A MAN who was unable to swim two years ago says he is “ecstatic” after being named Britain’s outstanding swimmer of the year. Thomas Noblett, of the Langdale Chase Hotel, Windermere, was awarded the Fred Slater Trophy from the British Long Distance Swimming Association in recognition of his seemingly insatiable thirst to take on a [...]

TWO of the Lake District’s larger bodies of water have frozen over. Derwent Water and Bassenthwaite Lake have a layer of ice almost entirely covering their surfaces. “It is absolutely spectacular,” said Penny Webb, National Trust countryside officer for Borrowdale. “There is also snow over a lot of the ice so it is very white. [...]