One thing that the United Kingdom has is beautiful scenery, and sometimes, a staycation is what you need to welcome you into Autumn, Winter, Spring and Summer!.
Do you fancy a holiday to the great outdoors where you can hike, paddleboard, go on boats, jetski, cycle, then you must visit.
I went on a girls weekend upto Oxenholme from London Euston on the train. I booked with Virgin which is now Avanti trains a few months ago and had a reasonable advanced ticket. The journey took just over 2 hours to Oxenholme where you can get a local train to Windermere.
We stayed in a beautiful cottage in Bowston, near Staveley which was around 5 miles away from Bowness where Lake Windermere is located. The cottage was a home exchange, it had everything you wanted and more. It was well equipped, had beams, a log burner, fantastic views and a greenhouse to pick fresh herbs and fruit.
On our first afternoon we went for a hike in the hills and walked along The Dales Way which is beautiful.
There are rolling hills, drystoned walls, sheep and cattle and nature is abundance. Old trees, rivers such as River Kent and winding paths lined with green moss on stones. There wasn’t a soul about but some plenty of inquisitive sheep!
We ambled in the sunshine and climbed styals both wooden and made of slate. We had the countryside to ourselves which was so peaceful and serene. Such a change from London life.
The next day we drove to Bowness and parked our car in a carpark for 7 hours which cost £7 and walked into the town. It was a lovely old town with plenty of shops and bed and breakfasts and some hotels. We ambled down to the water where there are plenty of ticket offices to purchase tickets for the day.
We like walking and hiking so we purchased the Windermere Walkers Ticket which cost £11.80. It was great value!! I thoroughly recommend it, we used three boats and had a lovely time. Walkers Ticket (windermere-lakecruises.co.uk)
Our first stop was Ambleside, we docked there and walked past the boats you can hire.
Ambleside has a lovely feel to it. We walked into the town where there were ample bed and breakfasts and outdoor clothing shops and a pretty house.
One thing I noticed that there were plenty of places to eat and there was even a vegetarian guest house to stay also. First time I had seen that.
We stopped in the Giggling Goose Café which was in a old mill and had some tea and cake.
Refueled ,we walked back to get our next boat to Wray Castle which is a National Trust place and walked through the woods and stopped for lunch against the lapping water with a picnic. We watched people jetskiing and paddle boarding too.
Walking back to Ferry House we got there just in time to get the last ferry back to Bowness! We saw plenty of people sitting outside their VW Campervans, having BBQs and fishing and families enjoying themselves. There are some lovely spots you can park up and have a picnic.
Our boat trip was fun on the way back with an entertaining captain. Well behaved dogs are allowed on the boats too!
I thoroughly recommend a visit in this beautiful part of England, there is so much to see and do. Make sure you read William Wordsworth’s famous poem too!
