Kendal’s main claim to fame up until now may have been its mint cake and its adopted son and archetypal grumpy old man Alf Wainwright, but now it can add literary Mecca to its list of attractions.

The Boardman Tasker Award, mountain writing’s premier prize, will be hosted in the Cumbrian market town for the first time this year, having been based at the Alpine Club in London since it began in 1983.

It’s just one of the events for the November festival, which has grown out of the Mountain Film Festival and attracts participants from across the globe.

Lectures by some of the world’s top mountaineers are promised by the organisers, who have yet to announce the final programme.

Full details at the festival’s website.