Derwentwater: The Queen of the Lakes and Her Court of Famous Views

Every lake in the district has its admirers, but only one carries a royal title: Derwentwater, the broad, island-studded water below Keswick in the northern Lakes, crowned "Queen of the Lakes" by generations of writers and defended in that rank ever since. Its case is strong: no other lake gathers so many celebrated individual viewpoints around a single shore – Friars Crag, which Ruskin counted among the finest scenes in Europe; Surprise View, whose name honestly describes the effect; Ashness Bridge, the most photographed packhorse bridge in the country; and the matchless profile of Catbells across the water, the fell that everybody, sooner or later, falls in love with. Our full-day scenic circuits give Derwentwater their lunch stop and a court progress of its viewpoints. Here is the guide to the Queen.

The lake and its islands

Derwentwater is the sociable shape among the great lakes: roughly three miles long and broad for its length, so that it reads as a single generous composition – water, wooded islands, and a complete ring of fells from Skiddaw's whaleback in the north (England's fourth-highest mountain, presiding over Keswick) round to the crag-gates of Borrowdale in the south. Its islands carry stories the way its shores carry paths: St Herbert's Island was the hermitage of a seventh-century saint whose cell drew medieval pilgrims – and later served Beatrix Potter as the model for Owl Island in Squirrel Nutkin, whose squirrels famously rafted across to it; Derwent Isle hosted an eccentric eighteenth-century regatta-throwing landowner; and Lord's Island held the seat of the Earls of Derwentwater, whose last holder lost his head for the Jacobites in 1716 – a full anthology floating on three miles of water. The lake launches thread it all together: Keswick's little passenger boats circle the shore piers year-round, and a circuit afloat – or the short hop to a far jetty followed by a shoreline walk back – is among the best-value scenic hours in the district.

Friars Crag: Ruskin's first memory

Ten minutes' level stroll from Keswick's boat landings, a low wooded promontory juts into the lake: Friars Crag, named for the monks who once embarked here for St Herbert's hermitage, and the single most famous short walk in the northern Lakes. The view from its pine-framed point – down the water into the mountain jaws of Borrowdale – was declared by John Ruskin, the great Victorian art critic, to be one of the three most beautiful scenes in Europe; he traced his very first memory to being carried here as a child, and his memorial now stands on the crag. It is the rare celebrated view that is also effortlessly accessible – pushchairs manage it – and on our touring stops at Derwentwater it is the after-lunch stroll we recommend most, weather permitting exactly as the tour schedule allows.

Surprise View and Ashness Bridge: the photographer's pair

Climbing the narrow lane off the Borrowdale road toward Watendlath, two of Lakeland's most beloved set-pieces arrive in quick succession. First Ashness Bridge: a small, perfect stone packhorse bridge over a chattering beck, with Derwentwater and Skiddaw composed behind it so obligingly that it has become, by common consent, the most photographed bridge in the Lake District – the shot every calendar must include and every visitor can take in thirty seconds from the roadside. Then, a little higher through the woods, the trees simply stop at the lip of a crag: Surprise View, where the whole of Derwentwater lies suddenly four hundred feet below, islands and all, with Bassenthwaite Lake shining beyond and Skiddaw filling the sky – a genuine coup de théâtre, honestly named, and a fixture of our northern circuits. Both spots sit on National Trust land (nationaltrust.org.uk), part of the great protective estate that keeps this shore unspoilt.

Catbells and the western shore

Across the water rises the fell with the friendliest name and profile in the district: Catbells, the shapely little ridge whose ascent Wainwright famously recommended to everybody – grandmothers and infants included – and whose slopes Beatrix Potter chose as the home of Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle, her hedgehog washerwoman. Below it, the western shore road and lakeside path thread oakwoods and bays in the lake's quietest corner, served by the launch jetties at Hawse End and High Brandelhow – the latter a spot of pilgrim significance as part of the National Trust's very first Lake District acquisition, bought by public subscription in 1902. Keswick itself, the lake's stone-built capital, rounds out the visit: a proper working market town with a pencil museum (graphite mining is a genuine Borrowdale heritage), a famous theatre by the lake, and cafés and pubs enough to justify its role as the north's touring hub – visitor essentials are gathered by the National Park at lakedistrict.gov.uk.

When the Queen looks her best

Derwentwater is famously photogenic in all weathers, but connoisseurs keep a shortlist: early morning from the eastern shore, when mist lies on the water and the islands float free of their reflections; autumn, when the Borrowdale oakwoods burn copper down to the shoreline; and the hour before sunset from Friars Crag or Surprise View, when the light comes up the lake out of the Jaws and the whole composition turns gold. Winter adds snow on Skiddaw to the bridge-and-lake classics. The practical translation: whatever time of day or year your visit falls, the Queen has an outfit ready – but if you can choose your moment, choose the edges of the day.

Meeting the Queen properly

Derwentwater's genius is generosity: more classic views per visitor-hour than anywhere else in the district, most of them reachable with minimal effort – which makes it the perfect centrepiece for a touring day that has already crossed passes and cruised Ullswater. On our small-group scenic tours from Windermere and Ambleside – maximum seven guests – the Queen holds court at midday on the full-day circuits: lunch by the lakeshore near Keswick with the water and Catbells filling the café windows, the Friars Crag stroll when conditions smile, and Surprise View or Ashness Bridge delivering the day's most repeated photograph on the Borrowdale leg. Two centuries of visitors have tried to dethrone her with rival candidates. The islands, the fells and the pines of Friars Crag remain entirely unbothered. Long live the Queen – and we shall happily present you at court.

This article is part of our scenic Lake District guides collection – twenty in-depth guides researched and written by our local team. Browse the full library on our Travel Guide Library.