Lakes District UK
 

Would love suggestions on the Lakes District. We have been told the western lakes are less touristy, but we also realize "touristy" areas are sometimes "touristy" for good reason.

Thinking of early September.

We love beautiful drives, charming villages, easy hiking/walking, history.

And of course any wonderul places that you have stayed, Hotels, B&B's, rentals.

Where have you been, where did you stay, and what did you do?

wrenwood - years ago we were regular visitors to the lakes, usually in the spring, and we used to stay at Braithwaite, just north of Keswick. The hotel we used to stay in has closed now, but the Pheasant Inn on Bassenthwaite Lake used to do very good food:

http://www.the-pheasant.co.uk/

The northern Lakes appealed to us more and certainly they always seemed to be less crowded than the south. Nearby Cat Bells is a lovely short walk, but of course there are many, many more. We also liked to walk up Conniston Old Man, and then take a ride on the Steam Gondola - very peaceful on a clear day.

Wordswoth's house at Cockermouth is worth a visit are are Dove Cottage and Rydal Mount - all associated with him. And since we last visited they have opened another property - Allen Mount - with connections with him.

hope this helps!

Annhig

Did you stay at Ivy House?

We were married at Thornthwaite church, son was christened there and had our reception at Armathwaite Hall. My MIL still lives in Braithwaite.

The Phaesant is better than ever but pricey now.

Castlerigg Stone circle near Keswick is very stunning and very eerie, also the site of my one and only camping experience, so o happy memories there.

Combining a walk round Derwentwater with using the lake launch to reduce the length of the walk is good fun.

As Ann posts, Cat Bells is fairly easy and has to be one of the best views for minimum effort in the Lakes. If you want something more challenging try Grizedale Pike with views to Scotland.

I've been to the Lake District (it's always Lake District not Lakes District) dozens of times as I live a couple of hours drive away.
Some of the areas are termed 'touristy' because they are popular with coach parties and can be very busy. Windermere falls into this category - but of course the lake is very beautiful if you can get parked!
Early September is a good time to visit the area as the majority of the school children return to school at this time after the long summer holidays, which makes things quieter. However it will still be pretty busy as numerous people wait until the children return to school and then go on holiday!
Always have Plan B when doing your itinerary. It can rain and rain there like you wouldn't believe - so have some indoor activities planned - for instance Blackwell Arts and Craft House or Rheged.
We tend to head for the North West of the area - Keswick and also Cockermouth.
I've stayed at this B&B which I can wholeheartedly recommend - you can do some wonderful walks from the farm, including down to the lakeside to visit the old church. Helen will greet you with homemade cakes, and the breakfasts (and views from the property) are amazing.
http://www.sandhillsfarm.co.uk/

Hi Dickie - yep, Ivy House was the place. I think we stayed there half a dozen times when we were first married, usually in early spring. We would leave my parents' house in Coventry at about 4am to try to miss the traffic around B'ham, have breakfast en route, and then climb Coniston old Man before [a late] lunch. I think that it would take me all day now!

our plan for when it rained was to get wet!

Such a shame about so many hotels in The Lakes.

Ivy House became a Holiday Property Bond hotel, still serves food to the public. Two other local hotels, The Ladstock and Swan were converted into apartments at the height of the boom. So many hotels have been lost, the remaining ones seem to think the area is Beverley Hills when it comes to pricing.

Wrenwood

The Rheged centre at the junction of the M6/A66 is an interesting showcase for local food and has a great cafe. Booths supermarket in Keswick is a regional chain and very much like Whole Foods in The States, again lots of locally sourced food.

Ivy House was bought by the Holiday Property Bond in 2003, and is now only available to HPB members. We stayed there overnight a few years ago on our way to Glasgow, and then went on to another HPB property, this time near Loch Katrine in the Trossachs.

With the Holiday Property Bond, one invests a sum of money and is then allocated points which can be used at properties throughout the U.K. and Europe. The properties vary, but are to a consistent standard. As you get older, it's sometimes good to go somewhere predictable.

Ivy House is a hotel, but the HPB also has self-catering accommodation close by at Braithwaite Court.

Ivy House used to be a bit of a splurge for us, we'd book 3-4 nights Dinner B&B in a room with a four-poster, and soak away the aches and pains from our hiking in a deep bath, then eat what I remember being quite delicious dinners, though we did try the Pheasant once or twice.

all this changed with the advent of you know what....we took DD when she was about 6 months old but it was never the same.

happy days!

They still do good, large dinners, and I seem to recall that we also had a four-poster bed. But then the drapes on the bed meant the bedside lights were useless and reading in bed was impossible.

Romance and utility seldom go together.

chartley - I remember being very impressed [this was 30+ years ago] with a starter of pear and stilton - which was utterly delicious - and lovely puds. I don't remember being overly concerned about the lack of adequate light by which to read, but perhaps I was too tired.

30 years plus ago.

Good grief!

There is EVERY possibility that my wife cleaned your bedroom as a summer job.

Did you notice particularly poor house keeping?

Dickie - for some of us 30 years is but the blink of an eye. I still recall the first time I had smoked salmon at a hotel in Scarborough in 1965.

As for the bedside lights and the four poster, I suppose that is no longer a concern now that we all have our tablets and i-pads.

dickie - i do hope your DW doesn't read this as if she does, you'll be on short rations.

anyway, I'm pretty sure that the housekeeping was up to scratch as we went back several times, and even then I liked clean bathrooms, even if I wasn't too bothered about bedside lighting!

Annhig, wow, the Pheasant looks like a great place to stay. Love the fireplace featured in their ad.

late day - the only disadvantage of the Pheasant is that it's a bit on the edge of the Lakes, but then that can be an advantage too of course. looking at the website, the prices for the rooms at this time of year really don't seem too bad.

Pencil into your schedule the off-beat Pencil Museum in Keswick, one of the main regional towns in the Lake District with its graphic history of the local pencil-making industry - this is one museum that will be hard to erase from your mind!

http://www.pencilmuseum.co.uk/

" you'll be on short rations."

We are currently in South Carolina, short rations are not on the menu!

dickie - isn't that the land of the grits? i think I'd be grateful to be on short rations!

Actually, we have just returned back to the house having had a shrimp and grits looking out over the Atlantic sunset skies.

Cooked and served well, grits are really tasty. A little like polenta in Italy, do it badly and you have passed the point of no return.

Who gives a damn what the food was like or how much cheese the waitress put into her smile!

It was 75oF at 8pm.

Nuff said.

dickie - I don't want to "diss" your experience but I've never tasted grits that I wanted to eat, no matter how cheesy a grin the waitress gives me.

only uncouth Hillbillies eat grits! Well I guess that includes just about everyone in South Carolina!

Where have you been, where did you stay, and what did you do?>

I stayed in Windermere simply because it is the rail head of the Lake District but it is also a nice place with lots of inexpensive hotels and B&Bs but if I had a car I'd stay in a more centrally located place like Keswick - if you like proper cities and all their amenities.

Or get a place in one of those cozy cottages in the countryside - I think Brits do that for a romantic get-away.

Things I loved: Beatrice Potter's House; Rydal Mount - home of Wordsworth; taking the old chain ferry across the lake from Bowness (Windermere's lakeside district that would be a neat place to stay as well) - cars accommodated if I recall correctly.

Thanks PalenQ for the help!

We do like being able to walk to dinner so I am tempted by Keswick. But also tempted by a self catering cottage that is outside Keswick

And seriously, a Pencil Museum???? :)

Morgana, where did you eat dinner when at Sandhills Farm?

Keswick isn't a city - its a small market town but it does have lots of facilities including more tea shops than you can shake a stick at.
If you are self catering it has an excellent supermarket called Booths (as does Windermere).
Sandhills was fabulous but it is also in a rural setting so you couldn't walk to dinner.
We drove into Keswick and had dinner here - which I see has apartments!
http://www.morrels.co.uk/

Well Keswick has a pop of about 4,500 so yes is no city - my mistake but that makes it all the nicer - I meant to say it has the trappings of what you would find in a city - lots of restaurants, supermarkets, cafes, etc as during the tourist season its population swells a bit.

It was a nicer town I thought than Windermere, which was all spread out without much of a focal point but Keswick being a market town draws locals from around it to shop, etc.

but no not a city by any stretch - I was wrong in saying that.

BTW If I recall correctly the 'w' is Keswick is not pronounced and it's 'kessick'? Not sure I remembered correctly so please correct me if not so.

Thanks PalenQ, appreciate it as when you said "city" I thought ???????????? And I am still waiting to hear more about the Pencil Museum :)

Morgana, will check out Morrels. And how far did you drive from Sandhills for dinner?

The title 'city' doesn't mean a place automatically has any particular 'trappings' - city status has nothing to do with population for instance.
An example is Ripon, a 'city' close to me but again a small market town with few trappings! A lot bigger than Keswick though.
However, the title does confer 'prestige' on a place and many large towns in the UK (places far, far larger than Ripon) would love to become cities.

Keswick is pronounced Kezzick.

The Pencil Factory can be a life saver on a wet day in the Lakes - my children enjoyed it when young.

Meant to say - I think it took us about 10 minutes to drive from Sandhills into town to have dinner. The apartments might well be worth a look at although personally I like staying in a rural location rather than in town.
We were staying locally because Keswick has an excellent annual Literary Festival called Words by the Water - the theatre where many of the events are held is right by the side of the lake (Derwentwater). However this is held in March.
You can walk right around Derwentwater - the route clings to the lakeside in places and is generally pretty easy going. It's about 8 miles I think and very enjoyable.

wrenwood - Keswick is more what we would call a "county town" rather than a city. There are lots of tourists of course, but it is still a "real" place, with lots of ordinary people going about their business.

if you like being able to walk to dinner [and back!] an apartment or one of the many B&Bs would be a good place to stay.

but it is still a "real" place, with lots of ordinary people going about their business.>

Yes it is that market town aspect - a real town - that caught me and made me think I'd rather have been staying in Keswick than Windermere which seems more give over to tourists than being a 'county town serving the needs of residents around it.

For a short sweet flat walk trek east of Keswick on the footpath that now goes over the course of an abandoned railway line -walk say to a pub for dinner or lunch.

Checking into a cottage just outside Keswick :)

We visit relatives who live in Hawkshead and just love the area...it is so beautiful. Also don't miss The Drunken Duck pub/inn

http://drunkenduckinn.co.uk

The Dunken Duck is one of those places which was momental before it was discovered. It is now a tourist rip off trap. Still good quality, just not the same feel about it.

jamikins, doesn't the Drunken Duck look just so awesome!!!!!

If my sister-in-law doesn't travel with us, my husband and I may give up the thought of an apartment and stay there! THANKS!

We enjoyed the Drunken Duck, but maybe not quite as much as we had hoped. We much preferred the Punchbowl, however we've not stayed at either, only eaten.
http://www.the-punchbowl.co.uk/

We also enjoyed the punch bowl!

I don't know what it was like before but we were there with our relatives who live in Hawkshead in Sept and it is their go to pub with their local friends. It was filled with locals enjoying Sunday lunch when we were there. And of course there were some tourists as well (we were obviously tourists).

We had a great meal there and the atmosphere was lovely, views amazing.

So is a week too long? We will plan some walks, but also are interested in history, National Trust Houses/Gardens, Castles, villages and small towns. We have been to England 5 times and love it, I'm thinking a week would not be too long, but I need to convince my DH :)

Hadrians Wall?

In such a beautiful area we don't mind an hour's drive each way.

I think a week would be fantastic! Hadrians wall is easy to get to, the villages are charming and there always seems to be a market on somewhere, there are historic houses, museums, walks and of course the fabulous pubs!

I've visited the Lake District all my life and still haven't seen all I want to. A week will fly past and will barely scratch the surface.

We LOVED keswick! Some of the highlights from our four night stay include:

how we walked down to the lake, got on a ferry, got off when it stopped at Ashness and walked back. Beautiful!

We took a bus recommended by Rick Steve’s called the Honister Rambler. Bus #77. This route goes both clockwise and “anti-clockwise”. It takes 1 1/2 to two hours. It was awesome! If I had the chance to do it again, I would have done the following: I would have left early like 9am on this bus, then I would have gotten off at the Whinlatter Valley stop which is this gorgeous forest area. I would have brought a sandwich with me too and walked around one of the trails and then reboarded the bus a couple of hours later and finished the whole circle that the bus makes. But alas, we stayed on the bus and only did the circle with the driver. Don’t get me wrong-just the bus ride <i>alone</i> was awesome! In fact there is a man who was on the bus who said that he takes the journey every Saturday. TWICE! It is an eye candy ride.

On the main road they had a very large street fair every Thursday and Saturday which was fun.

A <b>wonderful</b> short hike is the “Castlehead Wood Trail” off of Spring St. I wanted to do this one because it was mostly linear and it promised to offer a stunning view of Keswick and the lake. It was true.

Old Station Road trail. According to the marker it is a 4 mile trail. It took us 1 1/2 hours to walk it, including the fact that we stopped numerous times for photo ops. This is a GORGEOUS linear walk!

In Keswick, it seemed like everyone had a dog except us. I'm happy to report that everyone picked up after their dogs too. ((Y))

We LOVED Keswick! We stayed here: http://www.brundholme.co.uk/ but if we were to return we may stay at Allerdale because we would be interested in staying with our hosts again (Barbara and Paul) who sold brundholme and bought/operate this one: http://allerdale-house.co.uk