Joanne Hunter and Mark Needham are window shopping for the best ‘gingerbread house’ designs in the UK. Image by Studio THAMESWATER
BAKERS, confectioners, creators and crafters from across the UK are expected to flock to Cumbria later this year for The Gingerbread House Festival – a national celebration and bold re-imagining of a centuries-old culinary and cultural tradition.
Endorsed by Cumbria Tourism, the event – to be held at the magnificent Low Wood Bay Resort & Spa on the shore of Lake Windermere in the Lake District over the weekend of November 20 to 22 – will showcase a plethora of exciting and innovative ‘gingerbread house’ designs.
The brainchild of Grasmere Gingerbread® Co-Director Joanne Hunter, The Gingerbread House Festival is being launched with the opening of an official entry website on June 5 – National Gingerbread Day.
“As The Grasmere Gingerbread Shop is the best-known, real life gingerbread house in the country, our Lake District home is the natural location for a national celebration of ‘gingerbread house’ creations that are both eye-catching and edible,” she said.
The iconic ‘gingerbread house’ – The Grasmere Gingerbread Shop
Mark Needham, General Manager of the Low Wood Bay Resort & Spa – a short distance from The Grasmere Gingerbread Shop – is thrilled to host the culinary competition which will raise funds for Shelter, the housing and homelessness charity.
“The Gingerbread House Festival will bring together families, friends and visitors in the Lake District in a pre-Christmas gathering to celebrate exceptional British imagination, craftsmanship and creativity,” he said.
Classic gingerbread houses
Gill Haigh, Managing Director of Cumbria Tourism, said the event would further cement the county’s reputation for innovative and exciting tourism.
“As Grasmere Gingerbread® is synonymous with the Lake District, it is fitting that, together with Low Wood Bay, it will host the inaugural Gingerbread House Festival this November.
“I am already looking forward to entrants using our inspirational landscape and scenery to create magical ‘gingerbread houses’ in the heart of Cumbria.”
Get all the family involved in making a gingerbread house
Entrants are encouraged to let their imagination go wild.
Buckingham Palace in gingerbread. Could you create a gingerbread masterpiece?
From traditional country cottages, elegant stately homes and global cultural landmarks to famous pieces of brutalist architecture, iconic modes of transport or even ‘emergency’ accommodation, The Gingerbread House Festival will shed a spotlight on all kinds of ‘gingerbread house’ designs.
The Bridge House in Ambleside made with gingerbread
“Although we are in the middle of summer and the dark nights of November seem a long way away, I would encourage people to start thinking about the kind of ‘gingerbread house’ they might wish to enter,” added Joanne Hunter.
The Gingerbread House Festival will involve fabulous prizes, a celebrity judge and the best entry will win the accolade National Gingerbread House of the Year 2026.
To enter and find out more about The Gingerbread House Festival please visit: www.thegingerbreadhousefestival.com