Blencathra is up for sale - you'd have to have been living under a rock to have missed this national news story - and a community group has been trying to buy it. Friends of Blencathra say their offer has now been accepted 'in principle'.

The 2676 acre property was put on the market last year for £1.75million, allegedly to help pay the owner's £9million inheritance tax bill.

The news that trustees acting for the fell's owner the Earl of Lonsdale now wish to proceed with the sale was announced on the Friends' Facebook page.

'On 26 March, we met with the trustees to further discuss the purchase of the mountain' said the group's Chair Debby Cosgrove.

'We have been advised that "the trustees wish to proceed with our offer" and that "in principle, they would like to proceed to the next stage.”'

'I am sure that while we are all keen to see the final papers signed, it is not as straightforward a matter as selling a house, however much we might wish it to be.'