Keswick

Keswick sits where the fells close in around a lake, a compact market town of grey slate and pebbledash squeezed between the bulk of Skiddaw to the north and the wooded shoreline of Derwentwater to the south. It has been a base for travellers since the Victorians arrived by train to admire the scenery the Romantic poets had already made famous, and it still works the same way today: a solid, unpretentious town that empties into some of the finest walking country in England within minutes of leaving the front door.

Unlike some Lake District honeypots, Keswick has a working high street rather than a purely ornamental one. There is a Thursday and Saturday market in the square below the Moot Hall, a genuine mix of outdoor shops, cafes, pubs and independent traders, and a year-round population that keeps the place feeling like a real town rather than a stage set. Pencil Museum aside, the pull here is almost entirely the landscape: Derwentwater on one side, Bassenthwaite Lake a short drive north, and the Newlands and Borrowdale valleys folding away to the south in a landscape that has hardly changed since Wordsworth and Coleridge walked it.

Keswick works equally well as a short weekend base or a longer walking holiday, and its position more or less in the centre of the northern lakes means almost everything else - Ullswater, Buttermere, the Cumbrian coast - is within reasonable striking distance by car.

Top things to do in Keswick

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.

Getting to Keswick

Keswick has no railway station of its own - the old branch line closed in 1972 - so the nearest mainline stations are Penrith, on the West Coast Main Line, and Windermere, on the branch from Oxenholme. Trains from London Euston to Penrith take around three and a half hours with a change, after which it is a 40-minute bus or taxi ride into Keswick on the X4 or X5 service. Windermere is a similar overall journey time and gives a scenic finish through the central lakes by bus.

By road, Keswick is reached from the A66, which runs east-west between the M6 at Penrith and the Cumbrian coast, making it one of the more straightforward Lake District towns to drive to compared with the narrower roads further south. The M6 to Penrith is the usual approach from the south and the Midlands; from Scotland, the A74(M) and A6 or A66 work well. The town itself is compact and largely pedestrianised at its centre, with several pay-and-display car parks including the large Lakeside car park by the Theatre by the Lake, though spaces fill quickly on summer weekends and during the Keswick Convention.

Best time to visit Keswick

Spring brings the fells back into colour after winter, with daffodils along the Derwentwater shore and reliably quieter paths before the main school holidays begin, though snow can still linger on the higher summits into April. Summer is the busiest and most reliable season for weather, with long evenings that suit a lakeside walk after dinner, but Keswick's car parks and B&Bs book up well ahead for July and August. Autumn turns the oak woods around Derwentwater and Borrowdale into one of the best displays of colour in the district, and the crowds thin noticeably once the schools go back. Winter is quiet and often atmospheric, with low cloud sitting on Skiddaw and open fires in every pub, though some higher paths require proper winter walking experience and a number of smaller guesthouses close for a few weeks in January.

Where to stay in Keswick

The town centre itself, within a few minutes' walk of the Moot Hall, suits anyone who wants to leave the car behind and be close to pubs, shops and the market square, with a good concentration of guesthouses along Eskin Street and Blencathra Street. The area around Station Road and the old railway path, a short walk from the centre towards Derwentwater, offers slightly more space and quieter streets while staying within easy reach of the town. For a more rural feel, the villages of Portinscale and Braithwaite sit just outside Keswick on opposite sides, both a short drive or a pleasant walk from the centre, and suit visitors who want a quieter base with easy access to the western fells and Bassenthwaite. Those chasing a country house atmosphere tend to look slightly further out, towards the lower slopes of Skiddaw or the approach to Borrowdale, trading a longer walk into town for gardens, views and a slower pace.

Food and drink in Keswick

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.