The Lake District Escape Line, (dial 0870 224 1856 if you are in the UK) plays sounds of the wind whistling through the mountaintops (click to listen), crunching leaves, gurgling water, and, my personal favourite, Cumberland sausage sizzling in a pan (click to listen).
Cumbria Tourism reckons that the soothing sounds of the Lake District will chase away the winter blues, and so they have set up this hotline (and also offered the mp3 sound files for download) just in time to coincide with the onset of the gloomy, dark winter months.
It’s the addition of the sausage mp3 that has me thinking this is an inspired project. Babbling brooks and crunching leaves are sounds we can hear anytime. But sizzling sausage! The sizzling sausage mp3 could be a guilty pleasure for so many people: semi-committed vegetarians, dieters, people watching their cholesterol, etc etc. It is almost a silly addition to the otherwise typical outdoorsy and touristy sounds on offer – which is why I love it, of course.
So go on, dial in – or download the sounds here.