Beatrix Potter Country, The Lake District (Tour 3) - The Good Guide to Travel Itineraries in Britain


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UK	/	US


Tour 3 - BEATRIX POTTER COUNTRY Lakeland's prettiest village, gorgeous scenery, and some very interesting side trips.

	Hawskhead is a real cobblestone charmer, a virtually unchanged Elizabethan Lakeland village, with sturdy outside walls, and sheltered flower-filled inner courtyards. Though very popular with summer visitors, even at its busiest it has a pleasantly foreign "different" feel, and the fact that cars are kept out (you have to park on the edge) helps a lot. The church has some eye-catching early 18th-c murals. The Beatrix Potter Gallery (Main St) has a generous annually changing selection of the original illustrations of Peter Rabbit and other favourites, as well as rather different more acutely (almost acidly) observed drawings. A timed ticket system keeps it uncrowded - during holiday periods you may have to wait to get in. Shop; cl Fri, Sat, and Nov-Mar; (015394) 36355; £2.80; NT. The Old Grammar School, now a museum, is worth poking your nose into, if only to see where Wordsworth carved his name on a desk (he attended 1779-83); ltd disabled access; cl 12.30-1.30, Sun am, and Nov-Easter; £1.50.

	Take the B5285 towards Sawrey. On your right you pass Esthwaite Water, with boat hire and trout fishing; it's the largest stocked lake in the region. On the edge of Near Sawrey village is Hill Top. This small, remote 17th-c farmhouse is kept exactly as it was when owned by Beatrix Potter, who wrote many of her stories here. Or at least as it was apart from the tourists; the NT (great beneficiaries of Potter's generosity) feel the place is over-visited, and are keen to reduce visitor numbers - there's a daily limit of 800. It's so small they don't allow many people in at once, so if you do decide to visit be prepared to queue. Shop (the turnover is higher than at any other NT shop); cl Thurs, Fri, and all Nov-Mar; (015394) 36269; £3.80; NT. The old-fashioned NT-owned Tower Bank Arms (with nicely furnished bedrooms) is pictured in The Tale of Jemima Puddle-Duck. Optional winter detour: keep on the B5285 to Lake Windermere. At the end of the road a chain ferry crosses to the ferry road below Bowness on the opposite bank. This is a utilitarian way of taking to the water; but though it runs every 20 mins and saves miles of driving if you do want to get to the other side of the lake, queues mean that it saves time only out of season. In the winter, though, it's a way of getting on to the water when other boat services are rare.

	In Near Sawrey turn right and drive up through the woods, passing Graythwaite Hall Gardens. This well kept late Victorian garden is strong on rhododendrons and late-spring-flowering shrubs. Open Apr-Jun only; (015395) 31248; £2. Keep on this road. Just north of Finsthwaite is the Stott Park Bobbin Mill. In coppiced woodland, this former water-and-steam mill made wooden cotton reels from 1835 right up to 1971; enthusiastic guides give excellent demonstrations of 19th-c industrial techniques. The mill is still powered by steam Tues-Thurs: the lathes look lethal. Snacks, shop, disabled access; cl Nov-Mar; (015395) 31087; £2.90. Continue on this road to Lakeside, on the southern end of Lake Windemere. This, the longest and busiest lake, has always been a general favourite; it's picturesquely dotted with villas built by Victorian magnates, and has masses of accommodation on its east side. The most popular boating lake, it is easiest one for hiring hire rowing boats and other vessels. Lots of launches, of all sorts of shapes and sizes, run cruises of varying lengths (from Bowness Bay, Ambleside, Waterhead and (not Nov-Mar) Lakeside itself. Places to hire rowing boats include Bowness Bay Boating Company. They also have motorboats, and a number of launches - at least one of which is equipped to take disabled people; (015394) 43360 to check. Lake Holidays Afloat do motorboats too; around £50 for a full day. A pleasant place to hire rowing boats is Fell Foot Park (continue from Lakeside to Newby Bridge - the Park's just left along the A592): an 18-acre park with plenty of room for lakeside picnics; cafe and shop (cl Nov-Easter), some disabled access; (015395) 31273; parking charges (from £1.50), rowing boats £5 per hour for two people; NT. They can provide details of boating and fishing on other NT waters. Lakeland Sailing at Ferry Nab, Bowness, do day, weekend or longer cruises and courses on large sailing yachts; from £50 a day. Windsurfing or waterskiing can be arranged at Low Wood Water Sports Centre, Windermere; windsurfing, canoeing or dinghy sailing Mar-Oct at Windermere Sailing Centre, Rayrigg Rd, Windermere.

	Lakeside is the starting point for the Lakeside & Haverthwaite Railway, a short steam trip running up to Haverthwaite. There's a small collection of steam and diesel locomotives. Meals, snacks, shop, disabled access; trains daily May-Oct; (015395) 31594 for times; £3.40 return. By the steamer pier the imaginatively laid out Lakeside Aquarium vividly demonstrates the story of a local river. You can walk in see-through tunnels along a recreated lake bed, with the area's animal (including otters), insect, bird and plant life all around, and there's a water lab with microscopes for close-up examinations of tadpoles, plankton and larvae. Snacks, shop, disabled access; cl 25 Dec; (015395) 30153; £4.95. Continue to Newby Bridge, where the Swan Hotel is an attractively set refreshment break.

	In Newby Bridge, take the side road westwards past the station. At the following cross roads, keep straight on, then bear right on the Hawkshead road to Rusland and Thwaite Head. This quiet road runs through attractive often wooded scenery, where we have seen roadside deer. In just under 1/2 mile after Thwaite Head turn left (brown sign towards Grizedale Forest), then in another 1/2 mile fork right towards Satterthwaite. Past the small village (where the Eagles Head - some winter closures - is good value), is the Visitor Centre for Grizedale Forest Park. This has good woodland trails from short strolls to half-day walks, punctuated by often hard-to-spot timber and rock sculptures. These trails are good when rain cuts off more open views; the sculptures are set in various spots throughout the plantations (map from Visitor Centre). Lots of other activities: craft centre, good information centre, bookable deer observation hides, orienteering, bike hire (it's an ideal area for cycling), and adventure play area. In all, six or seven square miles of mainly coniferous hillside timber to get lost in. Some disabled access; (01229) 860373; parking charge, £1 for 3 hrs. A highlight is the Theatre in the Forest; (01229) 860291 for what's on. The road continues back to Hawkshead.

	From Hawkshead, the detour to Coniston Water could easily make another day trip: Take the B5285 towards Coniston, then turn off at the brown sign to Tarn Hows. This watery idyll is actually two ponds artificially joined into one, and fringed with trees, with fells peeping up behind. It's a conspicuously attractive spot even by Lake District standards, though gets more than its fair share of summer visitors, with its own one-way system. Best avoided at peak times for that reason; early in the morning or towards evening you may get it to yourself. Keep on the B5285 to Coniston. Coniston Water is in some ways a junior version of Windermere, smaller and quieter. Quite well wooded, it appeals to both boaters and walkers, with some fine views. In the unpretentious village at the foot of its mountain, for its shape called the Old Man of Coniston, the Black Bull does filling food all day. From Spoon Hall there's pony trekking on the fells above; cl Nov-Easter; (015394) 41391; from £11 an hour. An opulent Victorian Steam Yacht "Gondola" glides silently over the lake daily end Mar-Oct, from Coniston Pier, taking in Brantwood and Park-a-Moor; (015394) 41288 for times - best to ring between 9 and 10.30am or you're likely to get the answerphone. You can hire rowing or other boats from the boating centre run by the National Parks, 15 mins' walk from the village; cl Nov-Mar; (015394) 41366; rowing boats from £5 an hr (£1 each extra person), motorboats from £10, electric boats £12.50. There's a lovely path on the west side of the lake, heading south from the village. It's good for a lazy waterside stroll, or for more exercise you can combine this walk with one on a higher-level route along the Walna Scar "road" (an ancient hard track closed to through traffic) beneath the Old Man of Coniston, itself the outstanding viewpoint of the vicinity. Climb the Old Man from the village, go up past the remains of copper mines, and return down the Walna Scar Road.

	On the way back towards Hawkshead, at the head of the lake turn off following the brown sign to Brantwood. Ruskin's rambling Victorian house, this has lots of his furniture, books and paintings. It's appealingly unstuffy, but the real attraction is the surroundings and setting, esp the very extensive informal hillside woodland gardens (best in late May/Jun). Good hour's walk on nature trail, and mouth-watering views of lake and fells. Meals, snacks, good shop, disabled access (grounds steep in places); cl winter Mon and Tues and 25/6 Dec; (015394) 41396; £3.90.
	Recommended places to stay in this area: Around Hawkshead Grizedale Lodge, Hawkshead Hill, Grizedale, Ambleside LA22 0QL (015394) 36532 £75, plus special breaks; 9 no smoking rms. Friendly, comfortable hotel in the middle of the magnificent Grizedale Forest with lots of walks from the front door, a log fire in lounge bar, imaginative fresh food in attractive restaurant, and big breakfasts; children under 5 provided with high tea at 5.30; disabled access. Drunken Duck, Barngates, Hawkshead, Ambleside LA22 0NG (015394) 36347 £75, plus specials breaks; 9 rms. Very friendly popular inn alone in 60 hillside acres, with several cosy rooms, open fires, views of Lake Windermere in distance, home-brewed ales, good interesting food, and no smoking restaurant; fishing in private tarn; cl pm 25 Dec; limited disabled access. Highfield House, Hawkshead Hill, Hawkshead, Ambleside LA22 OPN (015394) 36344 £76, plus winter breaks; 11 good rms. Welcoming Victorian country house in spacious woodland garden with fine views (good walks from the door), open fire in comfortable lounge, cosy bar, and generous food inc packed lunches and children's high tea; cl Jan. Sawrey* Sawrey Hotel, Far Sawrey, Ambleside LA22 0LQ (015394) 43425 £58; 18 rms. Friendly hotel well placed at the foot of Claife Heights, with simple pubby and smarter bars, friendly staff, good straightforward food, and seats on pleasant lawn with good views of Lake Windermere; cl Christmas; kind to children; dogs allowed; partial disabled access. Coniston Water* Water Yeat House, Water Yeat, Ulverston LA12 8DJ (01229) 885306 £53, plus special breaks; 5 chintzy rms with lovely views. Attractively converted and very neatly kept 17th-c farmhouse by Coniston Water in 3 acres of garden and woodland, with an especially relaxing atmosphere, log fire in lounge, generous breakfasts, wonderful food in heavily beamed dining room (much loved locally), and super hosts; cl mid-Dec-mid-Feb; children over 4. For places in Ambleside/Windemere, see Tour 1.

	Overview Tour 1 - Wordsworth's Lake District Tour 2 - The Northern Lakes Tour 3 - Beatrix Potter Country Tour 4 - Lakeland's Western Secrets