The Rayner Brothers at Lakeland in Windermere win in-Cumbria magazine's Lifetime Achievement Award

There are many great businesses in the Lake District, but few which have carried its name quite as far and wide as Lakeland.

In fact, it is up for debate whether more people associate the word Lakeland with our majestic fells, meres and becks or with the online and high street retailer which sells a panoply of handy items for home and kitchen.

As the people who have led the Lakeland name to fame over the last 47 years, there is no disputing that Sam, Julian and Martin Rayner are worthy winners of this year’s Robin Burgess Lifetime Contribution to Cumbria award.

The company began back in 1964 when their father Alan Rayner began selling plucked chickens in plastic bags, prompting farmers and smallholders to begin buying bags from him.

The range of plastics it sold continued to grow, with his sons taking over the business in 1974 and focusing on kitchenware.

Since then they have continued to adapt the business as the world of retail has welcomed developments such as mail ordering and, of course, the rise of internet shopping. It now has nearly 70 stores across the UK and Northern Ireland, with 1300 employees - 600 of whom are in Cumbria.

Its flagship store and head office are still in Windermere with a vast distribution centre in Kendal.

Over the years the brothers say Lakeland has stayed successful by continually identifying and developing products which people need - or at least did not know they needed until Lakeland began selling them.

"It's about not being frightened to have a trial with a new product,” says Julian.

"Another key ingredient is people, in terms of our customers and in terms of our colleagues," says Sam.

"Our people have been the essence of the success of the business.”

Last summer the brothers announced their retirement from Lakeland’s operating board of directors but are still very much involved.

"Pre-Covid we intended to progressively step away from the day-to-day running of the business," says Sam.

"Covid accelerated that because it became quite apparent we needed to make for a much faster chain of command. There was no time for meetings and for different boards to meet and to pass from one to the other. And so we've slimmed down our board, we slimmed down the operating process and we became what we've called the family board.

"We look after the main direction and the principles of how we're going to operate as a business. That allowed the team the freedom to get on with all of the day to day running.

"In the first six to nine months of Covid we needed to be really fleet of foot. Like many other businesses we were unsure if we were going to survive at all. We've come out the other side and I think we're much stronger for it.”

Julian says the closure of high streets during Covid accelerated trends which had been developing for years. He says it may ultimately help by making retailers more realistic about what they need to offer customers.

"Your landlords got a really big dose of realism and so rents changed. We're seeing new entrants coming in and it's recalibrated the way in which business has been done.”

This change in emphasis was as evident at Lakeland as anywhere else, with staff adapting to run its customer service operation from home offices and scrambling to deal with an influx of online orders.

"We were essentially 60 per cent stores and 40 per cent online and that's swapped around and we've become an online business with stores,” says Martin.

The stores are part of the overall mix - including online, phone orders and mail order - funnelling different types of people into buying from the business.

“Don’t be romantic about the channel, as long as we get the order,” says Julian.

He says the move to home working will benefit some high streets, with people able to pop into their local town more easily for shopping rather than doing it while at work in cities.

"We're going to see restaurants and health facilities coming into the high street, because there are opportunities because rent is more competitive than ever,” he says.

As the country looks to recover from the pandemic, the brothers believe Cumbria is in a good position to attract talented people relocating from urban areas.

"It's easier to attract entrepreneurs, because they can see the quality of life," says Julian.

"It's been difficult in the past sometimes to get professional people because they think it's a bit like stepping off the edge and that if you're out of Manchester or out of Birmingham you then lose contact with all those people. But once people get here and then their families get here they realise it's a great place to work.”

Outside of Lakeland the brothers take a keen interest in other businesses and community organisations, with Martin working with a range of firms including luxury crystal producer Cumbria Crystal, in Ulverston, and bag brand Millican, near Keswick. He is also an entrepreneur and executive in residence at Lancaster University Management School.

Sam, who was High Sheriff of Cumbria from 2015 to 2016, is actively involved with a number of community groups, including being a trustee of the Frieda Scott Charitable Trust, which provides grants to charities around South Lakeland. He also acts as a business mentor to The Well, an organisation which supports people dealing with drug addiction in Lancashire and Cumbria.

While Lakeland itself supports a number of local causes, customers can also join its myLakeland club, offering them special benefits, with a proportion of their spending going towards UK charities.

"It is very, very nice to get the award, but it's not really just for us, it's for all the people working at Lakeland,” says Julian.

“We're just the figureheads and it's other people that are driving the business and making it work. Without them we wouldn't have a great business. We’ve been very fortunate, we’ve had a great ride; three brothers working together in the Lake District. What could be better?”