The South Lakes Short Break with Contours Holidays

About

Beginning at Windermere on the shores of England’s largest lake, The South Lakes Short Break route heads for Troutbeck via Orrest Head, providing breath-taking views of the hills of the Yorkshire Dales, Morecombe Bay and many of Lakeland’s best-known mountains almost immediately after starting your walk. After exploring Troutbeck, with its fine 17th century ‘Statesman’ farmhouses grouped around a series of wells, the route heads for Ambleside. It passes the famous viewpoint of Jenkin Crag and Rydal Mount, where Wordsworth spent the last years of his life, before following the route of the medieval coffin ‘road’ high above Rydal Water to Grasmere.

Wordsworth regarded Grasmere as the “loveliest spot that man hath ever found” and spent nine happy and creative years in Dove Cottage on the outskirts of the village. Other places of interest include the little school where he once taught, now the home of a famous gingerbread shop, and St Oswald’s Church, the last resting place of the Wordsworth family. The trail then visits the spectacular Langdale Valley, the idyllic Blea Tarn and Little Langdale Tarn on its journey to Coniston.

Arthur Ransome spent his childhood holidays in Coniston, which later surfaced in “Swallows and Amazons”, and the village’s most famous resident, John Ruskin, lies buried in the village churchyard, preferring this quiet corner of Lakeland to Poet’s Corner at Westminster Abbey. From Coniston, the trail passes through the famous beauty spot of Tarn Hows before passing through Hawkeshead, a charming village of whitewashed cottages and cobbled streets, to Near Sawry. After visiting the tiny 17th century farmhouse of Hill Top, the former home of Beatrix Potter, the trail descends to the shores of Windermere, where you will complete your holiday with a relaxing ferry across the lake back to the town.  This walk can be done in either three or six days and it’s also dog friendly.

Follow us on social media:

Instagram   Facebook   Twitter