The Lake District
Song line Online searches for ‘Lake District holidays’ rocketed 217 per cent this summer thanks to Taylor Swift. The star’s song about the area, ‘The Lakes’, was released back in 2020, but there was renewed interest after she performed the tribute during her sellout The Eras Tour.
Fine line
It has a thriving hotel scene. The elegant 1930s Haweswater Hotel has recently had a full renovation, though its charming art deco interiors and parquet floors remain intact (from €185 a night, haweswaterhotel.com). Also freshly updated is Ullswater’s Inn on the Lake, which now has a huge 75-metre terrace and 46 refurbished bedrooms (from €225 a night, lakedistricthotels.net/innonthelake).
Recline
Returnees swear by Rothay Manor, an elegant country-house hotel at the northern tip of Lake Windermere (from €280 a night, rothaymanor.co.uk). To the northwest, the newly opened Old Mill Inn fulfils the ‘pub with rooms’ formula perfectly (from €140 a night, oldmill-inn.co.uk).
Bottom line
For more budget-friendly accommodation, try the Angel Inn in Bowness. Enjoy a cocktail or local brew in the beer garden with views of the Langdale Pikes, before heading up to sleep in one of their recently renovated rooms (family and dogfriendly options available, from €115 a night, inncollectiongroup.com).
Beeline
Sporty types should make straight for Another Place in Ullswater, which boasts the Sheep Shed watersports centre (paddleboards and kayaks now available) as well as yoga and pilates taught in the Glasshouse restaurant (from €245 a night, another.place).
Waterline
Esthwaite Water is a natural lake where you can rent an electric vessel by the hour to test your boating skills (from €29pp), spot ospreys and sample delicious cake from the acclaimed Boathouse Café (esthwaitewater.com).
Incline
You’re spoilt for choice for hikes in the Lake District – visit walklakes.co.uk for an excellent guide to stomping about the area. A popular (and relatively flat) option is the two-hour Grasmere and Rydal Water route, which loops round two lakes. It takes you past William Wordsworth’s former homes, Dove Cottage and Rydal Mount, and features the Badger Bar where you can stop for a restorative tipple.
Chat-up line ‘Fancy dinner in the UK’s most Michelin-starred county?’ Two top chefs have recently joined swanky Gilpin Hotel & Lake House, Windermere. Its Source restaurant (one of three) has an 11-course tasting menu (€140pp, €230 with paired wines) and a Michelin star (thegilpin.co.uk, from €345 a night). Simon Rogan’s L’Enclume, meanwhile, is the ultimate foodie destination, and the only restaurant in the north of England to gain three Michelin stars (lenclume.co.uk).
Tree line The Cottage in the Wood has an outstanding menu – and setting, 1,000ft up in a forest (thecottageinthewood.co.uk).
Breadline
It’s not just high-end dining in this part of the world; independent shops rustling up moreish treats abound.
One YOU magazine staffer makes annual pilgrimages to the Lake District to buy the incomparable Grasmere Gingerbread (grasmeregingerbread.co.uk), invented by clever cook Sarah Nelson in 1854. Also not to be missed: the generous scoops of homechurned gelato that make The Little Ice Cream Shop stores so popular (Hawkshead and Windermere, thelittleicecreamshop.com) and The Apple Pie Café’s namesake dessert (Ambleside, applepieambleside.co.uk).
Date line
Reserve a table at Tweedies Bar & Lodge (tweediesgrasmere.com) – if your stomach still has room – for unpretentious pub food. We recommend the sirloin cap steak (€31.50), best eaten in the enormous garden.
Skip the line Avoid the summer crowds and visit in autumn, with its log fires, or spring for bluebell-speckled woods and a Wordsworth-worthy carpet of daffodils.
Airline Fly Ryanair or Aer Lingus to Liverpool or Birmingham.
WORDS: SOPHIE HINES
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