Bakers of all ages from across the UK are invited to enter the inaugural Gingerbread House Festival in Cumbria later this year.
The event, to be held at Low Wood Bay Resort & Spa on the shore of Lake Windermere from 20 to 22 November 2026, aims to be a national celebration of the centuries-old culinary tradition.
Entrants are encouraged to let their imagination go wild in their gingerbread house designs. Suggestions range from traditional country cottages, elegant stately homes, and global cultural landmarks to famous pieces of brutalist architecture, iconic modes of transport or even ‘emergency’ accommodation, as proceeds raised are to be donated to national housing and homelessness charity Shelter.
Cash prizes will be given to winners of various categories, including £1k to the top entry submitted by a school, with the best overall design receiving the accolade of National Gingerbread House of the Year 2026. More details are set to be revealed soon. Entries cost £20 each and can be made via the official website here.
The Gingerbread House Festival is the brainchild of Joanne Hunter, co-director of craft bakery firm Grasmere Gingerbread. “Our Lake District home is the natural location for a national celebration of gingerbread house creations that are both eye-catching and edible,” she said.
“Although we are in the middle of summer and the dark nights of November seem a long way away, I would encourage people to start thinking about the kind of gingerbread house they might wish to enter,” added Hunter.
Mark Needham, general manager of Low Wood Bay Resort & Spa, noted that the competition will bring together families, friends and visitors in a pre-Christmas gathering to “celebrate exceptional British imagination, craftsmanship and creativity”.
And Cumbria Tourism managing director Gill Haigh said the event would further cement the county’s reputation for innovative and exciting tourism. “I am already looking forward to entrants using our inspirational landscape and scenery to create magical gingerbread houses in the heart of Cumbria,” she asserted.
From supermarkets to artisan bakeries, gingerbread houses – and build-your-own kits – continue to be sold during the festive period, and beyond. Last Christmas, Lidl created a Gingerbread Store to help mark the opening of its 1,000th UK site, which it gave away for free to 1,000 customers. And the prior Halloween, M&S came out with a Build Your Own Chocolate Haunted House.
There is also an annual exhibition in London and New York called The Gingerbread City, organised by the Museum of Architecture and featuring dozens of professionally built biscuity buildings.
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