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Converter · Torver, near Coniston, Cumbria, United Kingdom · 1961–present

Lakeland Conversions

The special-projects side of Lakeland Land Rover in Cumbria — the Lake District's Land Rover dealer, part of the Hadwin family business at Torver near Coniston — which converts Land Rovers and Range Rovers for mountain rescue teams and forestry users. Its grille plate identifies the Cave Rescue Organisation's crew-cab Defender 'CRO 2'.

History

This entry began from a photograph: a 'Lakeland Conversions' plate above the grille of CRO 2 (PJ65 XCY), the 2015/16 Land Rover Defender crew cab of the Cave Rescue Organisation, the Clapham-based Yorkshire Dales team founded in 1935 and the oldest cave rescue agency in the world. The vehicle carries a box rescue body with top-hinged lockers, a full roof rack with light bar and ladder stowage, snorkel, front winch and LED grille lights.

The name belongs to the conversion side of Lakeland Land Rover, the Land Rover dealership for the Lake District, described in a specialist wiki as the firm's special projects division, converting Land Rovers and Range Rovers for customers such as mountain rescue teams and forestry operators. Lakeland is one of the retailers of the Hadwin Family Group, founded in 1961 as a vehicle repair business at Torver near Coniston in Cumbria and now comprising three Land Rover retailers, a Jaguar retailer and a vehicle conversion and preparation centre; the group advertises Land Rover special vehicle conversions among its services. Patterdale Mountain Rescue records having worked with Lakeland for more than thirty years on conversion work as well as maintenance and updates to its vehicles.

Two caveats belong on the record. The link between the trading name 'Lakeland Conversions' and Lakeland Land Rover rests on a user-edited wiki rather than on the company's own material, which advertises 'special vehicle conversions' without using that name; and no published source confirms that the Cave Rescue Organisation's CRO 2 was converted there — the attribution comes from the grille plate in photographs of the vehicle.

Vehicles in this registry (1)

Sources & citations

Maker record updated 2026-09-10T05:40:28.275Z · status: draft