The Rough Guide to the Lake District

INTRODUCTION
The Lake District is England’s most celebrated, most visited and most hyped scenic area. Tucked into a bulge between the industrial cities of northwest England and the Scottish borders, the small region – just thirty miles across – is literally irresistible to the twelve million visitors a year who pour in to experience its famous lakes, picturesque villages and alpine landscape. To many, the lure is of a misty-eyed English past – quiet country lanes, ivy-clad inns, agricultural shows and sheep-dog trials – while others seek to tick off English superlatives, including the country’s highest mountain (Scafell Pike), and its largest and deepest lakes (Windermere and Wast Water respectively). The sundry pastoral images could hardly be better known, whether bolstered by the siren words of the Lake Poets or embedded in the minds of the nation’s children who grow up with the lakeland tales of Beatrix Potter, Arthur Ransome and John Cunliffe’s Postman Pat.
It’s hard to think of a region in Britain with a similar breadth of scenery – wild fells to walled grazing land, glacial lakes to forested valleys, steeply pitched mountains to tumbling waterfalls – in such a small area. Tourist numbers are concentrated in fairly specific areas and, even on the busiest of summer days, it’s relatively easy to escape the crowds by climbing to the higher fells or exploring more remote valleys. There are parts of the region, particularly in the north and west, where tourism is still decidedly low-key. Choose to come in the early spring, late autumn or winter – when magical crisp, clear days often enhance the natural backdrop – and even the most beaten paths and over-visited sights can be refreshingly uncluttered.
The scenery is, of course, the major attraction and if hiking and the great outdoors isn’t your bag, it’s tempting to say that you’re on the wrong holiday. The central lakeland crags–the birthplace of British rock-climbing–still lure climbers from far and wide, while the lakes, paths and valleys support an entire industry of adventure activities, from kayaking and windsurfing to pony-trekking and off-road biking.
However, the Lake District has more than enough to satisfy less boisterous interests. The region’s literary connections are justly famous, though you may be surprised to find that it’s not all Wordsworth, Coleridge, Southey and De Quincey: writers and poets as diverse as Sir Hugh Walpole, Norman Nicholson and John Ruskin have left their mark, and their houses, haunts and places of inspiration form the backbone of many a lakeland literary trail. There’s a long industrial history, too, which manifests itself in scattered mining works, scarred quarry sites, surviving mills (one still working at Stott Park) and a couple of old railway lines – Ravenglass to Eskdale, and Lakeside to Haverthwaite – now converted to tourist use.
The Lake District has one of the country’s highest concentrations of classic rural pubs and inns, many of them former coaching inns dating back several hundred years. Locally brewed beer is widely available, and a circular walk and a pint in front of a roaring fire at the end of it takes some beating for an afternoon out. Stay overnight and you can experience another Lake District speciality, the country-house hotel: some of the grandest specimens in England occupy exclusive lakeview positions. Finally, in summer the region hosts many of its annual sports, festivals, shows and events, providing a fascinating snapshot of traditional rural life.