A NEW online children's store is officially live, focusing on environmentally friendly products – and all that's good about the great outdoors!

Tourism business, Lake District Escapes, rolled out its new store, The Veg Patch, to help protect businesses from the effects of Covid, and give the people of Cumbria a chance to shop local in the run-up to Christmas.

And the team's website is proving a success, with a wide range of products on education, family and the outdoors on offer to all.

Head of marketing and development at Lake District Estates, Rachel Bell, said: “The Veg Patch is a really positive good news story to come out of lockdown, both for local communities and the wider economy.

“Right now, it is more important than ever to help children find new ways to play, learn and discover. "

She continued: "Living and working within the Lake District also means we are passionate about protecting the planet we leave for this next generation.

"That’s why we are working hard with our suppliers to reduce our consumption of plastic waste, source recyclable packing materials and so on.

“We are massively proud to add The Veg Patch as an expansion to our existing business, and hope it will strike a chord with locals looking for something more authentic and personal than the big global online retailers.”

Through the new website, Lake District Estates – the company behind the much-loved Ravenglass and Eskdale Railway, and Ullswater Steamers – has been able to create new jobs for the community, while joining forces with Cumbria Tourism's Shop Local campaign, giving cardholders from the MyCumbria residents’ reward scheme additional discounts off purchases from thevegpatch.uk.

Managing director of Cumbria Tourism, Gill Haigh, said: “One of the positives to come out of what has been a very challenging year for everyone is the resilience and innovation that businesses have continued to show.

"Lake District Estates should be rightly proud of continuing to diversify and drive forward with this exciting new business idea, and I hope local people will use it as another way to support local jobs and ‘Make it a Cumbria Christmas’.

She added: “I can genuinely say I’ve already been busy ordering gifts off The Veg Patch and there are some top quality products which really do showcase the best of what our county has to offer!”

For more details, or to view the wide range of great products, visit thevegpatch.uk.