Lake District with Kids

What Works with Children

The Lake District is a better destination for children than most adults expect, and a harder one than the marketing suggests. The mountains are real mountains. The weather is genuinely unpredictable. A child who moans about walking will not stop moaning because they are in a beautiful valley. Plan accordingly.

What works: shorter walks with a clear objective (a waterfall, a tarn, a summit). Boat trips. Wildlife. Getting wet in becks and lakes. The physical freedom of open fell land. A good pub lunch as reward. These things all work with the right age and temperament.

What does not work: long linear walks with no obvious goal, anything requiring sustained concentration for navigation, and any fell above 700m with a child under 10. Manage expectations and the Lakes delivers. Overclaim and you will be carrying someone down a fell in the rain.

Best Family Walks

Tarn Hows, near Coniston (all ages)

The easiest serious walk in the Lake District. A well-maintained circular path around a dramatic tarn, almost entirely flat, 1.5 miles, accessible for pushchairs on the main path. The National Trust car park is at LA21 8DP. Charged, fills fast in summer. The setting is genuinely stunning and even very young children get something from it. Bring stale bread and expect to encounter waterfowl. No waterfall, but the visual payoff is immediate.

Easedale Tarn, Grasmere (5+, about 3 hours)

Park in Grasmere village (LA22 9RR). Walk out along Easedale Beck, passing Sourmilk Gill waterfall, to the tarn above. Around 3 miles return, 190m ascent. The waterfall is about 30 minutes in and provides an intermediate goal that keeps children motivated. The tarn above is genuinely dramatic. The descent is straightforward. A child of 5 or 6 who likes walking can manage this. It is one of the best short routes in the Lakes.

Catbells, Keswick (7+, about 3 hours)

The classic first fell for children. Take the Keswick Launch from Keswick to Hawes End jetty (adds a boat journey, which immediately improves morale). The path up Catbells is well-maintained and popular. Summit at 451m. Views over Derwentwater are excellent. The descent back to the jetty for the return boat is straightforward. Total about 3 miles. Good for children of around 7 and above who are comfortable on rough paths and heights. There is one short section of easy scrambling near the top that most children find exciting rather than frightening.

Ullswater lakeshore, Howtown to Glenridding (8+, half day)

Take the Ullswater Steamer from Glenridding (CA11 0PD) to Howtown pier and walk back. Around 6 miles on a good, mostly flat path with the lake to one side and dramatic fells to the other. The boat adds novelty and solves the there-and-back problem. The path is clear throughout. Some gentle ups and downs but nothing requiring fell fitness. A great day out for older children and adults together. Carry lunch, there is nothing between Howtown and Patterdale.

Stock Ghyll Force, Ambleside (all ages)

A 20-minute walk from the centre of Ambleside (LA22 0BN) to a 22m waterfall in a wooded gorge. Short enough for any age, dramatic enough to justify it. Good for a morning warm-up before lunch in Ambleside. The path is well-maintained but can be slippery after rain.

Aira Force, Ullswater (all ages)

National Trust site near Glenridding. A series of waterfalls in a ravine, with good paths and bridges. Short circular walk of about 2 miles from the NT car park (CA11 0JS). Spectacular after heavy rain. Café on site. One of the most visited NT sites in the Lakes for good reason. Go on a weekday if possible.

Boat Trips

Lake boat trips are the single most reliable family activity in the Lakes, rain or shine. Children who will not walk for more than 30 minutes will sit on a boat for two hours with no complaint.

Windermere Lake Cruises operates the most extensive service, with boats between Ambleside (Waterhead pier, LA22 0EY), Bowness, and Lakeside at the south end. Year-round timetable. Under-5s free, children's fare for 5 to 15. The Lakeside and Haverthwaite Railway connects at the south end for a steam train section. Doing the whole Ambleside to Lakeside run by boat and returning by combination of train and boat is a full day out that works for most ages.

Ullswater Steamers run between Glenridding, Howtown, and Pooley Bridge. The classic use with children is to combine the steamer with a walk. Glenridding to Howtown by steamer, walk back along the lakeshore. Or all three piers by boat for the experience alone.

Keswick Launch covers Derwentwater with seven stopping points around the lake. Short sectors of 10 to 15 minutes between piers. You can hop on and off, which gives flexibility for a day combining a short walk with a lake section. Hawes End jetty is the starting point for Catbells.

Indoor and Wet Weather Activities

It will rain. Have a plan. The following are worth your time:

• Windermere Jetty Museum (LA23 3JH). A serious museum about Windermere's maritime history, opening onto the lake. The building itself is worth visiting. Good for 8 and above. Excellent on a wet afternoon. Admission charged.
• Pencil Museum, Keswick (CA12 5NG). Unexpectedly good. The story of Cumberland graphite and pencil manufacturing from the 16th century. Children enjoy the giant pencil. Two hours, reasonably priced. Better than you expect.
• World of Beatrix Potter, Bowness (LA23 3BX). Directly aimed at under-8s and the Peter Rabbit audience. An indoor walk-through attraction with the Potter characters and scenes. Short. Works well for young children, less so for older ones.
• Go Ape, Grizedale Forest (LA22 0QJ). Treetop aerial adventure with zip lines and rope walks. Minimum height restrictions apply (1m for junior course, 1.4m for adult). Book in advance, particularly in school holidays. Forestry England site. Several hours.
• Rheged, near Penrith (CA11 0DQ). A large arts and retail complex built into a hillside near Junction 40 of the M6. Has a cinema, climbing wall, and soft play area. Useful if you are arriving or departing via the M6.
• Keswick leisure centre (CA12 5NB). A public leisure centre with a 25m pool. Family swim sessions. Not glamorous, but useful if you are based in Keswick for several days.

Wildlife with Children

Wildlife spotting works well with children if you set realistic expectations. Red squirrels in the Lake District are genuinely possible at several sites. Dodd Wood above Bassenthwaite Lake (CA12 4QE) has a red squirrel trail through the conifer woodland with feeders. Go in the morning, move quietly, and there is a real chance of seeing them at close range. Children find this more exciting than any manufactured attraction.

Osprey season at Dodd Wood runs April to August. The RSPB and Forestry England staff a telescope viewpoint at the Dodd Wood car park where the nest is visible. Trained staff explain what is happening. A child who has watched an osprey return to a nest with a fish will not forget it.

Deer in the Martindale valley, on the far side of Ullswater, are reliable for any time of year. Access is via Howtown. In October the red deer rut adds sound and drama. Binoculars help, but even without them the herd scale in Martindale is impressive.

Practical Notes

• Layers, always. The temperature on a fell top can be 10 degrees cooler than the valley. Children are less good at self-regulating and will not tell you they are cold until they are hypothermic. Pack more warm kit than seems necessary.
• Waterproof trousers are worth the argument. Children falling in becks, sitting in wet grass, and kneeling in mud is guaranteed. A change of clothes in the car for the return journey is also worth having.
• Snacks at altitude solve more morale problems than any amount of pre-trip enthusiasm. Children run out of energy and glucose quickly on ascent. Build in regular breaks with food.
• Midges are real in July and August, particularly at dawn and dusk in sheltered valleys. Avon Skin So Soft is the standard local repellent. DEET works but is not recommended for young children's skin.
• Car parks at popular sites (Tarn Hows, Aira Force, Haweswater) fill by 10am on summer weekends. Start early or accept a longer walk from overflow parking.