Ambleside

Why base here

Ambleside sits at the head of Windermere, England’s largest natural lake, a mile inland from its own pier at Waterhead. It has been a walking centre since Victorian tourism first reached the Lakes, and the main street still runs past Bridge House, a tiny seventeenth-century building built over Stock Ghyll that is now a National Trust shop. The town works for almost any kind of week: gentle valley walks straight from the door, harder fells a short bus ride away, and Windermere’s boats and shops when the weather turns. It is also the one base in this list that does not need a car at all.

On foot versus by car

Stock Ghyll Force is signposted from the main street and reachable in ten to fifteen minutes on foot. Wansfell Pike’s ascent starts at Stockghyll Lane, beside the Barclays Bank, so the whole walk begins in town. Loughrigg Fell is a different matter: its easiest path starts from White Moss Common car park, on the road toward Grasmere, a short drive or a longer riverside walk from Ambleside rather than a start from the town itself. Coniston, Langdale and the central fells all need either a car or one of the buses that pass through town on their way further into the Lakes.

Practicalities

Windermere railway station, the terminus of the branch line from Oxenholme, is the nearest station, around 8km away by road. Two Stagecoach services connect it to Ambleside: the 555 Lakeslink, which runs the length of the Lakes from Lancaster to Keswick, and the 599, an open-top double-decker every 20 minutes from Easter to November that continues as a regular enclosed bus outside those months. Between them, the two routes make Ambleside a car-free base for most of the year, not just in summer. The A591 in from Windermere is a normal main road with no pass or seasonal closure to plan around.

With children

Bridge House, the National Trust shop built over Stock Ghyll on the main street, is close enough and flat enough for the smallest legs to reach on their own, and gives even a short outing somewhere definite to arrive at. Continuing up to Stock Ghyll Force adds ten to fifteen minutes of steps and wet stone, better suited to a steady six or seven-year-old than a toddler, and the path cannot take a pushchair at any point. For a first proper hill, Loughrigg Fell is the better choice: a short drive to White Moss Common, then 210 metres of ascent rated easy, onto a broad, undulating summit scattered with small tarns rather than one narrow point to touch and turn back from. Wansfell Pike is a different proposition. Its direct route climbs a flight of restored stone steps steep enough to trouble unsteady adults, let alone children who tire of stairs. On a wet day, the Windermere boats from Waterhead pier cover an afternoon without a single hill in it.