The Westmorland Dales, with the limestone pavements and scars of Asby and Orton at its heart, lies in Cumbria in the northwestern corner of the Yorkshire Dales National Park to the north of the Howgills. Between 2019 and 2024 it benefitted from the Westmorland Dales Landscape Partnership Scheme, largely funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, which sought to engage people in revealing, conserving, enjoying and sustaining this special landscape. Over the five years it delivered 22 different projects, including one "Revealing the Foundations" in partnership with Cumbria GeoConservation which focussed on the area's geology.

The project reviewed the 8 existing local geological sites in the area and designated 14 new ones. Factsheets were produced for the publically accessible sites which can be downloaded by clicking on the locations on this website's map. Four Geotrail leaflets were produced, also downloadable from this website, and a book Revealing the Foundations by Dr Elizabeth Pickett which is an excellent introduction to the geology of the area. In addition, new interpretation boards were designed and installed at Smardale Nature Reserve, 10 new earthcaches developed, the National Park's Dales Rocks website updated to include a section on the Westmorland Dales and a number of guided walks and events held. Two webinars were held, one by Sylvia Woodhead focussing on geology, one by Professor Paul Carling on the Westmorland Dales in the last Ice Age. Recordings of these are available on the Westmorland Dales website, which includes a fuller description of the project and its outputs.