Cockermouth

Cockermouth makes a practical, well-located base for exploring the western Lake District without paying Windermere prices. Main Street has a handful of traditional coaching inns with rooms above the bar, while quieter guesthouses and B&Bs are dotted along the approach roads and in nearby villages such as Lorton and Loweswater. Self-catering cottages are plentiful in the surrounding countryside, many converted from old farm buildings, and tend to offer better value and more space than equivalent lakeside options further into the park. Because Cockermouth sits just outside the busiest tourist belt, availability is generally better at short notice than in Windermere or Keswick, though rooms can still fill up around the summer Georgian Fair and during peak walking season in July and August. Families and those without a car should look at properties on or near Main Street, within walking distance of the shops, the Kirkgate Centre and Wordsworth House; walkers heading for Buttermere or Loweswater may prefer to base themselves slightly further south to cut down on driving time each day. Given the town's flood history, anyone booking ground-floor accommodation close to the rivers in winter should keep an eye on weather warnings, though hosts are well used to managing this and it rarely affects short stays.

Cockermouth rewards a slow wander, and its attractions are compact enough to cover on foot in a day or two.

• Wordsworth House and Garden — the National Trust-run Georgian townhouse on Main Street where William Wordsworth was born in 1770, restored with period rooms, costumed guides and a working kitchen garden that runs down to the River Derwent.
• Jennings Brewery — a working brewery on the riverbank that has been brewing in Cockermouth since 1874; the tour takes in the mash tuns and fermenting rooms and ends with a tasting.
• Cockermouth Castle — a part-ruined, part-lived-in castle dating back to the 13th century, still in private hands but with its grounds occasionally opened to the public, notably for the town's annual festivals.
• All Saints' Church — a striking Victorian church rebuilt after an 1850 fire, worth a look for its scale alone on a walk through the town centre.
• The Kirkgate Centre — a converted Victorian school turned arts venue, hosting theatre, live music, film and exhibitions and acting as the town's cultural hub.
• Buttermere and Crummock Water — a short drive south into the fells, these two lakes are linked by a level, easy path and ringed by some of the Lake District's most dramatic scenery, with far fewer visitors than the central lakes.
• Loweswater — the quietest of the western lakes, reached via a narrow road, with a gentle low-level circuit walk through woodland and farmland.

The town's food scene is modest but genuine: expect traditional pubs serving Jennings ales brewed a few hundred yards away, a handful of independent cafes along Main Street, and the twice-weekly market for local produce. It is not a food-lover's destination on the scale of somewhere like Ambleside, but what is here tends to be honest, unpretentious, and reasonably priced.

The countryside around Cockermouth offers some of the least crowded camping in the Lake District, from simple riverside sites near the town to fell-foot pitches around Loweswater, Crummock Water and Buttermere. The terrain is a mix of gentle valley pasture close to the town and steeper, rougher fellside further south towards the high western fells, so smaller, well-pitched tents cope better than large family tents once you get into the hillier campsites. As with the rest of England and Wales, wild camping is not legal here without the landowner's permission — this is a change from Scotland's right to roam, and Lake District landowners do enforce it, particularly around the more popular lakes, so campers should stick to established sites or seek permission directly. Weather is the main variable to plan around: this western side of the Lake District catches some of the highest rainfall totals in England, since it faces directly into weather rolling in off the Irish Sea, so a good waterproof tent and groundsheet matter more here than in drier parts of the country. The most settled camping weather usually falls between late May and September, though even then a wet spell can arrive with little warning, and the rivers around Cockermouth are prone to rising fast after heavy rain given the town's flooding history. For those who would rather not risk the forecast, glamping options — shepherd's huts, pods and yurts — have grown around the western lakes in recent years, offering a fixed roof and often a wood burner while still being set in genuinely quiet, scenic spots away from the busier central Lakeland campsites. Buttermere and Loweswater in particular have small, low-key sites that make a good base for walking the surrounding fells without the queues associated with camping nearer Windermere or Ambleside.