Private Ultimate Lake District Tour

Kirkstone Pass

Kirkstone Pass with an altitude of 1,489 feet is the Lake District's highest pass that is open to motor traffic. The Kirkstone Pass Inn stands close to the summit of the pass. Formerly an important coaching inn, it now caters primarily for tourists and is the third highest public house in England.

Near the top of the pass is Kirkstone Quarry, where rock extraction and architectural stone production took place over 500 meters above sea level. Further production facilities for custom items such as work surfaces, head office and trade showroom were located at Skelwith Bridge near Ambleside. The main materials mined were green and blue-black slate. The former, a unique composition of volcanic material layered down some 450 million years ago, is found only in relatively small deposits within the Lake District. Intense compression led to metamorphosis into a dense and highly durable rock with great lateral strength. The latter took on a much more common geological formation, being an accumulation of dense and deeply compressed sedimentary material formed some years after the volcanic period, deep in the rifts of the earth's surface.

Ullswater

This lovely lake is surrounded by stunning mountain scenery to its south, softening to the gentle hills of the north. The lake is the second largest in England at seven and a half miles long, but is less than a mile across. It is also the third deepest English lake at 250 feet deep. It has three distinct bends giving it a dog's leg appearance. Ullswater is clear but deep, and in the deepest part lives a curious fish called the skelly, a sort of freshwater herring.

There are dramatic views from both sides of the lake, by foot or by vehicle. The small village at the foot of Ullswater, Glenridding, is a popular starting point for walkers and climbers going up Helvellyn, England's third highest mountain including Striding Edge and Swirral Edge. Further along the lake is Glencoyne Park. It was here that William and Dorothy Wordsworth were walking on April 15, 1802, when the location gave him the inspiration to write his most famous poem, 'Daffodils'.

Castlerigg Stone Circle

Castlerigg is perhaps the most atmospheric and dramatically sited of all British stone circles, with panoramic views and the mountains of Helvellyn and High Seat as a backdrop. It is also among the earliest British circles, raised in about 3000 BC during the Neolithic period. The most visited stone circle in Cumbria, every year thousands of people visit it to look, photograph, draw and wonder why and when and by whom it was built. The stone circle itself is on the level top of a low hill with views across to Skiddaw, Blencathra and Lonscale Fell.

There are 38 stones in a circle approximately 30 meters in diameter. Within the ring is a rectangle of a further 10 standing stones, the tallest stone is 2.3 meters high. The site is important in terms of megalithic astronomy and geometry, as the construction contains significant astronomical alignments. Although its origins are unknown it is believed that it was used for ceremonial or religious purposes.

Lakeside

There is a lot going on in this small corner of the Keswick area. Not only is there a theater and a café/restaurant, but at the boat landing stage, you can purchase duck food for 50p from either the steamer boat house, or the National Trust shop opposite. A short walk away from the lake up the road that leads past the café, theater, and parking lot is the entrance to Hope Park. Here there are remote control steamer boats that can be used for £1, and a miniature golf course. There may be just time for you to have a quick look but as there is so much more still to come on the tour, we cannot linger here.

Friars Crag

Friars Crag achieved its name because it was believed to be the embarkation point for monks making a pilgrimage to St Herbert's Island, located southwest of the crag. It was through the efforts of Canon Rawnsley, vicar of Crosthwaite and one of the founders of the National Trust that much of Borrowdale was preserved from development. On his death in 1920 Friars Crag, together with Lord's Island and Calf Close Bay were given to the Trust as his memorial. A plaque to his memory is set into a wall beside the Friars Crag Path. Also at Friars Crag is a memorial, unveiled in 1900, to John Ruskin, who had many associations with Keswick. He once said Keswick was a place almost too beautiful to live in.

Honister Slate Mine

Located at the head of Honister Pass in the heart of the Lake District, Honister Slate Mine produces the world-famous Westmorland Green Slate a beautiful, functional 450-million-year-old material that has been extracted here for centuries. For well over 300 years slate from the Honister quarries was carried by packhorse across the high mountains to the Cumberland coast. This involved an extremely hazardous journey on steep terrain. The route the pack trains took can still be followed today and occasionally along the way one can see deposits of broken slates showing where a load slipped and the fragile contents were lost. The route is still known as 'Moses' Trod' after the quarryman, Moses Rigg, who, as well as being a skilled slate worker, operated a profitable sideline of carrying and distributing smuggled whisky from the coast which he stored in the workings on Honister Crag.

Honister Pass

For hundreds of years the only means of transport of goods between the Lake District valley communities was by pack ponies that used well established packhorse routes across high mountain passes. These routes frequently ran from the heads of valleys and the valley-head farms became important staging points for the ponies. Although the high level tracks were well graded, they could become very dangerous in bad weather. It was only in the 19th century that improved roads removed the need for this type of transport but even today many valley-head farms are still very isolated with the only visitors being walkers passing through heading along the fells.

Buttermere

Buttermere, the lake by the dairy pastures, is 1½ miles long, ¾ of a mile wide and 75 feet deep. The classic combination of lakes and mountains has made this popular with visitors since the beginning of tourism in the Lake District. A visit to Buttermere is principally for its natural attractions as the area offers some of the best walking country in the Lake District. In the little Church of St James, is a stone tablet set into the windowsill of a south window as a memorial to Alfred Wainwright, the famous walker and author of guidebooks. The window looks out on his favorite place to walk, Haystacks, where at his wish his ashes were scattered.

Buttermere village is a small hamlet situated between the lakes Buttermere and Crummock Water, which were originally one post-glacial lake. The land was created by the debris washed down from the surrounding hills. The lake is owned by the National Trust.

There is a popular local story about Mary Robinson, the stunning daughter of the Fish Hotel's landlord, who became known as the "Beauty of Buttermere". In 1802 she married Lieutenant-Colonel the Hon. Alexander Augustus Hope. Unfortunately he was an imposter and bigamist who was subsequently hanged in Carlisle, not for bigamy but forgery! Her story has been told in several novels, most recently by Melvyn Bragg in "The Maid of Buttermere".

Thirlmere

Thirlmere was originally two smaller lakes, which were purchased by Manchester City Corporation Waterworks in 1889. The area was dammed with a dam whose greatest height is 104 feet, and the area became one vast reservoir. In the process, the settlements of Armboth and Wythburn were submerged.

Dunmail Raise

This is the flattest of the mountain passes in the Lake District running down toward Grasmere. Dunmail Raise is also the name of a large cairn which stands on the top of the pass, on the median between the two sides of the road. Legend has it that Dunmail, the last king of Cumberland, is buried beneath the cairn at Dunmail Raise after having been slain by the English in battle.

Grasmere

The village is on the river Rothay which flows into Grasmere (the body of water), which lies about 0.5 km to the south and is overlooked from the northwest by the rocky hill of Helm Crag, popularly known as The Lion and the Lamb or the Old Lady at the Piano. These names are derived from the shape of rock formations on its summit, depending on the side from which you view it.

The lake at Grasmere being one mile long, half a mile wide and 75 feet deep, would be an attractive and popular tourist area even without its Wordsworth connections. 'The loveliest spot that man hath ever found' was Wordsworth's famous quote describing the area of Lakeland that he most loved. The small island in the middle of the lake was his favorite destination while he was staying at nearby Dove Cottage.

Rydal Water

Rydal Water is one of the smallest lakes at three quarters of a mile long, quarter of a mile wide and with a depth of 55 feet, but it is very popular partly because of its Wordsworth connections. Steps lead up from the western end of the lake to 'Wordsworth's Seat', reputedly the poet's favorite viewpoint. Overlooking the lake is Nab Cottage, once home to Thomas De Quincey and Hartley Coleridge, the son of Samuel Taylor Coleridge.