Keswick, which has only 4,000 inhabitants, is the only town in the Northern Lake District National Park.

The centre of the town is a pedestrian precinct, with plenty of surrounding car parks. The Tourist Information Centre is housed in the middle of Main Street in the Moot Hall, and has all the local information, events and programmes you’ll need, a must at the start of your visit to Keswick. Every day from the Moot Hall there is arranged graded walks organised by the Keswick Rambles.

There’s a street market every Saturday, and a Farmers market every Thursday, where you can find all kinds of local produce.

Keswick has two supermarkets for you to stock up on supplies: Booths and Co-op. Booths are a well known northern chain of supermarkets showcasing the best of the region.

There’s a number of bakeries and delicatessens in town which specialise in sandwiches and packed lunches; in particular try Bryson’s in the Main Street.

Keswick’s particularly famous for its scores of outdoor equipment shops; probably the best, and certainly the best known, is George Fisher right at the top end of the Main Street on Lake Road, but you really won’t have trouble find others!

The Theatre by the Lake is set on the edge of Derwentwater and amid the magnificent western fells of the Lake District. The building houses a 400-seat Main House, a newly-extended 100-seat Studio, a coffee shop and bars, two gallery spaces, meeting and conference facilities, and a rehearsal room. They present up to 9 of their own productions of classic, modern and new plays throughout the year.

The Lake District offer many towns and villages to explore, whether nestled in valleys, on the side of a lake or along the coastline. At 885 square miles the Lake District is England’s largest national park just waiting to be explored.

Ambleside is full of charm; most of the town is built with local green slate. The fells around offer excellent walking for all abilities.

Windermere is just south of Ambleside and sites on the shore of the great lake Windermere. It is a popular tourist center and is surrounded by easily reached vantage points that give glorious views of the countryside and lake.

Lake Windermere has 14 islands and is more than 10 miles long. Belle Isle one of the islands is privately owned and covers 30 acres.

There are numerous attractions at the lakeside. Why not hop aboard one of the Windermere Lake Cruise boats for a tour of the lake giving breathtaking views. Alternatively, catch the ferry to Fell Foot Park on the far shores of Lake Windermere. The National Trust’s Fell Foot Country Park, offers 18 acres of lawn and trees that stretch down to the water’s edge. This is the perfect place to relax, picnic and take it easy. Just north of Windermere town is Bowness-on-Windermere here you can hire your own rowboat and discover the lake at your leisure.

The C2C Cycle Route was developed by Sustrans in partnership with various Local Authorities, Groundwork West Cumbria, North Pennines Tourism Partnership, Forest Enterprise and the Lake District National Park amongst others. The route was opened in 1994, running from Whitehaven on the west coast of Cumbria, to the North East coast at Sunderland, and has an average of between 12,000 and 15,000 cyclists completing the route every year. The old railway track, which is on the Coast to Coast route, runs through the woods by Burns Farm and is within easy access to our campsite.

Our nearest is lake is Derwentwater, 4 miles away in Keswick. Derwentwater provides endless sailing opportunities, and if the weather is particularly good, even a little swim! Visit Derwentwater Marina for sailing, wind-surfing, canoeing, kayaking, and even ghyll scrambling and climbing. Or go on one of the regular launches, provided by Keswick Launch Co. – useful to use to get to hop and off at any of the 7 landing stages to get to and from many walks around the area, or just sit back and enjoy a 50 minute round trip and admire some of the most awesome views in the world. Rowing boats and self-drive motor boats are also available for hire at the Keswick boat landings on an hourly or half-hourly basis. There are plenty of Lakes around us too however; Bassenthwaite, Buttermere, Ullswater, Windermere, to name a few, all of which deserve a visit in their own right.

The Lake District has a wealth of lakes, rivers and tarns which offer excellent fishing. The deep water trout and the char are the most common. An Environment Agency fishing rod licence is required to fish in all rivers, lakes and tarns. Local byelaws must be observed and a permit is usually required before starting to fish or launch your own craft. Rod licences, Bassenthwaite Lake permits and Keswick Anglers Association permits are available from Keswick Tourist Information Centre. Some fisheries in the area:

For the more adventurous, there is a whole host of adventure activities available, which we are ideally situated for.

Watersports, rock climbing, mountain biking, paragliding, Via Ferrata – you can find them all here in the Adventure Capital.

Cumbria is rich in birdlife. Over 200 species of bird are recorded in Cumbria in any one year. Many visitors to the Lake District in recent years have shared in the excitement of ospreys breeding in craggy woodland near Bassenthwaite Lake. The Lake District Osprey Project has made viewing these wonderful birds accessible, through telescopes in Dodd Wood and via the webcam display at the Whinlatter Visitor Centre.

There is also amazing interactive bird of prey experiences for all ages. Choose either the woodland and parkland by lake Windermere or the thrill of the Lakeland fells to see eagles, hawks, falcons and owls, and even fly them yourself where possible!

Herdwick sheep are native to the Lake District fells and survive alone on the mountains all winter. They never stray from their ‘heaf’ – the area they were suckled as lambs.

You can recognise a Herdwick easily as they all have a white face and white legs and their coat changed colour from black as a baby lamb to blue-grey as they get older. The rams are easy to spot too – they have horns.

Herdwick wool is widely used in carpet making and also for knitwear. The fleece is also blended with Swaledale to make loft insulation.

Look out for red squirrels in the conifers in Dodd Wood or in Whinlatter Forest. There’s also a Red Squirrel Experience in the Whinlatter Visitor Centre. Their survival is not guaranteed with current estimates suggesting that only about 5,000 reds are left in Cumbria. The work of the Red Squirrels Northern England is crucial in monitoring and checking the advance of the greys. They call on the public’s help in reporting sitings of both red and grey squirrels in an attempt to preserve areas in which red squirrels can live unchallenged.

Whilst red squirrel numbers threaten to decline, the numbers of otters in Cumbria encouragingly has grown in recent years. By the 1980s otters had almost disappeared from Cumbria, due mainly to toxins in pesticides. There are now growing numbers particularly in the Eden Valley, on the Solway Plain and on the northern stretch of the west coast of Cumbria.