The Lake District Month by Month: When to Visit
There is no bad month in the Lake District, but every month is different. January brings snow on the tops and the valleys to yourself. May is the driest month and the bluebells are out. August is the busiest, and in October the bracken and the larches turn. This guide goes through the year a month at a time: the weather, the daylight, what is flowering or calling, and the shows and festivals that fill the calendar.
The weather figures are the Met Office's long-term averages for Keswick, from 1991 to 2020. Keswick gets about 1,575 millimetres of rain in an average year. The fells get far more, and Seathwaite in Borrowdale, at around 3,500 millimetres, is the wettest inhabited place in England.
January
January is one of the wettest months, at about 172 millimetres in Keswick, and one of the coldest, with an average high of only 7.4°C. The days are short too: around the solstice the sun is up from about half past eight to a quarter to four. In return you get the quietest paths of the year and, on a clear cold day, snow on the high fells above green valleys.
Snow falls mainly between November and March. The valleys see it on about twenty days a year; the top of Helvellyn sees it on up to 67. Winter on the high fells is serious, and the National Park's fell top assessors post a daily report from the summit of Helvellyn through the winter.
February
February is still winter, with frost most likely on still, clear nights. Snowdrops come out in gardens and churchyards across the valleys, and the half-term week brings a short burst of visitors. The light starts to stretch out: by the end of the month there is well over two hours more daylight than at the solstice.
March
March is when the wild daffodils begin, usually at their best from the second half of the month into early April. They are smaller and paler than garden daffodils. One of the loveliest places to see them is Dora's Field at Rydal, beside Rydal Mount. Wordsworth bought the field in 1826 for his daughter Dora, and after her death in 1847 the family planted it with daffodils in her memory. It has belonged to the National Trust since 1935.
April
April is one of the driest months, with about 83 millimetres in Keswick. On 15 April 1802 William and Dorothy Wordsworth walked along the shore of Ullswater at Glencoyne Bay and found the daffodils that became "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud". You can still walk there from the Aira Force or Glencoyne car parks; our article on the poem and the place tells the story.
April is also lambing time. Herdwick lambs are born almost black, turn brown, and only go grey after their first shearing. Easter fills the villages for a week or two.
May
May is the driest month of the year, at about 82 millimetres, with the fewest days of rain. It is also bluebell month. The most famous display is in Rannerdale, beside Crummock Water, where the bluebells grow on open fellside rather than in woodland, usually at their best around the middle of the month. Our guide to the Rannerdale bluebells has the details.
The Keswick Mountain Festival takes over Crow Park on the shore of Derwentwater in May; in 2027 it runs from 21 to 23 May. Cyclists ride the Fred Whitton Challenge in May too, 112 miles over Kirkstone, Honister, Hardknott and Wrynose, which in 2027 is on Sunday 9 May.
June
June has the longest days. Around midsummer the sun rises in Keswick at about twenty to five and sets at about ten to ten, which gives more than seventeen hours of daylight: time for a long fell day with light to spare. It is still one of the drier months. Swimmers gather at Brockhole on the shore of Windermere for the Great North Swim, which in 2027 is from 11 to 13 June.
July
July is the warmest month, with an average high of almost 20°C in Keswick, and the start of the school holidays brings the crowds. Grasmere keeps its rushbearing, an old custom in which children carry decorations of rushes and flowers through the village to St Oswald's Church, usually on a Saturday in mid-July. Bell heather starts to colour the drier fellsides, and the Lake District Summer Music festival usually begins at the end of the month.
August
August is the busiest month of the year, and car parks in the honeypot villages can be full by mid-morning. Get out early, or head for the quieter valleys. From late August the common heather comes into flower and the fells turn purple into September.
It is also the month of the shows. Grasmere Lakeland Sports and Show, with Cumberland and Westmorland wrestling, fell racing and hound trails, is held on the August bank holiday Sunday; in 2027 that is 29 August. The Keswick Show follows on the bank holiday Monday.
September
Once the schools go back, September is one of the best months of the year: the paths are quieter, the heather is still out and the weather is often settled. Shepherds and farmers bring their sheep to the valley shows. Loweswater Show is early in the month, and Eskdale Show, at Brotherilkeld under Hardknott, is usually on the last Saturday of September; in 2027 that is 25 September.
October
October is when the Lake District turns. The bracken goes copper on the fellsides, and the woods follow, usually at their best from the middle of the month into early November; Borrowdale, Tarn Hows and Grizedale are among the finest places to see it. It is wet, though, at about 175 millimetres in Keswick.
In Martindale, above Ullswater, the red deer stags are rutting, and you can hear them roaring at dawn and dusk. Autumn is the best time to see red squirrels too, and Whinlatter Forest has feeding stations to watch them from. In the valleys the shepherds' meets bring the farming year to a close, with the Wasdale Head Show and Shepherds' Meet usually on the second Saturday of October.
November
November has the most rainy days of the year, about eighteen of them in Keswick, but also some of the clearest, coldest mornings, with the last of the autumn colour in the valleys. The towns light up for Christmas: Keswick switches on its lights in the middle of the month and Ambleside holds its lights and market on the third Saturday. Climbers and walkers come to Kendal for the Kendal Mountain Festival, with its films and talks, usually in the second half of the month.
December
December is the wettest month, at about 195 millimetres, and has the most frosts. The shortest day gives only about seven and a quarter hours of daylight. Christmas fairs come to Hawkshead and Bowness early in the month. On the high fells winter has properly arrived, and walking there needs winter skills and kit. In the valleys, a still, frosty morning by a lake is as good as anything the year has to offer.
So when is the best time to visit?
For weather and walking, late April to June and September are the best bets: April, May and June are the three driest months, the days are long, and outside the school holidays the paths are quiet. For colour, go in the second half of October. For solitude, January to March and November. The Lake District had around 17.45 million visitors in 2025, and most of them came in the summer holidays, at Easter and on bank holiday weekends.
A year of the Lake District on your wall
The month pages on this article come from our 2027 wall calendars, each one a year of a single place or of the whole Lake District, a painting for every month chosen to match the season. Each is A4 landscape on heavy silk paper, wire-bound to hang, with the 2027 dates printed under every month. They are £24.99. Browse them all in the calendar collection, or read our guide to choosing a 2027 calendar.
A calendar makes a good Christmas present for anyone who loves the Lakes. Everything is printed to order, which takes 2-5 working days, then UK delivery takes 3-7 working days, so for Christmas allow three weeks. You can add a gift message at checkout.
Every painting on this page is also sold as a print or canvas at 40cm, 70cm and 90cm, from £59.99 for an unframed print to £209.99 for a 90cm framed canvas, with frames in black, white or natural wood.