Ullswater

Ullswater is the one everybody says is their favourite, even people who'll happily argue the case for Windermere or Derwentwater. Second largest lake in the Lake District by area, it bends through the fells in a stretched Z-shape carved by three glaciers, running roughly seven miles from the hamlet of Pooley Bridge in the north down to Glenridding and Patterdale in the south. There's no motorway roar here, no big-town sprawl on the shoreline — just water, oak woodland, drystone walls and some of the steepest, most dramatic fells in the whole national park rising straight out of the lake.

What sets Ullswater apart is the sense of scale without the crowds that pile onto Windermere in August. The lake narrows and widens as it winds through three distinct reaches, each with a different character: open and gentle near Pooley Bridge, then closing in dramatically as you head south towards Glenridding, with Helvellyn and its neighbouring fells filling the skyline. Wordsworth walked here and wrote about it — the daffodils of "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud" were seen on the shore near Gowbarrow Park, on the lake's northern bank. It's a working landscape as much as a scenic one: sheep farms, a handful of small villages, and a lake that has carried passengers and freight since the Victorian steamer company was founded in 1855.

Top things to do around Ullswater

The lake itself is the main event, but the villages and fells around its shore give you plenty of reasons to stay more than a day.

• Ullswater Steamers — Working boats since 1855, when they moved ore, mail and workers between the old Greenside lead mine at Glenridding and Pooley Bridge. Today the fleet of Victorian and Edwardian-style vessels runs regular services the length of the lake, calling at Glenridding, Howtown and Pooley Bridge, and it's still one of the best ways to see Ullswater without lacing up boots.
• Aira Force — A National Trust waterfall on the lake's northern shore where Aira Beck drops around 20 metres through a narrow, wooded ravine, crossed by a Victorian stone bridge. It sits within Gowbarrow Park, whose lakeside meadows are where Wordsworth is said to have seen the daffodils that inspired his best-known poem.
• Glenridding — The largest village on the lake, at its southern tip, with a small marina, cafés, an outdoor gear shop and the terminus for most of the steamer services. It's also the standard starting point for walks up Helvellyn.
• Patterdale — A quieter hamlet just south of Glenridding, tucked beneath the fells at the head of the valley, with a scattering of guesthouses and one of the area's oldest coaching inns.
• Helvellyn and Striding Edge — England's third-highest mountain rises directly above Glenridding. The classic route up via Striding Edge is a Grade 1 scramble along a narrow, exposed arête — not for beginners, but one of the most celebrated ridge walks in the country, with a gentler path also available for those wanting the summit without the scramble.
• The Ullswater Way — A waymarked, roughly 20-mile circular walking route around the entire lake, taking in wooded shoreline, farmland and fell paths. Most visitors break it into shorter sections, using the steamers to shortcut back to their starting point rather than tackling the whole loop in one go.
• Howtown — A tiny hamlet on the quieter eastern shore, reachable by steamer or on foot, and the starting point for one of the best short stretches of the Ullswater Way, along the fellside above the water to Patterdale.

Getting to Ullswater

Ullswater sits just off the A66 and A592, roughly 20 minutes from Penrith, which has the nearest mainline railway station on the West Coast line between London and Glasgow, with regular connections to Carlisle and the north-west. From Penrith, buses and taxis run to Pooley Bridge and on to Glenridding. If you're driving from the M6, leave at Junction 40 (Penrith) and follow the A66 then A592 down the eastern side of the lake, or the minor roads via Pooley Bridge for the western approach. Roads around the lake are narrow and can be slow in peak season, particularly the stretch through Glenridding, so many visitors park once and use the steamers to get between villages rather than driving the shoreline repeatedly.

Best time to visit Ullswater

Late spring and early summer, from May to June, tend to bring the best combination of settled weather, green fells and manageable crowds, with the daffodils Wordsworth wrote about flowering earlier, in March and April, around Gowbarrow. Summer school holidays bring the busiest stretch, especially on the water and around Glenridding, though the lake rarely feels as packed as Windermere even at its peak. Autumn turns the oak woodland along the shore gold and bronze and is a favourite time for walkers tackling the Ullswater Way, while winter strips the crowds away almost entirely and can bring snow to Helvellyn's summit, transforming Striding Edge into a serious mountaineering route only for those with the right experience and equipment.

Where to stay around Ullswater

Glenridding and Patterdale have the bulk of the accommodation close to the water, ranging from traditional lakeside hotels to simple B&Bs and a YHA hostel, with Patterdale in particular popular with walkers heading up Helvellyn. Pooley Bridge at the northern end has its own smaller cluster of inns and holiday cottages, handy for those wanting quieter surroundings with easy access to Penrith. Camping and glamping sites are dotted around the fringes of the lake and in the valleys leading up towards Helvellyn, while self-catering cottages fill the villages and farms in between, giving a good spread of options whether you want to be in the thick of it or tucked away on a quiet fellside.

Food and drink around Ullswater

The Traveller's Rest in Glenridding is the classic walkers' pub, on the southern shore with views towards Helvellyn and a menu built around hearty British food — pies, fish and chips, sticky toffee pudding — best earned after a day on the fells. The Ullswater Inn, also in Glenridding, serves home-cooked pub food with lake and fell views from its terrace. Patterdale's old coaching inns offer a quieter alternative, while cafés around the Glenridding steamer pier and at Aira Force National Trust car park are useful for a stop between walks. For something more formal, the lakeside hotels around Glenridding and further along the shore run restaurants open to non-residents, generally requiring a booking in peak season.