Keysia Mattocks has lived in the Lake District all her life and now fears she will be forced to leave as it her town is being 'turned into Blackpool' A lifelong resident has claimed that the Lake District is increasingly swamped by visitors who show little regard for the natural environment and treat it like a party spot. Tourism has always been a part of life on the banks of Lake Windermere. However, according to local Keysia Mattocks, the impact of holidaymakers in recent years has become so severe that it's irreversibly altering the area and driving locals away.
Born and raised in the national park known for its stunning beauty, Mattocks is facing the possibility of being pushed out of her hometown due to a tourist-driven housing crisis. READ MORE: Popular Greek island with beautiful beaches is desperate for tourists to return Keysia said: "Me and my wife have been renting [our] house for seven years now, [but] the landlord is selling up and trying to find a house around here that will accept three cats is impossible," she told the Express. "The places available are like six-month winter lets because they are holiday cottages in the summertime or peak time.
" Throughout her tenancy, Mattocks has witnessed the supply of rental properties in Windermere drastically decrease and knew that if they did have to move out it would be very difficult to stay local. "We were looking at [these properties] in desperation, but others were viewing it after us so it must be getting interest. You can't build a home from that, though," she said.
Keysia continued: "It's always been in the background. We have heard stories of landlords selling houses underneath people and not letting their tenants know. But [the shortage of housing] is a scary fact of life.
The nearest available council house to Windermere is Whitehaven [50 miles away]." Mattocks bears no ill will towards her landlord for deciding to sell and comprehends their reasons. However, it doesn't alter the reality that she faces the possibility of having to leave the place she's called home all her life due to the housing shortage.
Only a handful of her school friends still reside in Windermere. The vast majority have moved away and commute for work or family visits. The Cumbrian local only needs to glance out of her window to understand why.
The streets that were once bustling with friendly neighbours who knew each other by name have been replaced by rows of holiday rentals filled with transient visitors. She said: "I have two holiday cottages around me [including] my next-door neighbour. [That] is used as an Airbnb holiday cottage with a new person in each week.
"Sometimes we have families who are nice and quiet, but there are times where the younger generation that are more into drinking stay. Last week we had students across the way and they were partying every single night." Mattocks explained that the choice of the Lake District as a destination for partying students was a symptom of the larger shift in the atmosphere.
"I feel like at the moment, instead of Windermere being how it used to be, it's turned into more like Blackpool," she added "It's so busy and full of people who don't actually respect the area," she said. "It's starting to get like rubbish all over it and if you go down to the lake, like normal quiet spots, there will be like glass, rubbish and barbecues where you're not supposed to be having barbecues. Parking's impossible.
There's parking all round blocking up one-way streets and traffic." With property prices soaking up the local market and holidaymakers flocking to the region in great numbers, reversing these changes seems ever more unlikely..
