, and the Accessible Adventure Zone (AAZ) will be located next to the main entrance, which is easy to reach and flat. The AAZ will feature numerous exhibitors, who will share information that showcases the organisations and technology that can make accessing the outdoors that bit easier. Exhibitors in the zone will include the Calvert Trust, Bendrigg Tust, National Trust, Experience Community, Adapt-E, Disability Snowsports UK, Lake District National Park Authority, and AnyoneCan, which will be offering opportunities to try climbing and canoeing during the festival (see ‘Note to editors’ below). There will be a Mobiloo toilet and changing room on site throughout the weekend, along with parking for drivers with disabilities next to the Festival Village and in the KMF car park at Keswick Rugby Club.

For 2024, KMF has added more accessible events to its programme of outdoor and sporting activities. Each day, the National Trust and Experience Community will host a guided, inclusive ramble, ranging in distance from one to six miles, which can be booked in advance on the festival website. In addition, organisers are putting facilities in place to make the cycle sportives as accessible as possible. If anyone with a disability would like to take part in other festival events, such as the Aquasphere open water swims, they are being encourage to get in touch with the KMF team, so that they can discuss how to best facilitate that. The festival has set up a system to offer free carer and support rider tickets for participants with disabilities.

Among the speakers who will be appearing at this year’s Keswick Mountain Festival is paratriathlete Mel Nicholls, who has her sights set on bringing home a medal from the Paris Paralympic Games later this year. Mel has attended KMF before, when she rode the Back o’ Skiddaw cycling sportive. She will be in conversation with Chrissie Wellington in a session hosted by Louise Minchin, in the Theatre by the Lake at 5:30pm on Saturday 18 May.

KMF is actively promoting its accessible adventure programme on the festival website, with a dedicated section at https://keswickmountainfestival.co.uk/accessibility-zone, and on specific activity pages. Access to the Festival Village is not ticketed, but tickets have to be purchased for some of the speaker sessions, and to take part in the 'have a go' activities, all of which have capacity limits and are accessed on a first come first served basis.

Festival director Nicola Meadley comments: “Like the outdoors, we want Keswick Mountain Festival to welcome everyone, and we are committed to ensuring that this is the case. Over the years, we have introduced a range of initiatives that facilitate accessible adventure at the festival and we’re taking that even further this year. We’re delighted to be supported in this by the Lake District National Park Authority and other partners, and believe that this year’s Keswick Mountain Festival will be the most accessible and inclusive that we have ever held.”

All visitors with disabilities are entitled to a free carer ticket and should email [email protected] with a ticket booking number and proof of disability to secure a free ticket of the same type that they have bought. Tickets for the 2024 Keswick Mountain Festival are available at www.keswickmountainfestival.co.uk, and the website includes more details of the full schedule. Find the event on Facebook or follow @keswickfestival on X and Instagram for the latest news and information.