Latest news with #Buttermere
Yahoo
06-07-2025
- Yahoo
Lake District walks with pubs: 5 scenic trails that end with a pint
The Lake District isn't just about peaks and panoramas—it's also home to some of the UK's most inviting country pubs. What better way to finish a walk than with a well-earned pint in a cosy inn? Whether you're a seasoned fell-walker or just fancy a gentle lakeside stroll, here are five Lake District walks with pubs at the end (or en route!)—perfect for a day of hiking. Walk time: 1.5–2 hours | Difficulty: Easy Buttermere is a beautiful place for a walk (Image: Newsquest) The Buttermere loop is one of the Lake District's best beginner-friendly walks, circling a tranquil lake with views of Haystacks and Fleetwith Pike. Afterwards, head to The Bridge Hotel, a traditional pub serving real ales and hearty Lakeland fare. The Bridge Hotel is a classic walker's pub with character—think slate floors, hearty food, and open fires. In the summer, its riverside beer garden is one of the most peaceful places to unwind with a pint. You can even sit outside with a pint and watch the sunset over the fells, a perfect end to a wholesome day. Walk time: 2–3 hours | Difficulty: Moderate Catbells (Image: Supplied) Climbing Catbells gives you one of the most rewarding views for minimal effort. The short but steep ridge walk is a classic. Catbells offers a short but exhilarating ridge walk with stunning views over Derwentwater and Borrowdale. It's a perfect intro to fell walking. Afterwards, make your way into Keswick and reward yourself with a pint of real ale and a hearty pub meal at the Dog & Gun, one of the town's most popular pubs with walkers. Walk time: 2.5 hours | Difficulty: Moderate Helm Crag (Image: French and Lamming Media)This iconic walk starts in Grasmere and takes you up Helm Crag, known for its quirky rock formations. Once you're down, make your way to Tweedies Bar, a relaxed and walker-friendly pub. Tweedies Bar, part of the Dale Lodge Hotel, is one of Grasmere's best spots for craft beer lovers. It boasts over 15 taps, live music at weekends, and seasonal menus that champion local produce. Their beer garden is perfect, particularly for a relaxing pint on a summer day. Walk time: 1.5 hours (each way) | Difficulty: Easy The Britannia Inn at Elterwater (Image: Karl Hillman)This riverside walk follows Langdale Beck past waterfalls and ancient woodland, finishing at Skelwith Force. Ideal for families or dog walkers. You can choose to stop at Chesters by the River for amazing cakes and coffee or opt for a pint and classic pub food at the Britannia Inn in Elterwater. Ideal for a relaxed day out through the summer holidays, as you try tire your children out. Walk time: 3–4 hours | Difficulty: Challenging The Black Bull Inn is perfect after completing the Old Man of Coniston (Image: Black Bull Inn) The Old Man of Coniston is one of the most climbed fells in the region, with industrial heritage, mountain tarns, and panoramic views from the summit. After descending, you can relax at The Black Bull Inn, famous for housing the Coniston Brewing Co. After conquering the fell, the pub's hearty meals and lakeside views will feel richly earned. Try a pint of Bluebird Bitter, brewed just yards from your table. The Lake District is built for walkers—and it's also home to one of the UK's strongest traditions of pub culture and local brewing. Many of these inns and taverns date back centuries, offering historic charm alongside excellent food, open fires, and local ale. Whether you're looking for dog-friendly spots, child-friendly meals, or vegan craft beer, there's a pub at the end of every worthwhile trail here.
Times
26-06-2025
- Times
18 of the most beautiful places in England
William Blake arguably did England a disservice by describing it as 'green and pleasant' in his poem Jerusalem. Yes, it is a land of gently rolling hills and lush pastures, but England's beauty is far more diverse than its diminutive size suggests. Among its many alluring habitats, natural or otherwise, this country has fields presided over by farmhouses trailing roses, misty moorlands, oak woods scented by bluebells and chalk streams where otters grow fat on excellent trout. And that doesn't even include the coast. With Devon's red cliffs, Dover's white ones and more than 100 inhabited islands to choose from, there is something for everyone along the shoreline. Here's our selection of the most beautiful places to visit in England. This article contains affiliate links, which may earn us revenue Crossing the Lake District's steep Honister Pass is a bit like going through the back of the Narnia wardrobe. You leave the busy eastern Lakes and enter a more peaceful, traditional world. With three lakes in a row — Buttermere, Crummock Water and Loweswater — it's little wonder that this was the favourite destination of Alfred Wainwright, the fellwalker and writer who is remembered by a plaque in the tiny Buttermere church. His favourite mountain, Haystacks, looms over Buttermere, and a path up from Gatesgarth through ankle-snapping rocks opens up magnificent views. Stay at Kirkstile Inn, a typical Lakeland inn by Loweswater. • Read our full guide to the Lake District• Best places to visit in the Lake District The Thames Valley is at its best at Cookham, formerly home to the artist Stanley Spencer, a village that is all flint and brick and wisteria and grassy churchyards, with snatches of cricket commentary wafting over garden walls. Cliveden House is hidden in woodland downriver, while a grassy riverside walk around Cock Marsh upriver passes magnificent mansions, summer bathing places and an eccentric pub, the Bounty, which has no road access. Four miles further on is handsome Marlow, whose grade I listed bridge was so admired by Count Istvan Szechenyi of Hungary that he had a far larger version built across the Danube. Stay in Cookham's Bel & the Dragon, a 15th-century inn with properly wonky floors. • More great hotels in Berkshire• The best of England The Northumberland coastline is a string of blemish-free, sandy beaches interrupted by dramatic castles and old fishing villages. Sitting just offshore is the Holy Island of Lindisfarne, a mystical place reachable by a causeway that is only driveable (or walkable) at certain stages of the tide. On the island there's a ruined priory, a 16th-century castle on a rock, and a real sense of peace amid birdsong and woodsmoke. The island's name dates back to the time when this was an early outpost of Christianity and whether you're a believer or not, it remains a place of serenity and contemplation, which puts daily life into perspective. It's possible to stay on the island. Try Manor House Hotel, which is just a short walk from Holy Island Sands. • Discover our full guide to the UK The Derbyshire river valley of Dovedale may be picture perfect, but its close neighbour Wyedale, which runs down to Bakewell, has both good looks and history. The chortling Wye was the power source for cotton mills in the gloriously named Water-cum-Jolly valley, where limestone bluffs make a natural amphitheatre for birdsong. The former railway line that served them has become the Monsal Trail for cyclists and walkers, who linger on the viaduct at Monsal Head, savouring the views. Former stations repurposed as tea rooms include Hassop Station Café, now a serious foodie destination, and the dale ends in pretty Bakewell, famous for its tart and a good place to stay — try the Rutland Arms. • Discover our full guide to the Peak District• Best places to visit in the Peak District A maze of intersecting country lanes and the gin-clear, chalk stream waters of the Test meander from the village of Hurstbourne Priors down to Romsey. This is a place to spot lazy trout and is where the writer and comedian Paul Whitehouse learned to fish. It's a place to fossick out iconic pubs like the Mayfly near Stockbridge and historical buildings such as the National Trust's Mottisfont Abbey, with its celebrated rose garden. Stay at the Greyhound, which has fishing packages, in Stockbridge, the hub of the Test Valley. • More great hotels in Hampshire This ancient Roman city, encircled by its original walls, has a history that stretches back nearly 2,000 years. Its magnificent cathedral (aka 'minster') has a fascinating story of restoration from a huge fire in 1984. Downtown, the city's almost traffic-free centre is a lacework of cobbled medieval alleyways — the Shambles — where overhanging ancient mansions seem to whisper sweet nothings to each other. Wonky beams and sloping floors characterise most interiors, with tea and cake around every corner, particularly at the much-loved Bettys Café Tea Rooms. York is the home of Rowntree's, the confectionery manufacturer, and there's a chocolate museum and independent chocolatiers all over town. Close to York Minster, the Judge's Lodging is a lovely boutique hotel housed in a grade I listed building. • Best hotels in York• Best restaurants in York The grass-topped wave of hills of the Sussex Weald form the backbone of the South Downs National Park. Up here are rollercoaster, sheep-grazed grasslands mixed with oak coppice and wildlife-rich heathland. These are chalk hills, although they only really show their colours where the downlands meet the sea, at the searingly white Seven Sisters cliffs. Striding along the cliff edge here — from Eastbourne to Seaford via Beachy Head and the beach at Cuckmere Haven — is one of England's favourite coastal walks. Why not stay at the Belle Tout Lighthouse? There are a few rooms at this decommissioned lighthouse turned B&B, and the views are unmatched. • Best luxury hotels in Sussex This national park with a coastline comes with all the credentials: Yorkshire's wild and wonderful rolling hills, infiltrated by pastoral valleys such as that at Rosedale, complete with old mine workings on the valley sides. A heritage steam railway clambers over the hills from Pickering to Grosmont, wheezing and blowing as it goes. Whitby is a lively coastal resort, renowned for its fish and chips, Dracula connections and ruined abbey. And then there's the coastal path that struggles from sheltered bays to wild headlands, with spectacular views. Lastingham Grange country house hotel is well located for walks across the moors, and there are ten acres of gardens to explore. • More great hotels in Yorkshire These two towns encapsulate so much that is great about the Lake District. Grasmere, with its bijou spangle of water, is all genteel sumptuousness, with boutique shopping, elegant eating and literary visits to Wordsworth's cottage. More businesslike Ambleside, with its adventure outfitters, sits at the north end of boat-rich Windermere, the busiest and biggest of the English lakes. A short, steep climb through rocky knolls to Loughrigg Fell grants an eyeful of everything, with stunning views of the serpentine length of Windermere and the Langdale Pikes. Victorian House is a characterful B&B in Grasmere with a shepherd's hut by the river at the back. • Best spa hotels in the Lake District• Best dog-friendly hotels in the Lake District England's aristocratic country houses cover a kaleidoscope of styles and periods. The Duke of Devonshire's Chatsworth House, for example, dominating its own river valley within the Peak District, is a sumptuous, family-owned property making the most of its mainly 18th-century assets with tours, trails and events. Meanwhile, a couple of valleys away, you can step back a few centuries into 13th-century Haddon Hall (pictured), one of the most perfectly preserved medieval properties in the UK, with its banqueting hall, Tudor painted ceilings and Elizabethan walled gardens. Nearby, the Peacock at Rowsley, part of the Haddon estate, is one of the finest country hotels in the area. • Best hotels in the Peak District A place of Roman baths and Georgian crescents, Bath sits cupped in hills in its own little world, one redolent of ballgowns and gossiping aristocracy, as observed by Jane Austen. The creamy-gold Bath stone and honeycomb of Palladian-influenced terracing, rising in curving ripples up the hillsides, is what makes the city so visually appealing. Somehow a river and a canal thread through, and at the heart of the city is the original thermal bath built by the Romans around AD70, with steam still rising from the hot spring. Away from the city centre, the Bath Priory is a Relais & Chateaux property with one of the finest gardens around. • Best things to do in Bath• Great hotels in Bath Manor houses, babbling brooks and hamlets of honey-coloured stone. Tearooms galore, artisan delicatessens, ancient churches and Bibury (pictured), the village that the artist William Morris described as 'the most beautiful in England'. This is the Cotswolds. Mind you, Bourton-on-the-Water must be a challenger for the 'most beautiful' title, too. Here the River Windrush flows across a generous green, spanned by footbridges and surrounded by handsome inns. Weeping willows trail their tresses in the water, ducks wait for chips and there's a toasted teacake around every corner. You've got plenty of lovely options in this part of the country, but why not try the Swan Hotel in Bibury, which sits on the banks of the River Coln. • More great hotels in the Cotswolds• Discover our full guide to the Cotswolds This Unesco-recognised stretch of southern coastline starts at the eastern end, at the quirky resort of Swanage in Dorset, where the pillars of Old Harry Rocks overlook Poole Harbour. From here it reaches westwards, rounding wild St Aldhelms Head, stomping through fossil-rich Kimmeridge, to the almost perfect circle that is Lulworth Cove and the arch of Durdle Door. Then, from Weymouth, the Chesil shingle scythes westwards towards the cliffs of Charmouth and West Bay, renowned for their crumbliness and their fossil dinosaurs. The Regency resort of Lyme Regis, beyond, is where The French Lieutenant's Woman was filmed. In Lyme Regis, Rock Point Inn puts you right on the busy waterfront. • Best hotels in Dorset• Best hotels in Devon You don't travel to Cornwall for the towns — unless they're wedged up a creek or spilling into a bay. It's the coast that counts, either the north for the wild and dramatic, or the south for the creeks and headlands. Both sides have beaches to be proud of, but for shelter and history seek out the south's Helford River, the inspiration for Daphne du Maurier's Frenchman's Creek. East of Helford, the Roseland Peninsula begins at the posh fishing village of St Mawes. In this part of Cornwall, the spring gardens of Trelissick and Caerhays are ablaze with magnolias and camellias well before the rest of the country. Facing the water with just 19 individually designed rooms, the Idle Rocks in St Mawes is a property that'll make you want to linger. • Best beaches in Cornwall• More great hotels in Cornwall North Norfolk is like a watercolour painting, where land, sea and sky seem to merge seamlessly into one another. Migrating wildfowl add their stitch to the skies overhead and seal colonies loll around on sandbanks like rolls of discarded carpet. Towns such as Burnham Market, with its art galleries and fine dining, are surprisingly posh — but then maybe that shouldn't be a surprise, given that Holkham Hall, the residence of the Earl of Leicester, and Sandringham, the royal country retreat, are not far away. A pub with rooms in Hunstanton, the Lifeboat Inn is just a short stroll from the Norfolk Coast Path. • Best hotels in Norfolk• Read our full guide to Norfolk Some say British tourism started back in 1745 on the languid, calm river at Ross-on-Wye, when the local rector took paying guests out for boat trips. Today a lot of the waterborne activity has dropped southwards to Symonds Yat, a mecca for kayakers and for those who enjoy walking its steep, forested banks. Meanwhile, in Ross, the venerable half-timbered frontages of the town stand back slightly uphill of the river, and it is mostly cyclists who follow the water, particularly its loveliest stretch up past Hole-in-the-Wall, burrowing through back roads towards Hereford. Flanesford Priory is a 14th-century monastery turned self-catering accommodation, right in the heart of the Wye Valley. • Best luxury places to stay in Herefordshire The flat fens of Cambridgeshire seem an unlikely setting for a seat of learning, but the colleges and chapels of Cambridge inhabit their own mystical world, clustered along the banks of the somnolent River Cam. Unlike Oxford, which can be brash and busy, Cambridge is a place of robed figures emerging from ancient doorways and bumping away over cobbles on bicycles. To hire a punt and to float gently down the so-called Backs (the backs of many colleges) is to get a glimpse into a refined, timeless world. Check into Gonville Hotel, a boutique property in the heart of the city that overlooks Parker's Piece. • Best hotels in Cambridge• Best things to do in Cambridge The medieval town of Rye in East Sussex was once one of the Cinque Ports — five defensive ports on the southeast coast mentioned in Magna Carta — and it seems to have barely changed, although the sea has since retreated. The town is a lacework of galleries, patisseries, wisteria and leaded windows. It stands proud above Romney's former marshlands, now drained and striped with wheatfields. Beyond are the glorious beaches of Camber Sands and the surreal shingle shore of Dungeness, with its unique fishing fleet. Just steps from the beach is the Gallivant, which has daily yoga classes in its own studio. • Read our full review of the Gallivant• Best hotels in East Sussex Additional reporting by Imogen Lepere and Qin Xie
Yahoo
15-06-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Walker who injured ankle above Crummock Water rescued
A walker with an injured ankle has been rescued by Cockermouth Mountain Rescue Team (MRT). Cockermouth MRT were deployed on Thursday, June 12 after receiving a call about a walker who had injured their ankle near Scale Force above Crummock Water. Upon arrival at the scene, the MRT were able to assess the casualty before they were stretchered to a waiting ambulance at Buttermere. Writing on social media, Cockermouth MRT said: "The team worked its way down the valley before heading in on foot from Buttermere. "Two team members in the vicinity were already on scene and had assessed the casualty, identifying an isolated ankle injury. The walker's ankle was splinted, then they were packaged on to a stretcher and carried to a waiting NWAS ambulance at Buttermere. "The team wishes the casualty a speedy recovery." The rescue involve 16 team members from Cockermouth MRT and lasted three hours.
Yahoo
26-05-2025
- Yahoo
Police respond to reports of antisocial behaviour in the Lake District
CUMBRIA Police have responded to reports of antisocial behaviour in the Lake District. Issues have been raised about members of the public causing antisocial behaviour in part of the National Park. The key areas of concern were Buttermere and Langstrath Valley. In a post on social media, Cumbria Police wrote: "Yesterday PC 2349 and PC 2656 had a joint operation with Lake District National Park Authority due to a number of issues raised regarding anti-social behaviour in the popular tourist hotspots, such as Buttermere and Langstrath Valley. "On this occasion there was no people were found to be acting in an anti-social manner, but the area will continue to be monitored, and those found to be acting in such a manner will be dealt with accordingly."
BBC News
07-05-2025
- BBC News
First Lake District fines issued as fly camper crackdown starts
First fines issued as fly camper crackdown starts The council said officers had issued two £100 fines in the Buttermere area A council tackling so-called fly campers has issued its first fines using Public Space Protection Orders. Last month Cumberland Council said it would use the orders to crackdown on people leaving human waste, litter, lighting fires and equipment while camping in the Lake District. The council said officers had issued two £100 fines in the Buttermere area in connection to breaching the order. It added officers spoke to "numerous individuals to remind them about the importance of being responsible and respectful in our outdoor spaces".
