AN EXPERIENCED mountain rescuer is marking 25 years in charge of one of the Lake District's most idyllic hostels.

Nick Owen is the manager at the independent Elterwater Hostel, which offers year round hospitality with 38 beds in small dormitories.

Mr Owen, who has been leader of the Langdale and Ambleside Mountain Rescue Team for the past 10 years, is a former engineer.

It was while working in a factory in his home town of Skelmersdale cleaning windows he knew something needed to change.

He said: "I knew then that there had to be a better way to make a living.

"I'd used hostels when I was on holiday, and saw a job advertised at one in Oxford."