One of the sectors to receive specific assistance through Rural Renaissance is the Tourism sector.

The largest capital investment by the RR Partnership of £249,000 was made to the South West Lakes Trust in December 2005 towards a total project cost of over £1m on improving facilities at Wimbleball lakeside. This project will encourage new higher spending visitors to Wimbleball and Exmoor, and will provide training for trainers in outdoor activities. It will also benefit surrounding rural businesses as a consequence of these developments.

In addition to the major project at Wimbleball, another good example is the Coleridge Way project. This was given an investment to develop, launch and market the 36-mile walking and horse riding trail in west Somerset. The project works with local businesses, principally B&Bs, cafes, restaurants, public houses and shops to jointly maximise the tourism potential. It has subsequently appeared on TV and radio and has been featured in numerous national, regional and local publications.



With Rural Renaissance funding the Active Exmoor project has been able to develop and market a range of activity-based training opportunities across the Exmoor area , working in collaboration with tourism-related businesses. This has seen a large growth in this specialist tourism sector; and the project has helped to complement the investment at Wimbleball.

The Rural Renaissance investment of £100,000 for the Tour of Britain is to ensure that the benefits of bringing a stage of the successful cycle race to the County are available throughout the rural areas, the aim being for the actual race day to be just one of a package of actions across the calendar to develop cycling as a major tourism activity within the County.

New for 2008-9 the Somerset Sustainable Tourism Partnership is running a project Somerset - A Green and Pleasant Landscape! to increase the number of tourism businesses participating in and gaining Green Tourism Business Scheme accreditation.