Lake District National Park
England's largest national park and a World Heritage Site — what it covers, why it was inscribed, and how to see it from a Windermere base.
Every major sight in and around Windermere, from the landmark names to the quieter corners.
The World of Beatrix Potter Attraction
The tales built in three dimensions at Bowness — Peter Rabbit's garden, Mr McGregor's greenhouse and a tearoom, aimed squarely at under-eights.
Wray Castle
The Victorian mock-Gothic castle on Windermere's west shore — mostly unfurnished, given over to families, and where a sixteen-year-old Beatrix Potter…
Sizergh Castle and Garden
A medieval pele tower grown into an Elizabethan house, with Tudor panelling, a limestone rock garden and 1,600 acres of estate on the edge of the…
Lakes Aquarium
Freshwater and marine tanks at the foot of Windermere, next to the steam railway and the cruise pier — and the best combination ticket in the Lakes.
Brockhole on Windermere
The Lake District National Park's visitor centre — an Arts and Crafts house, thirty acres of gardens running to the lake, and an adventure park in…
Fell Foot
The National Trust park at the southern end of Windermere — lakeside lawns, a beach, boat hire and the best free swimming spot on the lake.
Stock Ghyll Force
A twenty-metre waterfall fifteen minutes' walk from the middle of Ambleside — the easiest good waterfall to reach in the Lake District.
Hill Top
Beatrix Potter's seventeenth-century farmhouse at Near Sawrey, preserved exactly as she left it — and how to get a ticket for a very small house.
Orrest Head Viewpoint
The twenty-minute climb from Windermere station to the viewpoint that made Alfred Wainwright a fell-walker, and still the best short walk in the…
Hill Top, Beatrix Potter House
The naturalist, farmer and Herdwick breeder behind the books — and how her land became a large part of what the National Trust protects in the Lake…
Windermere Jetty Museum
The lake's boats under one roof — Victorian steam launches, racing motorboats and a working conservation workshop, in a modern building on the water.