Anna Selby explores the Lake District’s largest lake and surrounding areas with leisurely walks and a relaxing lake cruise
England’s biggest lake, Windermere, is over ten and a half miles long and has been renowned for its dramatic mountain scenery since Jane Austen was a girl. While the wealthy departed for the Grand Tour in Europe, the Lakes were regarded as one of the few domestic destinations where you could experience the same sense of wonder: a landscape that offered the beautiful, the picturesque and the sublime. Poets flocked, Wordsworth’s daffodils fluttered and danced in the breeze and even Lizzie Bennett wanted to visit (she went to Derbyshire instead where luckily, she was just in time to meet Mr Darcy).
When I visited in mid-February, there was snow on the distant, highest fells, lowering skies and swathes of snowdrops. By the time you read this, however, those golden daffodils will be out and the hillsides will be covered in new lambs. The lakes have their charms all year round but if I had to choose, I’d say this is surely the most delightful time to visit.
One of the best ways to explore here is on the water and there are cruises on Windermere all year round. These range from 45 minutes to three hours of stunning scenery – mountains and wooded shorelines – and plenty of birdlife. There are more than 1,000 resident ducks, geese and swans, while May heralds the arrivals of swifts and, in summer ospreys dive into the water as they fish. Deers emerge from the surrounding woodlands, otters play on the shoreline and red squirrels are making a return.
You can hop on and off some of the pleasure boats so you can walk along the shore and get even closer to the wildlife. Or you can be on the water under your own steam. At Low Wood Bay Resort & Spa there are all kinds of craft for hire – canoes and kayaks, sailing boats and paddleboards and you can even charter a yacht for an afternoon. At the Windermere Jetty Museum, you’ll discover Windermere’s boating history, meet expert builders and see the historic boats that have been restored here – and even take a trip on one.
One of the loveliest areas in the country for walking, Windermere offers lots of routes from an easy stroll along the lakeside to walking in the fells. Alfred Wainwright’s first fell was reputedly Orrest Head and there are fine views from the top. More hardcore, you can walk from Windermere to Ambleside – but allow yourself at least four hours for that one. Whatever you choose, all those golden daffodils and frolicking lambs will be sure to put a spring in your step.
Windermere’s Top Attractions
- Holehird Gardens are home to four National Collections astilbe, St Dabeoc’s heath (daboecia), polystichum ferns and the gorgeous Himalayan blue poppy (meconopsis). There’s a substantial collection of hydrangea, a walled garden, alpine slopes, cascade and woodland walk.
- The World of Beatrix Potter has been voted one of Europe’s Top Ten Family Museums. There are interactive exhibits, Jemima’s woodland glade, Peter Rabbit’s Garden and a virtual walk through 360 degree views of Lake District scenery just as Beatrix herself would have seen it.
- The Victoria Wood Theatre is in Bowness-on-Windermere and has shows all year round from family entertainment to drama, comedy to musicals, as well as films including Becoming Victoria Wood.
- Castlerigg Stone Circle is theLakeland Stonehenge. Not quite so big, perhaps, but the ring of 38 Neolithic stones (around 4,500 years old) is in one of the most atmospheric and dramatic sites with panoramic views and the mountains of Helvellyn and High Seat as their backdrop.
- Wray Castle is a Gothic medieval castle above Lake Windermere with ruined battlements, an arboretum, a walled garden, a boathouse, miniature harbour and a long stretch of shingle beach on the lake itself. Beatrix Potter came here in 1882 and spent hours sketching the wildlife. Wray also offers rare access to the western, quieter shores of Lake Windermere.
- The Lakeside & Haverthwaite Railway was formerly a Furness Railway branch line transporting coal and iron ore, bobbins and gunpowder – and eventually visitors. Closed in the Sixties, it was reopened in 1973 as a steam railway through the tranquil scenery of the Leven Valley up a steeply graded track and connects conveniently with Windermere Lake Cruises.
- Townend is a traditional Lake District stone and slate farmhouse in the Troutbeck Valley that tells the story of farming in the region for over 400 years. The farmhouse is the most evocative of museums with a real fire burning in the kitchen, carved furniture, a glorious cottage garden and a collection of books, 45 of which are the only remaining copies in the world.
Next steps
To plan and book a relaxing break to the Lake District, call Silver Travel Advisor on 0800 412 5678.
Images courtesy of visitlakedistrict.com
