Walkers are Welcome is a UK-wide Network

Walkers are Welcome is a national scheme devised to help strengthen a town's reputation as a place for visitors to come to enjoy the outdoors, bringing useful benefits to the local economy. It helps to ensure that footpaths and facilities for walkers are maintained in good condition, benefiting local people as well as visitors and it can contribute to local tourism plans and regeneration strategies. It also allows communities to benefit from the regular networking opportunities with other Walkers are Welcome towns, when experiences are shared informally and new ideas discussed.

The Walkers are Welcome scheme is different from most top-down accreditation schemes, in that it has emerged from, and is being promoted by, communities themselves. To become a Walkers are Welcome town involves meeting six criteria.

• Demonstration of popular local support for the concept. Demonstrated, for example, by signatures of local residents collected on a petition.
• Formal endorsement of application for WALKERS ARE WELCOME status by local council.
• Action to ensure that the footpath network is maintained in good condition.
• Adequate marketing of WALKERS ARE WELCOME status.
• Encouragement of walking using public transport.
• Demonstration of mechanisms in place to maintain WALKERS ARE WELCOME status

To learn more about Walkers are Welcome please visit www.walkersarewelcome.org.uk

---

We're pleased broadcaster Julia Bradbury is supportive of what we're doing. Here's what she wrote to one Walkers are Welcome town:

The Walkers Are Welcome Scheme is a truly innovative project. It's such a simple concept; set up an accreditation scheme for walk-friendly towns, then encourage the towns to network together for support, advice and ideas That simplicity has led to jaw dropping success; 47 towns and villages have signed up to the scheme in just three years. This is partly due to the unique grass-roots way that the scheme is proposed, then set up, in the towns - it involves all the local community and leads, of course, to the community really engaging and welcoming the walkers that they attract as a consequence. More broadly, it shows that people genuinely love welcoming walkers to their 'homes'; to show off what lies on their back doorstep, to share the pleasures people themselves feel from walking, and also because walkers make the perfect guests!"