Mysterious abandoned tea-for-two found in Lake District woodland

A photographer has slammed the litterers who left behind the remains of a full tea-for-two set up – complete with table, chairs and glassware – in a Lake District woodland.

Ashley Cooper, a climate change photographer from Ambleside, was walking in the woods to the north of the tarn when he came across a table and two chairs with the remains of what looked like a boozy afternoon tea party. 

As seen in the photographs taken by Ashley, half-eaten food remained on the plates and the dregs of champagne lingered in the glassware. 

Ashley shared his discovery onto Facebook, writing that after a ‘year of invasion by numpties’ in the Lake District, he truly thought he’d seen it all.

He wrote: “In the woodland above Blea Tarn, I came across the remains of a romantic meal for two. Still champagne in the glasses and chocolate cake on the plates.

“The ultimate romantic gesture, trash a national park and world heritage sight, to show your partner how much you love them. Is this the new normal!!!”

Ashley later spoke to the BBC about the incident, noting how the culprits must have gone through ‘a lot of trouble’ to get the table and chairs into the woodland. 

He said: “They’ve gone to a lot of trouble to carry the gear down there as it’s about half a mile from the nearest road – but it just looks like they finished their meal and got up and just left it all.”

Ashley Cooper / Facebook

Staff at the nearest hotels – all several miles away – have since said the set-up was nothing to do with them.

However, this isn’t the first time Ashley has come across litter being left behind in the Lake District – he said that since the pandemic, locals have been dealing with a rise in visitors leaving behind their rubbish in outdoor spaces, saying he himself has seen a number of tents, along with sleeping bags and cooking equipment, abandoned during the past eighteen months.