Patterdale

Patterdale sits at the southern tip of Ullswater, tucked into a narrow valley where the water meets some of the highest fells in the Lake District. It is a small place — a scatter of stone cottages, a church, a youth hostel and a single well-known hotel — but its setting is anything but modest, ringed by Helvellyn, St Sunday Crag, Fairfield and the long spine of the Grisedale valley. Local tradition holds that the name derives from St Patrick's Dale, after a visit by the saint in the 5th century, and the village later found its way into literature through William Wordsworth, who spent boyhood years nearby and wrote of borrowing a boat on the lake in The Prelude.

What Patterdale lacks in size it makes up for as a base. It is one of the most popular starting points in the whole national park for walkers, sitting at the foot of routes onto Helvellyn, England's third-highest mountain, and within easy reach of the lake shore, the Ullswater Steamers piers, and the neighbouring village of Glenridding, which has a slightly larger cluster of shops, pubs and cafés. For anyone wanting fells on one side and water on the other, few villages in Cumbria offer quite the same combination in quite so small a footprint.

Top things to do in Patterdale

Patterdale's appeal is almost entirely about what surrounds it — lake, fell and valley — rather than the village itself, which is easily explored in an afternoon before the real business of walking or sailing begins.

• Helvellyn via Striding Edge — the classic and most exposed route onto Helvellyn starts from Patterdale or Glenridding, climbing to the narrow, rocky arete of Striding Edge before the final scramble to the summit; it is one of the most celebrated (and most photographed) ridge walks in England.
• Ullswater southern shore — the lakeside path south from Glenridding towards Sandwick and Howtown gives gentler walking with constant water views, without the exposure of the higher fells.
• Ullswater "Steamers" — the historic vessels Lady of the Lake and Raven, dating from 1877 and 1889, cruise between Glenridding, Howtown and Pooley Bridge; many walkers use a one-way sailing to link up a linear walk back along the shore.
• Grisedale valley — a quieter, less strenuous valley walk running west from Patterdale beneath St Sunday Crag and Dollywaggon Pike, following Grisedale Beck up towards Grisedale Tarn and the Wordsworth-linked Brothers' Parting Stone.
• Glenridding — the neighbouring village a mile or so along the shore has extra cafés, pubs and the Glenridding Sailing Centre, which hires out boats and kayaks and runs sailing tuition on the lake.
• Brothers Water — a small, little-visited tarn just south of Patterdale on the Kirkstone road, one of the first stretches of water acquired by the National Trust in the Lake District.
• Aira Force — a dramatic 65-foot waterfall in National Trust woodland on the opposite, northern shore of Ullswater, an easy detour by car or Steamer from Glenridding.

Getting to Patterdale

Patterdale lies on the A592, the road that runs the length of Ullswater between Penrith and Windermere via the Kirkstone Pass — one of the highest and steepest road passes in the Lake District, so winter driving needs care. Penrith, on the M6 and the West Coast Main Line, is the nearest railway station, roughly 30 minutes away by car, from where local buses and seasonal services run down the valley through Glenridding to Patterdale. There is no railway station closer than Penrith, and the roads in are narrow, so many visitors prefer to arrive by car and leave it parked for the duration of their stay, using the lake shore paths and the Ullswater Steamers to get around instead. Parking in the village and at Glenridding fills quickly on fine weekends and during school holidays.

Best time to visit Patterdale

Late spring and early autumn tend to offer the most reliable combination of settled weather and quieter paths, particularly on Striding Edge, which becomes a popular bottleneck on fine summer weekends. Summer brings the longest days and the full Ullswater Steamers timetable, but also the busiest car parks and fell paths. Winter transforms Helvellyn into a serious mountaineering objective, with ice, snow and cornices on the ridges demanding proper equipment and experience — it is not a season for casual summit attempts, but the valley walks around Grisedale and the lake shore remain accessible and are often at their most atmospheric under low winter light.

Where to stay in Patterdale

Accommodation in Patterdale itself is limited but characterful, ranging from the long-established Patterdale Hotel to the YHA youth hostel and a scatter of guesthouses, self-catering cottages and farm B&Bs along the valley. Glenridding, a short walk or drive away, adds a further choice of hotels, inns and holiday lets, while campsites and glamping pods dotted along the valley cater to those who want to be closer to the fells than the lake. Booking ahead is strongly advised for weekends throughout the year, given how few beds the valley actually has relative to its popularity with walkers.

Food and drink in Patterdale

The White Lion Inn in Patterdale is the village's traditional pub, serving Lakeland ales and pub food to walkers coming off the fells. The Patterdale Hotel has its own bar and restaurant open to non-residents. A short walk along the shore into Glenridding brings further options, including the Ratherheath Kitchen, the Glenridding Hotel's bar, and several daytime cafés serving the steady stream of walkers and boat passengers passing through the village each day.