Keswick

Keswick is an English Market town in the northern part of the Lake District near to the lakes of Derwentwater and Bassenthwaite. If you arrive in the Lakes by train into Windermere, you can get the local 555 bus to Keswick from just outside the railway station which runs roughly every hour and it takes about an hour and a half to get there. Keswick is a natural centre for mountain climbers, country walkers and more leisurely tourists who like to get away from the bustle of the southern lakes and into the high fells surrounding the town. It is small, with a population of just under 5000 but it is said, for its size, to have more beds for guests than anywhere else in the country. There is a wide range of accommodation ranging from the Station Hotel or the Inn on the Square, to smaller hotels and comfortable, family run bed and breakfast establishments such as the Sunnyside.

Being the largest town in the northern lakes area, Keswick has a friendly and vibrant feel with locals and visitors browsing a wide range of shops as well as those catering for the needs of the type of visitor who is drawn to the northern lakes area, specialising in outdoor wear, camping and climbing. There are also plenty of cafes, restaurants and pubs, interesting shops selling locally produced goods and two small supermarkets. There is a bank with an ATM in the market square, a pharmacist and a post office just around the corner in Bank Street and a launderette on Eskin Street.

There is considerable evidence of prehistoric occupation of the Keswick area, but the first recorded mention of the town dates from the 13th century, when Edward I of England granted a charter for Keswick's market, which has maintained a continuous 700-year existence. The market is still held on Saturdays and Thursdays and is very popular with locals and visitors alike. In Tudor times the town was an important mining area, and from the 18th century onwards it has increasingly been known as a holiday centre with tourism being its principle industry for more than 150 years. If you don't feel like spending the day on the fells, we run a selection of day tours from the town centre down to the southern lakes and also around the breathtaking countryside of the north lakes. You are only ever a short stroll away from Derwentwater where you will find a modern theatre, while the town itself boasts one of Britain's oldest surviving cinemas, a pencil museum and the Keswick Museum and Art Gallery which lies within the town's largest open space, Fitz Park. Among the town's annual events is the Keswick Convention, an Evangelical gathering attracting visitors from many countries.

We pickup for some tours from outside of the rear of the Inn on the Square in Bell Close, next to the car park.