Experience the best of Windermere

Windermere is the largest natural lake in England, about seventeen kilometres long, its shores wooded and dotted with islands. The town of Windermere stands a little inland, and Bowness-on-Windermere on the water is the hub of boat life, with steamers and launches sailing to Ambleside at the head of the lake. A museum on the shore shows the lake's historic steam launches.

Orrest Head, a short climb from Windermere station, gives a wide view of the lake and the high fells, and it was the first sight of the Lakes for the guidebook writer Alfred Wainwright. Hill Top, Beatrix Potter's farmhouse at Near Sawrey, and Dove Cottage in Grasmere, where Wordsworth lived, are among the literary sites. The Lake District is a UNESCO World Heritage cultural landscape.

Cumberland sausage, Herdwick lamb, damson jam, Kendal mint cake and Grasmere gingerbread are the district's food, with real ale served in pubs by log fires. Rain is common and the hills hold the cloud, but the light after a shower is a pleasure. Spring brings daffodils and autumn turns the bracken copper.