The Best Villages in the Lake District, and What to See in Each

The fells and lakes are the reason people come to the Lake District, but it is the villages that hold a visit together. They are where you park, eat, find the start of the walk and end the day. Some are busy little towns with a market and a theatre; others are a church, a pub and a few slate cottages at the end of a lane. Here are the best of them, north to south, with what makes each one worth the stop.

Keswick

Keswick is the capital of the northern Lakes, a market town between Skiddaw and Derwentwater. Edward I granted its market charter in 1276, and the market still fills the main street on Saturdays. In the middle of it stands the Moot Hall, built in 1813 on the site of an older court house, which has served as a market hall, courthouse and town hall.

From the town it is a short walk to the shore of Derwentwater and out to Friar's Crag, one of the best-known viewpoints in the Lakes. Keswick also has the Theatre by the Lake, the Derwent Pencil Museum, and launches across the lake to the foot of Cat Bells. Keswick paintings.

Glenridding and Patterdale

At the southern end of Ullswater, Glenridding is the walkers' village for Helvellyn: the paths to Striding Edge and Swirral Edge start here, and the Ullswater 'Steamers' leave from its pier for Howtown and Pooley Bridge. A mile further on, Patterdale is quieter, a scatter of farms and a church at the foot of Place Fell. Glenridding paintings and Patterdale paintings.

Pooley Bridge

Pooley Bridge sits at the northern tip of Ullswater, where the River Eamont leaves the lake. Its stone bridge of 1764 was washed away by Storm Desmond in December 2015, and the village was cut in two until a new single-span bridge opened in October 2020, the first stainless steel road bridge in the UK. Walk down to the pier for the steamers, or up Dunmallard Hill behind the village for a view along the lake. Pooley Bridge paintings.

Grasmere

Grasmere is Wordsworth's village. He lived at Dove Cottage, on the edge of the village, from 1799 to 1808, wrote much of his best-known poetry there, and is buried in the churchyard of St Oswald's. Beside the churchyard gate is the cottage where Sarah Nelson began baking Grasmere Gingerbread in 1854, still sold from the same small shop.

The lake is a ten-minute walk from the village, and the path along Loughrigg Terrace above it is one of the gentlest good walks in the Lakes. Grasmere paintings.

Ambleside

Ambleside, at the head of Windermere, is a busy little town of slate buildings, outdoor shops and cafés. Its best-known building is also its smallest: Bridge House, a late seventeenth-century house built on a bridge over Stock Ghyll, now owned by the National Trust and said to be the most photographed building in the Lake District. Follow the beck uphill behind the town to Stock Ghyll Force, or walk down to Waterhead for the boats on Windermere. Ambleside paintings.

Hawkshead

Hawkshead, between Windermere and Coniston, is a village of whitewashed houses, small squares and covered passages, best explored on foot. Its grammar school, founded in 1585, taught the young William Wordsworth; it is now a museum, and the old desks still carry the boys' carved initials, Wordsworth's among them. William Heelis, the solicitor Beatrix Potter married, kept his office in the village. Hawkshead paintings.

Near Sawrey

Two miles south of Hawkshead, Near Sawrey is the village Beatrix Potter bought into. In 1905, with money from her first books, she bought Hill Top, a seventeenth-century farmhouse at the edge of the village, and many of its corners, gardens and neighbouring buildings turn up in the pictures of her later tales. Hill Top is now kept by the National Trust, much as she left it.

Coniston

Coniston grew up as a copper-mining village under the Old Man of Coniston, and the mine tracks still lead up the fell behind it. The Ruskin Museum in the village tells the story of the mines, of John Ruskin, who lived at Brantwood across the lake, and of Donald Campbell, who died on Coniston Water in 1967 attempting a water speed record. On the lake itself you can sail on the restored Victorian steam yacht Gondola. Coniston Water paintings.

Bowness-on-Windermere

Bowness is the busiest place in the Lakes, and the bay is why: a curve of piers, rowing boats and lake cruisers in the middle of England's largest lake. It is the easiest place to get out on Windermere, and the short climb up Brant Fell behind the town gives a view down the whole length of the lake.

Cartmel

South of the fells, on the Cartmel peninsula, Cartmel is a village built around its priory, founded around 1190, whose church still dominates the square. It is known for its small racecourse and for the sticky toffee pudding sold by the village shop. It makes a good half-day out from Windermere.

Choosing where to stay

For walking, Keswick, Ambleside, Grasmere and Glenridding put the big fells on the doorstep and have buses and boats to the starts of the classic routes. For a quieter stay, choose Hawkshead, Near Sawrey or Patterdale. If you want the lakes rather than the fells, Bowness, Pooley Bridge and Coniston are on the water. And if you want to take a village home with you, our villages and towns collection has paintings of them all, inspired by the places in this guide. For walks from the villages, see our visitor guides.