Two outlets describe a Lake District travel roundup framed around the contrast between very high visitor numbers and a small permanent population. Both say the national park receives around 18 million visitors each year, while the permanent population is about 40,000. The articles present a “best and worst” list of places to go within the Lake District, based on the author’s long experience exploring the area for roughly 20 years. While the exact criteria and specific recommendations are not detailed in the provided excerpts, the shared premise is that locations within the park vary in suitability for visitors, with some areas suggested as better choices and others less so. The coverage emphasizes scale—both the popularity of the park and the limited number of year-round residents—as context for why visitor-focused guidance is in demand. Overall, the sources align on the key figures about annual visitors and local population, and both take a personal long-term exploration perspective to structure the guidance.