Hesket Newmarket

Hesket Newmarket has no hotels of its own; the village's handful of rooms come as farmhouse bed and breakfasts and self-catering cottages, in keeping with its size as a single street and green rather than a resort. This suits the place well, since most visitors come for the walking on the surrounding fells rather than for a lively evening out, and a quiet farmhouse room within earshot of the river is often exactly what's wanted after a day on High Pike or Carrock Fell. Expect simple, comfortable rooms, often in traditional stone farmhouses still working the land around the village, with hearty breakfasts and a warm welcome from hosts used to muddy boots.

For more choice, neighbouring Caldbeck, a level mile or two away along the river, has a wider range of guesthouses and cottages, while the market towns of Wigton and Penrith and the tourist hub of Keswick, all within half an hour's drive, offer a fuller spread of hotels and inns, from budget to more comfortable options. Staying in one of these larger bases and driving or walking in to Hesket Newmarket for a pint at the Old Crown is a common and sensible pattern, particularly outside the summer months when some of the smallest village B&Bs may not be open. Wherever you stay, book ahead: rooms in and around Hesket Newmarket are few, and this quiet pocket of the Northern Fells has a loyal following among walkers who return year after year.

There is not a long list of attractions in the village itself, but the surrounding fells and neighbouring Caldbeck more than make up for it.

• Hesket Newmarket Brewery — Founded in 1988 in a converted barn behind the Old Crown, this is the oldest surviving microbrewery in Cumbria. Since 1999 it has been run as a workers' co-operative, and its beers, including Blencathra and Skiddaw Special, are brewed on site and sold across the region.
• The Old Crown — England's first co-operatively owned pub, bought by 125 local customers in 2003 to save it from closure. It is the only pub in the village and remains the social hub of Hesket Newmarket, serving the brewery's own beers.
• The village green and market cross — A broad, sloping green surrounded by eighteenth-century cottages, with an old market cross and a set of stocks as reminders of the village's former life as a market town.
• Walking to Caldbeck — A gentle riverside route follows the River Caldew and Cald Beck through farmland and ancient woodland, past the point where the two rivers meet, to reach Caldbeck in a couple of miles — glorious with bluebells in spring.
• High Pike and the Northern Fells — Hesket Newmarket sits at the foot of the Caldbeck Fells, with High Pike, Carrock Fell and Bowscale Fell all within reach. Old mine workings dot the moorland above the village, evidence of a once-thriving lead and barytes mining industry.
• Caldbeck village — A short walk or drive away, Caldbeck has shops, tea rooms, the Priest's Mill craft centre, and St Kentigern's churchyard, where huntsman John Peel is buried.

The Old Crown is the village's only pub and its principal reason to linger, serving cask ales brewed a few steps away at the Hesket Newmarket Brewery, alongside straightforward pub food. Beyond that, options in the village itself are thin, but Caldbeck, a short walk or drive away, has cafes, a village shop and further places to eat, making it easy to combine a fell walk with lunch or a pint back in Hesket Newmarket afterwards.

Wild camping without landowner permission is illegal in England, including here in the Northern Fells around Hesket Newmarket, so pitching a tent on the open fell without asking first is not an option, however tempting the empty moorland above the village looks. Fortunately there is no need to risk it: proper campsites are close by. Howbeck Lodge, on a working farm just outside the village, offers hardstanding pitches for caravans and motorhomes alongside space for tents, with easy access to the Northern Lakes, the Solway Coast and Hadrian's Wall. A little further afield, Throstle Hall Touring Caravan Site sits just south of Caldbeck beneath High Pike and Carrock Fell, and there are further options around Caldbeck itself, including sites positioned right on the Cumbria Way.

The terrain here is real fell country rather than gentle valley walking: High Pike, Carrock Fell and Bowscale Fell rise steeply from farmland into open, often boggy moorland scattered with the remains of old lead and barytes mines, so a tent pitch with easy access to a proper campsite, rather than an ambitious wild pitch high on the tops, is the sensible choice for most campers. The best camping season runs from late spring to early autumn, when the ground is drier underfoot and the long evenings suit an after-dinner stroll along the river between Hesket Newmarket and Caldbeck. Midsummer brings the longest days for fell walking, while September and early October often deliver crisp, clear conditions and good visibility from the higher ground, without the exposure that winter weather brings to these northern fells.

For those who would rather skip the tent pegs, Hudscales Camping Barn sits at around 1,000 feet on the northern flank of the fells overlooking both villages, offering a simple bunkhouse-style base, while a scattering of shepherd's huts and glamping pods in the wider Caldbeck area gives a slightly softer way to wake up to the same views. Whichever you choose, this is camping for people who want quiet, dark skies and a short walk to a good pub, rather than a resort experience.