Appleby-in-Westmorland

Appleby-in-Westmorland's hotels and inns are concentrated along and just off Boroughgate, its sweeping Georgian main street, putting guests within easy walking distance of the castle, the parish church and the River Eden. Several are traditional coaching inns with centuries of history behind them, offering the kind of solid, comfortable rooms and hearty food that suit walkers coming off the Pennine fells or travellers breaking a journey on the Settle-Carlisle line. The Midland Hotel, right by the railway station, is a natural choice for anyone arriving by train, while other inns on Boroughgate itself put you a few minutes' stroll from Appleby Castle at one end of town and St Lawrence's Church at the other.

Beyond the town centre, the wider Eden Valley offers a scattering of country house hotels, farmhouse bed and breakfasts and small guesthouses set among the villages and farmland that surround Appleby, many run by families who have farmed the area for generations. These tend to suit visitors who want a quieter base with easy access to walking routes such as the Eden Way and Lady Anne's Way, or who are touring between the Lake District and the Yorkshire Dales and want somewhere restful in between. Because Appleby is considerably smaller than the honeypot towns of the central Lake District, room numbers are limited, and demand spikes hard during Appleby Horse Fair each June, so early booking is strongly advised for a summer visit, particularly if your dates fall anywhere near the fair itself.

Appleby rewards slow exploration on foot, but there is more to see nearby than its compact centre suggests.

• Appleby Castle — A Norman keep, Caesar's Tower, standing within 25 acres of parkland at the top of Boroughgate; once the stronghold of the Clifford family and Lady Anne Clifford, it offers views over the Eden Valley from the tower roof.
• Boroughgate and St Lawrence's Church — The wide, sloping main street, regularly named among the finest in England, runs from the 12th-century parish church of St Lawrence up to the castle, taking in the Moot Hall and the Clifford almshouses (the Hospital of St Anne) along the way.
• Appleby Horse Fair — Held every June since a royal charter of 1685, this is the largest traditional Gypsy and Traveller horse fair in Europe, drawing tens of thousands of visitors to watch horses trotted along the "flashing lane" and washed in the River Eden.
• The Eden Valley — Gentle farmland and riverside paths radiate out from the town, with the Eden Valley Railway line, red sandstone villages and the Pennine escarpment providing some of Cumbria's least-visited walking country.
• Settle-Carlisle Railway — Appleby station is a stop on one of Britain's great scenic railways, with services running north to Carlisle and south via the Ribblehead Viaduct to Settle and Leeds.
• Rutter Force and local waterfalls — A short walk or drive from town leads to Rutter Force on Hoff Beck, a peaceful spot for a picnic and a paddle away from the crowds.
• Brough Castle and Brougham Castle — Two more Clifford family strongholds lie within easy reach, both English Heritage sites set in dramatic, open countryside.

Boroughgate has a good spread of independent cafes and traditional pubs for a town of Appleby's size. The Midland Hotel, opposite the railway station, is popular with walkers and Settle-Carlisle line travellers, while the Tufton Arms and the Royal Oak are long-standing coaching inns serving pub food in the town centre. Appleby's Friday market brings local produce stalls to the streets around the Moot Hall, and the town's bakeries and delicatessens are well used to feeding walkers heading out into the Eden Valley or up onto the Pennine fells.

Camping around Appleby-in-Westmorland means gentle Eden Valley farmland and riverside pitches rather than the rugged fellside camping associated with the central Lake District, making it a good choice for those who want proper countryside without steep terrain. As in the rest of England, wild camping is not legally permitted without the landowner's permission, so pitching up in the surrounding fields or fells requires either a proper campsite or advance agreement with whoever owns the land; Cumbria's access laws do not carry the same "right to roam" camping allowances found in Scotland. Fortunately the area has a decent spread of small, family-run touring and camping parks along the River Eden and out towards the Pennine escarpment, several with direct river access for swimming, fishing or simply cooling off after a day's walking.

The terrain here is kinder than much of Cumbria: rolling farmland, quiet lanes and the broad, easy valley of the Eden mean campsites tend to be flatter and more sheltered than their Lakeland counterparts, though the open fells above the valley can still bring quick-changing weather, so it pays to come prepared for rain even in summer. Late spring through early autumn is the most reliable camping season, with June also being the busiest thanks to Appleby Horse Fair, when accommodation of all kinds in and around the town fills up fast and campsites should be booked well in advance if you want to combine a trip with the fair. Outside that peak week, the valley is markedly quieter than the Lake District, making it a good option for campers who prefer solitude to crowds. For those who would rather not pitch a tent themselves, a growing number of glamping options, including shepherd's huts and safari tents, have appeared on farms around Appleby and the wider Eden Valley, giving a taste of the outdoors with proper beds and, often, a wood-burning stove for chilly Pennine evenings.