Derwentwater Travel Guide

 steventilly Says:  OK, so it's not Stonehange, but Castlerigg Stone Circle, near Keswick, is impressive for its location more than its scale. The views of the surrounding hills are fantastic and the circle does have a kind of "mystic" feel about it, especially in early evening.The circle is... 

 steventilly Says:  jennings is the beer of Cumbria and is brewed just a few miles from Derwentwater at Cockermouth. Their beers are very much in the traditional English style and they do some seasonal speciality beers as well as their "standard" range. Their beers are probably my favourites of... 

 steventilly Says:  Keswick is the main town Derwentwater, in fact it's the main town in this part of Lakeland, and my favourite town in the whole of the lakes.It has an attractive town centre; several nice parks; pubs, restaurants and hotels; campsites; transport links; mueums; and great... 

 steventilly Says:  More your "standard" English park, this one has flower gardens, a stream with bridges, more formal gardens with benches (popular for fish & chip picnics - the smell of vinegar can cover the smell of the flowers at some times), crazy golf, pitch & put, ice cream stalls...It's... 

 steventilly Says:  The other good thing about Crow Park, apart from the views and the light at dusk, is that it's huge, and there's loads of room to run around. This is especially important when you've got kids with you. They can go mad, and there's no mountain to fall of and no (deep) lake to... 

 steventilly Says:  Crow Park is actually more of a field than a park. In fact sheep & cows graze in here for the most part. It's a big grassy bank that slopes gently down towards the lake, quite near to the Keswick boat landings.It's a superb place to go and wait for the sun to go down. The... 

 steventilly Says:  Crosthwaite is on the edge of Keswick, you'd pass by it as you walk from Keswick to Portinscale.Canon Rawnsley, the founder of the National Trust and Robert Southey the Poet Laureate are both buried in the churchyard, along with some other prominent people.The church is... 

 steventilly Says:  There's not a great deal at Portinscale; there's a pub, a cafe, a "cute" suspension bridge over the river and some hotels. For us the best thing in Portinscale is one of these hotels, The Derwentwater. We've stayed there a few times in their self catering apartments which... 

 steventilly Says:  One of my favourite places in lakeland is Wasdale. You can get there from Borrowdale (=Derwentwater) either by driving "the long way round", via Ennerdale Bridge, which is about 40 miles; driving "the scary way" via the hardnott & wrynose passes, which is just as long and a... 

 steventilly Says:  It's a bit of a crossroads at the top of Sty Head Pass. Not only is it the main route from Borrowdale to Wasdale, but it's also the route from Langdale to Ennerdale. There's two tarns at the top too, Styhead Tarn & Sprinkling Tarn, nice places for a picnic.This pic of me was... 

 steventilly Says:  This is on the path from Watendlath tarn to Rosthwaite. The path climbs quite steeply up from the tarn before cresting the hill and heading back down into Rosthwaite. That's quite a descent and there are quite a few stone steps. It's not awfully easy on the knees if you have... 

 steventilly Says:  Watendlath is an almost perfect example of an isolated hamlet. The place is now administered by the National Trust and there's always a warden up there in his Land Rover encouraging you to join the Trust.There's a few farm buildings, one of which doubles as a cafe - with... 

 steventilly Says:  The Theatre By The Lake is a nice place to go and see a production. usually the plays run in "seasons", 3, 4 or even 5 things running simultaneously and performed on certain days of certain weeks. You need to check ahead to make sure you can see what you wnat on the days you... 

 steventilly Says:  Keswick is easily the best place around Derwentwater for nightlife, though you could have a good night in a pub in some of the other villages. Keswick has loads of pubs and loads of eating places of all types. And I've probably been in every one of them several times, though... 

 steventilly Says:  There's quite a good bus service around Derwentwater. From Keswick there's a bus that goes down the length of Borrowdale to Seatoller, ones to Penrith, Workington, Cockermouth, Glenridding and Buttermere.On Sunday the National Trust run a bus up to Watendlath, which is good...