Keswick Mountain Festival (KMF) has boosted its dedicated area and attractions for visitors with disabilities. Sponsored by United Utilities, the festival’s Accessible Adventure Zone has been expanded for 2022 and new activities through specialist provider Anyone Can have been added to the event, which will run from 20-22 May.

The KMF Accessible Adventure Zone is a dedicated area that has been designed to make the festival more accessible and welcoming to visitors with disabilities and adaptive sporting needs. The zone will be located within the KMF Festival Village in Crow Park on the shore of Derwentwater, and will include special features, exhibitors and activities. In the lead up to the festival, organisers have worked closely with both Experience Community, a not-for-profit company that helps people with disabilities access the countryside for walking and cycling, and Anyone Can, a family-run Cumbrian company that organises inclusive outdoor adventure experiences.

Anyone Can is new to Keswick Mountain Festival and will be offering three accessible activities during the festival – climbing on a mobile tower with a specialist harness and pulley system, canoeing on Derwentwater with adaptations such as specialist seating and mobile hoist, and packrafting in extremely accessible and supportive inflatable craft. During the festival, Anyone Can will also be showcasing a range of equipment to create an inclusive expedition.

Elsewhere in the KMF Accessible Adventure Zone, Experience Community will be offering mountain trike rambles on the Saturday (11:45am) and Sunday (11:00am), with equipment allocated on a first come first served basis. Visitors without disabilities are welcome to join in these activities, which are for those aged 16 and over. The following organisations will be demonstrating their equipment and offering opportunities to develop new skills and take part in more activities – TriRide, Experience Community, Adapt-e, Lake District Mobility, British Canoeing – Paddleability, Disability Snowsports UK, Cumbria Tourism, United Utilities. The Accessible Adventure Zone will be located close to the entrance to the KMF Festival Village, which features a Mobiloo, including a shower.

Elsewhere, there will be facilities for visitors with disabilities at the festival campsite, and a wheelchair friendly route to the Festival Village from the main festival car park at Keswick Rugby Club, under half a mile away.

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. Full details of the KMF Accessible Adventure Zone can be found at https://keswickmountainfestival.co.uk/accessibility-zone.

Tickets for the 2022 Keswick Mountain Festival are available at www.keswickmountainfestival.co.uk. To find out more about this year’s festival, visit the website or Facebook, email [email protected], or follow @keswickfestival on Twitter and Instagram.