Our Top 3 Lake District Places

1) Coniston is our favourite Lake District Village. In the village, there is a museum, lots of little shops (including the Coniston ‘Honest Shop’ where you can buy locally handmade goods), lots of cafes and three pubs. At the lakeshore, you can take a boat trip, hire a rowing boat, kayak or paddleboard or just visit the Bluebird Cafe which is right on the shoreline and possibly feed the ducks (duck food for sale at the Bluebird cafe)

A great walk is to take the Coniston Launch to Torver and walk back along the lakeshore to Coniston.

There are also walks alongside Church Beck up to Coppermines Valley (which has information boards and interesting artefacts from the copper industry) and onward to Coniston Old Man (see ‘Information for Visitors’ Book in the cottage).

2) Grasmere - There is Allan Bank which has great views and is owned by the National Trust. If you are lucky, you may be able to spot red squirrels in the garden and there are often  children’s activities there as well. In Grasmere also, there is also a lovely independent bookshop - Sam Read,  an amazing shop (Barney’s) that has thousands of jigsaws in addition to several art shops and outdoor shops. At the Heaton Cooper Studio, for example, you can buy paintings, art supplies or enjoy a cup of tea looking out over the mountains. There is also the famous Grasmere Gingerbread shop near the church and a good children’s playground.

3) Langdale Valley - just beautiful iconic Lake District  scenery. The starting place for a variety of valley and high level walks. It is advisable to get there early because the car parks fill quickly. There are details of one of our favourite walks in the Langdale Valley in the ‘Information for Visitors’ Book in the cottage.