Keswick

Keswick's hotels range from grand country houses on the lower slopes of Skiddaw to unpretentious town-centre inns that have been putting up walkers for two hundred years, and the choice usually comes down to how much you want to be in the thick of things. Staying inside the town means you can leave the car for days at a time, walk to the market square for breakfast supplies, and be back at the bar within minutes of coming off the fells, though the trade-off is less space and sometimes a view of a neighbouring roofline rather than a lake.

Just outside the centre, a short walk or drive brings you to properties with gardens, parking and often a genuine view of Skiddaw or Derwentwater, aimed at guests who want a quieter night's sleep and don't mind a five or ten minute walk into town for dinner. Several of the area's best-known country house hotels sit in this bracket, built originally as Victorian villas for the wealthy families who first popularised the Lakes as a holiday destination, and many still trade on large gardens and long-standing reputations for their restaurants.

At the more modest end, Keswick has a strong tradition of family-run guesthouses and bed and breakfasts, many of them in the tall Victorian terraces around Eskin Street and Helvellyn Street, offering the kind of straightforward, well-run overnight stop that has kept walkers coming back for generations. Standards here are generally high and consistent, since the town's economy depends so heavily on repeat visitors and word of mouth, and a hearty breakfast is close to a universal given.

Whichever type of stay you choose, book ahead for anything in July, August or over the Keswick Convention in the summer, when the town's beds fill quickly and last-minute options thin out fast.

Most visits to Keswick end up built around the fells and the lake, but there is more to fill a few days than walking boots alone.

• Derwentwater launch - a small wooden passenger boat circles the lake calling at seven jetties, making it easy to combine a walk on one shore with a return trip by water.
• Catbells - the short, steep ridge walk above Derwentwater is the most popular fell in the district, manageable in half a day and rewarded with views over the whole lake.
• Skiddaw - a longer, tougher day out onto one of England's highest summits, with a well-worn path from the edge of town and views stretching to Scotland on a clear day.
• Castlerigg Stone Circle - a Neolithic circle of forty stones on a hilltop just outside town, framed by fells on every side and free to visit at any time.
• Theatre by the Lake - a proper year-round producing theatre on the shore of Derwentwater, an unusual asset for a town this size and a good wet-weather option.
• Honister Slate Mine - a working slate mine in the Borrowdale valley offering underground tours and, for the brave, a via ferrata route up the old quarry face.
• Keswick Museum - a small, old-fashioned local museum covering the town's mining, literary and mountaineering history, recently refurbished but still charmingly eccentric.
• Borrowdale valley - a short drive south into what is often called the most beautiful valley in England, taking in Lodore Falls, Grange, and the hamlet of Rosthwaite.

Cumbria's food identity runs through Keswick's menus: Cumberland sausage, sticky toffee pudding, and the local specialty of Herdwick lamb from the fell-grazed flocks that surround the town. The Round Thorn and other bakeries sell proper Cumberland rum butter and grasmere gingerbread-style treats, and several butchers on the main street still make their own sausage to traditional recipes. The Thursday and Saturday market brings local produce, cheese and street food into the square, and there is a good spread of cafes doing the fell-walker's staple of a hearty breakfast and a flask refill before a day out. In the evenings, the town's pubs - many of them old coaching inns dating back centuries - serve solid, unfussy food alongside local beers from Cumbrian breweries such as Hesket Newmarket and Keswick Brewing Company, while a handful of more ambitious restaurants and hotel dining rooms cater to those wanting a proper dinner after a day on the fells.

Camping around Keswick means camping with a view: most of the area's sites make the most of a position beneath Skiddaw, above Derwentwater, or looking out towards the Newlands valley, and pitching a tent here still feels like one of the best ways to experience the northern Lake District on a budget. The town itself has no campsite within its own boundary, but several well-established parks sit within a short walk, cycle or drive of the centre, keeping the convenience of Keswick's pubs and shops without the town-centre price tag.

Facilities on the local sites tend to be a step up from a basic field with a tap, reflecting decades of investment by family-run parks that have grown alongside the area's reputation as a walking and cycling destination. Expect proper shower blocks, electric hook-ups for tourers and motorhomes, and increasingly a scattering of glamping pods or static options for anyone wanting the view without the tent-pitching, though traditional pitches for your own tent remain widely available and usually the cheapest way to stay.

Dogs are welcome at the great majority of sites in this part of Cumbria, which matters given how many visitors arrive to walk the fells with a dog in tow, and most parks are within easy reach of at least one direct footpath onto open fell or lakeshore. Booking ahead is strongly advised for the main summer season and school holidays, when pitches at the better-known sites go quickly, but spring and autumn generally offer more availability alongside quieter paths and some of the best light of the year over the lake.