Cumbria needs to develop stronger relations with major cities, Manchester in particular, to attract more visitors to the Lake District.

That’s the view of Mike Turner, managing director of the woodland adventure attraction Treetop Trek at Brockhole, Windermere, who is also chairman of Cumbria Tourism’s members’ committee.

He says that the relatively short journey times from Manchester Airport will appeal to international travellers.

Mr Turner is also in the process of developing a new attraction in Manchester’s Heaton Park. He was speaking to in-Cumbria/inTheBay as part of our weekly “10 minutes with” series.

Who is Mike Turner?

“I am the managing director of Treetop Trek, my job is to drive the business forward, maintain standards of the business but increasingly to look beyond our current site for opportunities to expand and grow.

“We recently opened our second Treetop Nets site in Ripon, North Yorkshire. That was launched two months ago and is twice the size of the treetop nets development we have in Windermere and is the second of its kind in the UK.

“We’re still developing that business and early signs are very positive and currently we are just about to submit the planning application for a further expansion into Heaton Park.”

The Heaton Park development

“I wouldn’t say that it will be a replica but it will be a similar facility to that which we offer at Brockhole, which will have the treetop trek and treetop nets activity as well as looking to develop a zip trekking activity at the same time, so it’s quite a big development.

“Effectively, it's a further development of what we do in Brockhole, which focuses on zip lines, giving a canopy tour and a journey through the trees, it not big scale adrenaline fuelled zip line.

“I think we can bring more people to the park. Heaton Park is the biggest municipal park in Europe, believe it or not. It’s a huge site and currently attracts around 2m people per year and is a very different offering to the Lake District and North Yorkshire because it's not a tourist destination it’s a place to live and work.”

Closer ties with Manchester

“I think the opportunity for us there is that Manchester connects brilliantly well with the Lake District already and we already bring a lot of people from North West cities - Manchester, Liverpool, Wigan - so now we’re bringing the product down to them.

“I think it will connect well and Manchester's a good partner for us.

“It does connect in a way, the historical connection between the North West and the Lake District as a tourist destination is well established and long standing.

“I think the opportunity for Cumbria at large and the Lake District is actually forging closer ties with them. Marketing Manchester is a growing entity and tourism into Manchester is growing rather than just being a city for living and working, it is becoming a destination for tourists.

“Manchester is becoming a tourist-based place and to make sure people coming into Manchester, possibly from the new direct link to the airport, see the Lake District as the countryside option surrounding Manchester.”

Attracting overseas tourists

“There’s North Wales and Derbyshire nearby, but none of them can compare to the Lake District so it’s vital that we put some pressure on and connect with what is the fastest-growing city in the UK.

“It’s 60 miles from Manchester to the South Lakes and, in the eyes of an overseas visitor, that’s a short journey and what we need to focus on.

“There’s been a tendency to look within and become a little insular. We have to go beyond the Lake District now and to anyone coming into London or Manchester from abroad, we are pretty much IN Manchester and we shouldn’t shy away from that.

“It’s less than three hours on the train from London and less than an hour from Manchester so it’s a really important message to get across that these are not big distances and we need to actively connect.”

Learning from Glasgow Airport

“If you arrive at Glasgow Airport, you’ll be bombarded with information about the Highlands and the Cairngorms and that’s them recognising the fact that that is the place to capture them.

“And that’s what we need to do with Manchester, and other cities, but I think that Manchester is the really golden opportunity for people coming through and staying in the city see the Lake District as a good destination.”