The countdown clock is ticking down for creative Lake District bakers and confectioners to enter Cumbria’s first Gingerbread House Festival.
The event takes place at Low Wood Bay Resort & Spa over the weekend of 20-22 November 2026. Organised by English Lakes Hotels and Grasmere Gingerbread, it will showcase eye-catching and edible ‘gingerbread house’ designs created by a host of competitors from across the country.
Endorsed by Cumbria Tourism, the Gingerbread House Festival is a friendly competition for bakers of all abilities to display their skills and imaginative designs. There are several different individual or group entry categories to suit all-comers, ranging from adult and child, under 11s and under 18s through to seniors, businesses, community groups and culinary professionals.
And to get the ball rolling, Low Wood Bay pastry chef Jibin Thomas has created a scale size gingerbread house replica of the hotel. It took Jibin around 15 hours in all to create it and involved experimenting with a plywood template and using a range of different culinary and mechanical tools for the details of construction.
The culinary competition will include a host of fabulous prizes, with the best entry taking away the top accolade of National Gingerbread House of the Year 2026. Participants in the Gingerbread House Festival will also be helping to raise funds for Shelter, the housing and homelessness charity.
Managing director of English Lakes Hotels Resorts & Venues Ben Berry says: “There are only a few weeks left for budding bakers and contenders to finalise their ideas for the type of gingerbread house they wish to construct. “And thanks to Jibin’s skills and creativity, we’ve made our own gingerbread model of the main Low Wood Bay hotel building to set out the stall and hopefully inspire entrants to think about the architecture of their own designs. We can’t wait to see their ideas and how they’ve built and baked them for the event. “We also want the Gingerbread House Festival to become a regular fixture that brings people together not only to celebrate culinary expertise and creativity, but also to provide a lot of fun along the way.”
Grasmere Gingerbread co-director Joanne Hunter adds: “I cannot wait to see all the ‘gingerbread house’ designs at the Gingerbread House Festival in November as we already have some weird and wonderful entries. “People seem to be very excited about the event. I believe this is because it offers a little welcome escapism and fun as we head into the darker winter months. There are great prizes to be won and it is raising money for a wonderful charity.”
Prizes on offer for competition category winners range from one-off £1,000 cash bonanzas to VIP luxury experiences at Low Wood Bay and sharing goodie boxes from Grasmere Gingerbread.
Managing director of Cumbria Tourism Gill Haigh says: “Grasmere Gingerbread and Low Wood Bay are bringing some real kudos to the county with the introduction of this highly creative and quirky event. “It’s a great way to celebrate our local heritage and it’ll be a wonderful chance for participants to show their culinary skills and flair, and for visitors to marvel at all the different designs on show. We expect it will provide plenty of festive fun in the run up to Christmas.”
For further information about The Gingerbread House Festival and how to enter, visit: https://englishlakes.co.uk/events/the-gingerbread-house-festival/
