Nothing blights a day out in the glorious Cumbrian fells more than coming across piles of litter.

However, this was just the sight which marred many a day in the Lakes last year, with irresponsible wild campers leaving their unwelcome mark on hillsides and lakeshores.

This year, a change in planning rules has driven a surge in pop-up campsites, which often have minimal facilities but which proponents say will reduce the issues associated with wild camping.

Normally these campsites are allowed to operate for 28 days in any calendar year under permitted development, but this has been extended to 56 days this year.

The sites have been tipped as good business for farmers looking to monetize spare land.

Of the 2000 UK campsites on the Pitchup website, on which most pop-up sites are listed, 700 are on working farms.

David Coxon’s company Lakes Loos has diversified into setting up campsite facilities for landowners while many events - the business’ usual bread and butter - have been on hold.

He is setting up four sites at Chapel Stile, near Ambleside, White Moss, near Grasmere, Coniston and Broughton.

He is also providing facilities for around 12 more.

David says he has approached landowners to suggest providing water and toilet facilities on their land with the financial returns split between them.

Each site is overseen by a warden, who also carries out litter picking duties, with spaces booked via the Pitchup website.

David - whose business employs six people - set up a 15-pitch site at his home in Broughton last summer.

It was so successful that he opened another site on a local farm and then another two in Coniston.

“It meant I didn’t have to lay any staff off and I didn’t have to furlough as many as I would have done,” he says.

“Because we have wardens on-site we have very little trouble with noise. The people that came last year were a delight to have. I don’t think we had cause to talk to more than half a dozen out of 5000.”

David says the number of pitches on the sites will be much lower than they could potentially accommodate in the interests of social distancing and local communities.

He says people will be charged extra to bring more than one car to try and reduce the number of vehicles coming into the Lake District.

However, not everybody is convinced pop-up camping will help make Cumbria a better place this summer.

Councillor Paul Truelove, who represents the Grasmere ward on Lakes Parish Council, has said the White Moss site, which is on land owned by the Lowther Estate, will be a “blot on the landscape” attracting more visitors to an already busy area.

“There is an argument for pop-up campsites, but I don’t think the very centre of the Lake District is that place,” he says.

"If you’ve ever been to Grasmere in the summer, it’s impossible to walk on the pavements. Attracting more people to come to the centre is a foolish measure."

Jim Bliss, assistant estate manager for the Lowther Estate, which owns White Moss, says it is one of two such campsites it will run this year, with another on farmland near Askham.

He says these are only two of around 60 similar sites in the county listed on the Pitchup website.

While the site at Askham already has shower and toilet facilities in place, temporary toilets will be provided at White Moss.

“It won’t be grass pitches at White Moss, it will be bell tents and so you hire a bell tent and bring your own camping equipment to go inside it, with that will be your own toilet facility,” he says.

“It means it’s a nicer experience and well within Covid restrictions.

“We feel like we’ve got a great opportunity to help alleviate that issue of wild camping which we all suffered from last year and are still going through this year.

“People aren’t wanting to ruin the land, they are just wanting to create a bit of diversification.”

While some are creating new campsites, others are breathing life into those that have been closed.

Sarah Sharpe has opened Fearon Place campsite, on farmland by the River Ehen near Cleator Moor, for the first time since 2013.

“We took control of the land last year and this year we’ve decided to open it again and see how it goes,” says Sarah, who will keep the site open until the end of October.

“At the moment we only have Portaloos on-site but people who come here seem to enjoy the peace and quiet and the tranquility of the river going by them.”

A sheep farmer, Sarah usually uses the field to grow hay.

“We chose to open a campsite because we were seeing all the wild campers’ mess that was being left around the county,” she says.

“We live in a lovely place just outside Ennerdale and we don’t want to see that. We had the facilities to open it and we decided it would be better to let campers in than the mess out.”