The past few months have been tough for all of Cumbria's tourist businesses, but for the manager of one of the county's most stunning sites, there is hope the future is bright.

Lowther Castle and Gardens, a striking castle ruin south of Penrith, is one of north Cumbria's most impressive attractions.

But with the Covid-19 lockdown having brought frightful disruption to every corner of the county, even a site as well-known as Lowther Castle as not escaped hardship, including job losses.

While there have been tough times, and likely more tough times ahead, general manager Martin Ogle is confident that eventually, the future will be bright.

"When we were closed down, there was obviously a lot of anxiety and nervousness about when and how we might reopen, and what the implications might be," Martin said.

"Some of those anxieties and nervous thoughts are still there.

"But we set a plan out, and we feel like we've been successful so far in getting through that first phase."

Like many in the county's tourist sector, Martin said there is particular concern over the coming winter months, which are always leaner for the sector.

"The concerns and the anxieties are still there for the winter months. Like many tourism and hospitality businesses, things are more difficult in the darker months," he said.

"There is still the worry there about what happens then. It's a very nervous time, but we have worked successfully through the first phase of reopening."

Like a lot of businesses, the lockdown has prompted Lowther Castle's team to work differently, including having to re-evaluate how to manage its extensive gardens while a number of staff were on furlough.

"We had to change the way in which the garden was being cared for with staff on furlough," Martin said.

"In terms of projects during lockdown, we spend a good deal of time focusing on the gardens.

"During the time we were closed, it gives you a great opportunity to reflect."

One thing Martin and his team did place a new focus on during lockdown was Lowther Castle's social media presence.

"Social media has been hugely important, it's helped keep people informed about what we're doing, and helped keep us in the public eye," Martin said.

"We did a series of videos for example, which was a change in the way we were engaging with our customers, with our followers.

"I started doing recordings every week from the gardens, a sort of video diary."

While Martin said it was particularly difficult to keep up his video series now the castle and gardens has reopened, he is nonetheless keen to make sure social media remains a greater focus for Lowther Castle.

"Social media was definitely a big part of where we focused our energies during lockdown, and we'll keep doing that as well."

The gardens have now been open for a full month, having reopened on June 8.

The castle's cafe has also opened, though for the moment as takeaway only.

And the castle's exhibition and its adventure playground opened last Saturday.

Martin said the reopening process has been a challenge with fewer staff on hand, following redundancies.

"We've had to tailor the business to be sustainable and viable. We've been working still with a skeleton team," Martin said.

"That's been very hard in itself, but we've thankfully had enough visitors through the door to make it viable.

"We're continuing to see a rise in visitors with more parts of the business reopening.

"We can see that people are starting to gain confidence in coming out."

Martin said there is clearly still some nervousness among those considering a visit.

"People do still ask if it's too busy, what the visitor numbers are like. People are still nervous and cautious in many ways," he said.

But he added that cautiousness is something he also feels himself, as do his staff.

"I think from a staff perspective, we obviously have that duty as employers to maintain a safe environment," he said.

"Obviously we'll only open up the cafe fully when both the customers and the staff feel that's the safe thing to do."

Martin said the coming months will undoubtedly be tough for tourism businesses across Cumbria.

"Some businesses that will unfortunately fall by the wayside. But some businesses will thrive," he said.

"Tourism in the Lake District is very strong. There's a lot of hardy characters, there's a lot of hardy businesses.

"The beauty of a lot of businesses is that everyone's got a strong desire to make it work.

"I'm sure tourism in the Lake District will come out a lot stronger.

"It is going to be very hard for people going through this winter.

"And I think we, like many other people, will be grateful for everything that's been provided by the Government in terms of furlough and other benefits in the shape of grants and schemes.

"The Government has taken steps to make things easier. But there will still unfortunately be losses, I'm sure. And I'm sure there'll be more redundancies.

"But I think this whole situation will allow people to re-evaluate, and I think there will be some stronger businesses on the other side among the ones who successfully navigate all this.

"The future will be bright, definitely. But there will be another slump, before things get brighter."