The Lake District relies on the tourist trade, but hotels in the area are suffering from a shortage of guests due to the wettest year on record.
Normally the area has a good flow of day trippers and walkers keen to experience the great outdoors at all times of the year, but the unprecedented weather is keeping visitors away.
Already numbers have dropped, but things are not looking up in terms of bookings either, with fewer holidaymakers having made reservations for Easter and the spring months, reports the Westmorland Gazette.
The Lake District is usually a popular destination at that time of year, as Wordsworth's daffodils come into bloom and the weather starts to pick up.
Caroline Langham, owner of the Cote How Organic Guest House and Tearoom at Rydal, told the news provider: "If you haven’t filled up your Easter slots by Christmas then you should be worrying - and I haven’t."
Hotel owners are now facing the prospect of raising prices in a bid to gain back some of the profit they have lost.
Tony Blaney, chair of the Lakes Hospitality Association and owner of the Fairfield Garden Guest House in Bowness, said: "Bookings over New Year have been down by about 50 per cent and those we did get were last minute.
"Projected bookings for the next three months are down by about a third. People don’t want to book a holiday when it’s raining outside."
Figures from the Met Office for the whole of Cumbria show that 2012 was the tenth wettest year since 1910.
Property in the Lake District is more expensive due to the fact that the area is a firm favourite with tourists, but this has not ensured the same visitor numbers as usual.
Parts of Cumbria have also experienced flooding, which has affected businesses, meaning that some are in an even worse situation.
As well as hotels, shops, cafes and tearooms have all seen a decline in custom too, with the whole of the tourism industry suffering.
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