Lake District

The Lake District is a place of superlatives for England – it’s biggest and most visited national park, it’s tallest mountain (Scafell Pike), it’s deepest lake (Wastwater), it’s largest lake by surface area (Windermere), and it’s wettest inhabited place (Seathwaite). The World Heritage Site, inscribed in 2017, is contiguous with the borders of the much older national park, which was established in 1951. If the phrase ‘national park’ gives images of untamed wilderness, think again as the Lakes have been a popular tourist destination since the 18th Century and so a significant amount of infrastructure is in place to support all these visitors. However, the number of people continues to rise ever year so in popular spots on sunny days it can become very busy and overwhelm these services. For those visiting by public transport, there are a network of bus routes that crisscross the area although some are limited to the peak period of summer. There are also regular trains to Windermere as well as occasional services along the coast on the very edge of the core zone. There is an opportunity for a double tick on the coast as the Lake District overlaps with the Frontiers of the Roman Empire at Ravenglass where there are the remains of a Roman bathhouse although a visit here would not show off the best aspects of either site.

It is difficult to give an objective assessment of the Lakes as a native Englishman. They are ingrained in our culture from …

Although I have visited almost all West European WHS, two easy sites across the Channel had become virtually inaccessible during the Covid years. One of those is the English Lake District, an annoying miss as the site is visited by millions of tourists yearly and is also comfortably in the top 20% of most visited by our community. The best time to visit the Lake District is when it doesn’t rain and when there are no school holidays. I was rather lucky with 2 sunny weekdays in mid-April, though I did catch the final days of the Easter holidays.

As the size of the Lake District and the lack of clear focus of the WHS is a bit intimidating, I decided to allocate 2 days to it. Fortunately, near-local Solivagant suggested two driving routes. On the first day, I drove South to West, from Ambleside to Sellafield. I actually started a bit north of Ambleside, at Rydal Water. Here you can do the Lake District in a nutshell: the easy 1.5-hour hike around the lake will deliver lake views, dry stone walls, some sheep, and bare hilltops. Rydal Hall, a large country house, features the “Quiet Garden” with reference to the Picturesque period. The area is quite touristy, and people were sunbathing at and swimming in the lake.

I then drove on to the west, using the Hardknott Pass. This is England’s steepest road – and narrow it is as well. Fortunately, you can see approaching …

I visited this WHS in July 2019 and spent 5 nights here; 3 based near Ulswater and 2 based near Keswick. To try to cover as much ground as possible I did a combination of driving through nerve-wrecking narrow country roads as well as a number of different hikes.

Even though it is a cultural landscape WHS, the Lake District could easily have been a mixed site. There aren't very remarkable historic sites around Lake District National Park although I must say I really enjoyed the Stone Circle of Castlerigg, Wray Castle and what's left of Pullney Bridge which was hard hit by the 2015 floods.

My favourite lakes were those of Ulswater (photo) and Wastwater. Apart from the very pleasant easy walks of Friar's Crag and Centenary Stone, my favourite hike at Ulswater was the uphill hike around Gowbarrow Fell, past the touristy Aira Force Cascades.

My favourite driving experiences and stopover points were at Honister Pass (with short hikes to lovely waterfalls) and at Kirkston Pass with a number of mandatory stopovers at the Kirkston Pass Inn, one of the highest pubs in the UK. At Buttermere, make sure to stop by the Syke Farm Tea Room for great ice creams. Of all the lakes, Windermere was by far the most busy and the least interesting and 'outstanding' in my opinion. Nonetheless, the Claife Viewing Station and Courtyard are a good spot for a panoramic photo.

Tarn Hows and Black Crag were another highlight …

I spent a couple of rainy days in Lake District in June 2006. I really liked my stay in the area visiting villages such as Keswick and walking around several lakes. However, I feel an interesting paradox regarding this WHS: despite my very positive impression, I still do not understand what is OUV of this "cultural landcape". Anyway, I have left a disputation on this topic to clever scholars, and want to visit Lake District again...

March 2018 - it was one of our ultimate goals to visit on the trip. it was a half day drive from Liverpool, and different than the whole week before, it started raining. Very unfortunate, but when we entered the nationalpark it was foggy which added up to a mysterious experience. We drove up to Hawkshead, where we visited Beatrix Potter Gallery and made a small hike visiting sheep, sheep, and more sheep. Very nice part of the Lake district. However we wanted more mountaineous so we still drove to Keswick.

The town is a typical adventure, outdoor experience kind of town, like there are in the US NP. We found a campsite and had some more beer and dinner. The next day we took a famous hike to Pennyworth.Next to Derwent water. From the top you copuld oversee the whole area. It was beautiful in the morning, especially the lake landscape.

What i do not really understand, is why Lake district is not a mixed WHS. The Lakes and mountains were not build by men, but are a product of ice age. Anyway we enjoyed our stay here very much and will definitely come back some day.

What an incredible landscape. Although all of England is lush, green, and beautiful, when you arrive in Lake District National Park, the landscape changes. Hills rise higher and a bevy lakes appear around every winding road. The larger landscape was shaped by glaciers in the Ice Age, but some of the prettiest parts of walking the area is the more modern agro-pastoral system in places, where rock and wooden walls enclose large fields, holding in place the sheep that graze contentedly on every visible hilltop.

Having visited other areas of England, including the picturesque south like Devon and Cornwall, I can without a doubt say that the Lake District is unique. There's history here too, and when you take any of the dozens of recommended walks, you are seeing the landscape that inspired the likes of Beatrix Potter and William Wordsworth, among others. 

The Lake District, despite being insanely touristy, is just wonderful. And the staff running the information centers are incredibly helpful at helping you select walks, hikes, and bike rides that meet your abilities. They also have information on the most scenic drives, and routes that stop in some of the tinier towns, where just a guesthouse, pub, and a few locals add color to the experience. 

And no matter if you explore by foot or car, you also have to add in a boat ride on Lake Windermere, or one of the smaller lakes. Seeing the landscape rise high from the Valleys while …

Even though I have heard the reputation of England’s Lake District for a long time, it was not in my top list of places I want to see on British Isles; however, when I visited Scotland last year autumn, it was a good opportunity to add an extra few days to go down to Cambria and to see the famous site. From Edinburgh, it was very convenient to reach Lake District by superb highway. Since I came from the north, I decided to use Keswick as my base to explore this national park. The landscape of Lake District along the Derwent Water was very lovely with beautiful mountain, pretty houses and amazing autumn foliage. I drove to the beautiful Honister Pass passing picturesque villages of Borrowdale and Rosthwaite. When I reached the Pass, the landscape changed dramatically with steep grass mountains that similar to Scottish Highland or Northern Scandinavia. The scenery of the valley became more breathtaking between the Honister Slate mine and Buttermere Lake. Then I changed to use small road to the village of Stair, the view along this route was maybe one of the most beautiful places around Keswick.

I had no doubt that Lake District I saw around Keswick was a very beautiful place; however, there was no truly outstanding that made Lake District to be unique in my opinion, so I decided to focus more on cultural sites. The most important historical site in the area was the stone circle of …