Big Issue sellers escape to the Lakes

People who sell the Big Issue have escaped city life to take part in an expedition in the Lake District.

A small group of men spent two nights in a climbing hut to give them space to think and "get some clarity".

Many Big Issue vendors have experienced homelessness and have spent time on the streets.

Paul Rose from Beyond The View, which organised the break with the help of a grant from the Diocese of Carlisle, said: "We try and facilitate spaces and conversation."

"The natural world does almost all the work for us.

"We’ve got the sunshine and a bit of warmth and a gentle breeze and the bleat of sheep.

"We just need to turn up really."

Ben Reynolds, a support and outreach worker for the Big Issue, said: "We’ve been looking at nature and how we can apply it to ourselves.

"Having some ability to think and get some clarity, you don’t get that in the cities [but] you do here."

Andre Rostrant sells the Big Issue in Soho in central London. For every £4 magazine he sells, he keeps half of it.

He said of the expedition: "It has given me the opportunity to think about what’s going on in life.

"Sitting here in a cottage on a hill with a stream babbling by, you can look back at life in London and think 'maybe I can do this differently'."

Easton Christian, another participant who joined a hike up Coniston Old Man, came to Coventry from Jamaica when he was 14.

He became homeless when his father died.

Having completed the climb, he said: "When you see the top, it’s worth it. It makes you more humble."

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