CUMBRIA has been named the best county in England for an active summertime.

The study was carried out by The Chartered Institute for the Management of Sport and Physical Activity (CIMSPA).

The study considered greenspace coverage for access to the outdoors, the number of water sport centres and swimming pools per capita, the amount of certified workforce for learning something new and physical activity rates.

Cumbria ranked first overall in England thanks to its consistent rankings across each of the categories in the study.

According to the study, Cumbria offers people looking to stay active the ‘very best’ access to swimming with 32 different places to take a dip, per 100,000 people.

Cumbria has the fourth highest number of certified water sport workforce members in the country.

And Cumbria ranks as one of the hotspots for water sport lovers, from paddleboarding to kayaking, Cumbria’s lakes offer 18 water sport activities per 100,000 people - way over the English average of 12.

The top ten were:

  1. Cumbria
  2. Devon
  3. Surrey
  4. Cornwall
  5. West Sussex
  6. Oxfordshire
  7. Herefordshire
  8. Norfolk
  9. Berkshire
  10. Hertfordshire