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Lake District
The Lake District is Britain’s premier scenic area. The Lakes, fells and mountains were shaped by melting and bursting rocks in the unimaginable heat of millions of years ago, slaked by the sea, smothered in dust-storms and sculpted by deluge and glacier.
There are three scenic types: in the south the softer tree-clad landscape of the Silurian slates; in the North the angular landscape formed from the shales of ancient sedimentary Skiddaw slates, in the centre, the craggy heights of Borrowdale volcanic series.
Visit Dove Cottage (but not in high season), Wordworths home in Grasmere. Gaze across Tarn Hows towards the beautiful backdrop of rolling hills and the Langdale Pikes. Steam along the scenic Haverthwaite-Lakeside Railway followed by a leisurely cruise on Winderemere. Negotiate the twists and turns (and the 1 in 3/ 33% gradient) of the spectacular Hardknott Pass. Walk around Buttermere and enjoy stunning views in all directions, then continue to the impressive waterfall of Scale Force. Discover The Sheep and Wool Centre at Cockermouth, then go on to mingle with the mountain climbers ad country walkers in the town.
Geography:Located in England’s north-western corner, the Lake District, Cumbria, is just 64 kilometres (40 miles) across and approximately 160 km (100 miles) in circumference, yet it encompasses an extraordinary variety of landscapes: the high summits of Scafell Pike and Helvellyn contrast starkly with lush-green hillsides, fells, dales and picturesque lakeside scenery.
Travel: Although easily accessible from both the M6 Motorway and West Coast mainline railway, a car is recommended for exploring the more remote parts of the Lake District.
The Lake District is an area of mountains and lakes in the north west of England. It is a heavily glaciated geological dome, with radiating drainage. It is the largest national park in the United Kingdom, covering 2,280 sq Kms and containing the full variety of ecosystem components within the area. It has long been valued for its natural beauty and appreciated as a superlative example of man's harmonious interaction with his natural environment. It has exerted a profound influence over the artistic appreciation of the beauties of nature, inspiring Wordsworth and the Lake Pocts as well as many of Britain's finest landscape painters. It has also played an internationally important part in other areas endeavor, especially the understanding of geological processes and the development of rock climbing.
Cities, Towns and Roads in the Lake District:
Although the Lake District is England's most densely populated national park, there are no cities,large towns or major road routes. The M6 Motorway skirts the eastern edge of the national park and passes through, or near, these regional gateway cities and towns:
Lakeland (The Lake District) statistics and superlatives:
The Lake District is England's only true mountain region. The national park covers 885 square miles (33 miles north to south, 40 miles east to west) - about 85 percent of the area of Rhode Island.
Among its outstanding features:
- Windermere, England's biggest natural lake is 10.56 miles long, a mile wide and about 220 feet deep.
- Wastwater, England's deepest lake has a surface 200 feet above sea level and a bottom 50 feet below sea level.
- Scaffell Pike, at nearly 3,209 feet, is England's highest mountain - called a fell - and considered to be one of the hardest of the UK's high peaks to get to.
When to go:
Summers are crowded in the Lake District. There are few roads and those are narrow and wind through valleys and mountain passes so traffic can be a real problem during July and August. Go, if you can, in spring or autumn, when the color of the landscape is at its best.
Winter also has its charms - there is little snow, except on the highest ground and the lakes don't usually freeze. Steamers on Lake Windermere and Ullswater cruise all year round.
Keep in mind though that winter fell walking is only for well equipped walkers with plenty of experience. Some of the higher road passes can ice up in winter.
Five More Cool Things to Do in the Lakes:
- Visit a great garden- Try the National Trust gardens at Acorn Bank or Sizergh Castle
- Snoop around a house - like Arts & Crafts influenced Blackwell or the 400-year-old farmhouse, Townend
- Sniff out some fish - at the Aquarium of the Lakes
- Go underground - at Rheged, the world's largest grass roofed building, a tourism center with shopping, exhibitions, family fun and loads of movies about the Lake District on a giant screen.
- Make your mark - at the Derwent Cumberland Pencil Museum charting the history of the pencil from the discovery of Borrowdale graphite in the 1500s.
Please select the apartment, flat, house or cottage which would interest you most our selection here:
Sizergh Cottage One Sizergh Cottage Two Sizergh Cottage Three Sizergh Cottage Four Sizergh Cottage Five Sizergh Cottage Six Sizergh Cottage Seven Backbarrow Mews One Backbarrow Mews Four Backbarrow Mews Three Backbarrow Mews Two Backbarrow Mews Five Backbarrow Mews Six Sizergh Farmhouse