Fix A Fell For Christmas

If you're feeling altruistic, or you're stuck for Christmas present ideas this year, the Fix The Fells partnership has an idea. Instead of buying yet more gear, how about buying good health – if not Christmas cheer – for a long-suffering Lake District path to celebrate the festive season?

The Fix A Fell scheme works a bit like Oxfam gifts, but instead of buying a goat or a well of clean water, your money goes towards the repair of damaged footpaths in the Lake District. £10 gets you a metre of path-side vegetation, £25 will move stone to a site, and if you're very generous – we wish we were on your Christmas present list! - £250 will pay for specialised drainage work.

A metre of vegetation may not sound like much but with 74 Lakeland paths classified as 'in need of desperate care', every little helps. The previous project has already fixed 102 paths, but with 20 million pairs of boots a year treading the fells of the Lake District, it's no surprise if a little more loving care is needed. To be precise, we're talking about £5 million of loving care!

So, if you have friends who've already got it all when it comes to outdoor gear, how about buying them the chance to Fix a Fell? The good news is that a £10 donation actually provides £30 of repairs as the Heritage Lottery Fund have offered to triple the money. How's that for a bargain?

For more information about the Fix The Fells project, visit their website. Or if we've already convinced you, go straight to their donations page to buy your gift now.

Happy shopping.