A white washed farm with sheep in a wooden valley with high fells behind

Farming in Protected Landscapes

Grant funding for farmers and landowners

We’re delighted the Farming in Protected Landscapes (FiPL) programme has been extended for 2025/2026. This means our team can continue to work with farmers and land managers across the Lake District to help boost farm resilience and deliver across the themes of people, place, nature and climate.

In the Lake District, FiPL has already supported more than 245 projects to a total grant value of approximately £4.9 million over the last four years.

We are now accepting applications, and we welcome expressions of interest through the enquiry form below.

Deadline dates for applications for each of our Local Assessment Panels

While these dates are currently set, they can be subject to change.

  • 30 April 2025
  • 11 June 2025
  • 30 July 2025
  • 4 September 2025
  • 15 October 2025

FiPL Year 5 Priorities

As we move into Year 5, we particularly want to see applications coming forward from new farmer applicants, farmer groups, as well as previous applicants continuing to develop and evolve existing projects (total funding limits apply).

We encourage you to get in touch and talk to the team so we can help you to shape your application to achieve greatest benefits for you and the Park.

Please note, projects must be able to be fully delivered and paid for by 31 March 2026.

All projects need to be relevant to at least one of the Defra FiPL themes of nature, climate, people & place, but areas of particular priority for the National Park this year include:

Nature

  • Projects in the priority catchments of Windermere, Coniston, Bassenthwaite, Derwentwater, and Ullswater that inform, and/or deliver on-farm water quality improvements or water slowing and storing interventions to reduce run-off.
  • Habitat surveys for farms, where these will support the achievement of FiPL outcomes.
  • Management of habitats for invertebrates, birds or other priority species highlighted in the Lake District’s Nature Recovery Delivery Plan (page 12), such as red squirrel and otters.
  • Small scale projects to enhance, restore and create habitat that are of priority in the National Park – see Annex 1 of the Lake District’s Nature Recovery Delivery Plan - for example ponds and scrapes, species rich hay meadows, woodland edge and regenerative scrub, and creation of wildlife refuges such as Sandmartin holes.

Climate

  • Delivery of climate resilience initiatives, for example rainwater harvesting, letting rivers and watercourses re-wiggle or creating features to slow the flow of flood waters such as leaky barriers, buffer strips and bunds.

People

  • Initiatives to secure the long-term future of the traditions and skills of farming and commoning communities, including farming shows and shepherd’s meets.
  • Development of local food and farm product networks and opportunities for farms to access diverse markets. This could include supporting local infrastructure needed and developing skills.
  • Projects to deliver access improvements that help more and different groups of people to access the countryside. These could include replacing stiles with gates on rights of way, creating new paths or upgrading paths to make them more accessible for disabled people.
  • Projects to deliver educational and engagement activities on farm to raise awareness of Lake District farming and encourage responsible enjoyment of the countryside, with a focus on the identified key audiences for the National Park – see Outcome 4 of the Lake District National Park Partnership Plan.

Place

  • Restoration of farm heritage features such as lime kilns, packhorse bridges, sheep folds and washes, pig hulls, hennery piggeries, bee boles, bields and shard fences or other boundary features not covered by Countryside Stewardship capital grants.
  • On-site interpretation (signs, materials etc) of heritage or landscape features to enhance public understanding.
  • Projects building Lake District hill farming business resilience.

Our farming officer talks about what the Farming in Protected Landscapes grants can do

FiPL End of Year Report 2023/24

FiPL End of Year Report 2022/23

FiPL End of Year Report 2021/22

Case studies in blogs show some projects already funded by FiPL

See all Farming in Protected Landscapes blogs


How to apply for funding

Please note we are currently not accepting new FiPL applications, but we welcome expressions of interest. Check back here for more updates on FiPL funding for 2025/26  in the coming weeks.

  1. Check that your farm is within the Lake District National Park boundary
  2. To express and interest fill in our enquiry form
  3. A member of our FiPL team will be in touch to discuss the next steps.
  4. Email FiPL@lakedistrict.gov.uk with any questions.

FIPL Enquiry Form 2025-2026

The Agricultural Transition Period 2020-2027

Farming advice pages:

The Lake District National Park aims to:

  • Help farmers preserve the attributes of the World Heritage Site by working with farmers to maintain the tradition of agro-pastoral upland farming.
  • Enhance the special qualities of the Lake District National park by working with farmers, landowners and key partners to secure good environmental management and enable nature recovery in the park.
  • Assist farmers in the Lake District in securing the future of their businesses through the agricultural transition by running the Farming in Protected Landscapes Scheme.
  • Work with farmers to enable solutions to the key challenges of climate change, nature recovery and the future of farming and forestry in the Lake District.
Need someone to talk to?

The Farming Community Network can help you and your farm business stay strong and resilient. Visit www.farmwell.org.uk for contact details.

Claire Foster

Meet our Farming Officer

Claire Foster works with the farming community across the Lake District National Park, to help farmers learn from and support each other.

Contact Claire:

Eliza Headshot

Meet our Assistant Farming Officer

Eliza Hodgson works with the farming community across the Lake District. Her main focus is to help to deliver the Farming in Protected Landscapes programme.

Contact Eliza: