Rydal Water, Lake District

Small groups · Expert guides · The Lake District properly

A day in the Lakes
you will never forget

Most people visit the Lake District and see the edges of things. They miss the stories, the names, the reason it all looks the way it does. We put a guide in the vehicle with you — and by the time you return to Windermere, the landscape means something it did not mean when you left.

Browse Tours & Prices Guides & Journal

Book online in minutes · Instant confirmation · Free cancellation up to 24 hours

5.0★TripAdvisor
7Max guests
£79From per person
TrainPick-up included
7Max guests per tour
9Tours to choose from
FreeCancellation up to 24hrs
TrainRail pick-up at Windermere & Oxenholme

In season now

The Lake District in autumn

The bracken turns whole fellsides the colour of rust, the roads empty out, and the waterfalls start running properly again. When the colour peaks, what's still open, short walks and the tours that suit the season.

Read the autumn guide →

Lake District Tours at a glance

Lake District Tours runs small-group guided tours of the Lake District, the Yorkshire Dales and Brontë Country, departing from Windermere in Cumbria. Every tour carries a maximum of seven guests and is led by a specialist guide — in geology and wildlife, Wordsworth and Victorian literature, or Brontë social history. Scheduled half-day and full-day tours cost from £79 per person; private tours are from £459 per group. We pick up from Windermere station, Bowness Pier 1, Ambleside and Oxenholme Lake District station, so no car is needed. Every booking includes free cancellation up to 24 hours before the tour.

Our tours

Find the day that's right for you

Whether you have a morning, an afternoon or a full day, there is a tour built around it. All tours depart from Windermere — most also pick up from Bowness and Ambleside.

Derwentwater — 8 Lakes Morning Tour
Scenic Morning · 9am–1pm

8 Lakes Morning Tour

Eight lakes, Castlerigg Stone Circle, Surprise View and Grasmere Gingerbread. A morning in the Lake District you will still be talking about at dinner.

£79 per person
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Ullswater in afternoon light — 8 Lakes Afternoon Tour
Scenic Afternoon · 2pm–6pm

8 Lakes Afternoon Tour

The same eight lakes and stone circle — in the afternoon light that makes Ullswater and the drive home through Ambleside so beautiful. £79 per person.

£79 per person
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Near Sawrey — Beatrix Potter Hidden Country Morning
Literary Morning · 9am–1pm · Village walk

Beatrix Potter — Hidden Country

The morning tour — with the Near Sawrey village walk exclusive to this session. Hill Top entry included. The full conservation story.

£79 per person
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Windermere lake — Beatrix Potter Hill Top and Windermere Cruise Afternoon
Literary Afternoon · ends Bowness · Cruise included

Beatrix Potter — Hill Top & Windermere Cruise

The afternoon tour — ending with a Windermere Lake Cruises boat from Ambleside. Hill Top entry included. The tour with the most memorable finale.

£99 per person
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Grasmere — Wordsworth Morning Tour
Literary Morning · 9am–1pm

Wordsworth Morning Tour

Dove Cottage entry included. Early arrival before the crowds. Grasmere churchyard, Dora's Field and the Rydal Hall Grot. £79 per person.

£79 per person
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Rydal Water in late afternoon — Wordsworth Afternoon Tour
Literary Afternoon · 2pm–5:30pm

Wordsworth Afternoon Tour

Dove Cottage entry included. Late afternoon light on Rydal Water. The quieter, more reflective session — a gentle afternoon you will carry home.

£79 per person
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Ullswater from Pooley Bridge — the Ullswater Steamers cruise
Full Day · Most Popular 9am–6:30pm · Cruise included Mar–Oct

The 10 Lakes Full-day Tour with Ullswater Cruise

Ten lakes. Four mountain passes. An hour on Ullswater by cruise. England's last working slate mine. A guide talking throughout every mile. Most visitors say it is the finest single day out they have ever had in England.

£169 per person
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Haworth moors — the landscape of Wuthering Heights
Literary · 3 Counties Full Day · Parsonage Entry Included

Brontë Country Day Trip

If you love Jane Eyre or Wuthering Heights, this is the day that makes them real. Wycoller Hall, Haworth Parsonage, three counties. Most guests say they want to reread the books on the train home.

£179 per person
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Yorkshire Dales — All Creatures Great and Small country
TV Locations Full Day · Yorkshire Dales

All Creatures Great & Small

Every filming location from the beloved series — Skeldale House, Alderson Farm, the church where James and Helen married. The Yorkshire Dales as you have never seen them.

£169 pp
Find out more →

How it works

Booked in three steps

1

Choose your day

Pick a scheduled tour above, or tell us what you love and we will build a private day around it. Every tour page shows dates, prices and exactly what is included.

2

Book online in minutes

Select your date and departure point, pay securely, and receive instant email confirmation. Prefer to talk it through first? Call 015394 55507.

3

Step off the train — we are there

Tell us your arrival time and we coordinate the pick-up at Windermere or Oxenholme. From that moment, the day is taken care of.

Why tour with us

The difference a good expert storyteller actually makes

The Lake District is one of England's greatest landscapes — and one of its most congested. On a summer Saturday, Windermere car parks fill before 9am. The Kirkstone Pass queues for miles. Grasmere becomes gridlock.

Our tours take all of that away. You step off the train, we pick you up, and from that moment the Lakes is yours.

Maximum 7 guests

Small enough that the expert storyteller knows your name, stops anywhere and changes plans when something better presents itself.

Commentary throughout every mile

We give a continuous running commentary throughout every journey. No dead time between stops. Every viewpoint, every valley explained as you pass it.

Train arrivals welcome

Pick-up from Windermere and Oxenholme stations as standard. You do not need a car to have the best day the Lakes has to offer.

Free cancellation up to 24 hours

Life happens. Cancel up to 24 hours before for a full refund. No forms, no fuss.

★★★★★

"By the end of the day I understood what I had been looking at for the first time. I have been coming to the Lakes for twenty years."

Margaret T.

The 10 Lakes Full-day Tour · Edinburgh

For your group alone

Private tours & bespoke experiences

Every tour we run is available exclusively for your group. Or start from scratch — a day built entirely around your interests, your subject, your questions.

Private Tours

Your tour.
Nobody else's.

The expert storyteller knows whose birthday it is before you arrive. That single fact changes the quality of the day. No other guests. Your pace. Your questions. The expert storyteller's full attention on your group for the whole day.

From £459 per group · up to 7 guests

See Private Tours →

Bespoke Tours

A day nobody
else has ever had

Tell us what you are curious about. Geology, literary history, family history, industrial heritage, Arthur Ransome, John Ruskin — we build a day around it. Start with a conversation.

From £459 per group · up to 7 guests

Start a Conversation →

The Lakes through the year

Every season is the right season

Spring · March–May

Daffodils at Ullswater. Bluebells in Borrowdale.

The week Dora's Field at Rydal is carpeted in daffodils is the finest week of the Wordsworth tour's year. The bluebells in Borrowdale peak in the first week of May.

Summer · June–August

Long days. Osprey on Bassenthwaite Lake.

Daylight until 10pm in June. The osprey are on Bassenthwaite Lake from April through August. Hill Top is at its busiest — pre-booked entry means no queue.

Autumn · September–November

The finest light of the year.

October is when our expert storytellers would choose to visit. The bracken turns copper, the birch goes gold, the crowds thin, and the light on Ullswater in the afternoon is extraordinary.

Read the autumn guide →

Winter · December–February

Snow on the fells. The Lakes to yourself.

The Lake District in winter is quieter, stranger and more atmospheric than the summer version. The Brontë moors in January are exactly as Emily Brontë described them.

What guests say

We would rather you heard it from them

★★★★★

"By the end of the day I understood what I had been looking at for the first time. I have been coming to the Lakes for twenty years."

Margaret T.

The 10 Lakes Full-day Tour · Edinburgh

★★★★★

"Gillian was an outstanding guide — incredibly knowledgeable, engaging, and full of stories that really brought the Lake District to life."

Recent Guest

Brontë Country Day Trip · TripAdvisor 2026

★★★★★

"I will be haunted by it forever — in a nice way. Well worth catching the train from London. I know I will be doing this tour again and again."

London Guest

Brontë Country Day Trip · TripAdvisor 2026

Read all reviews on TripAdvisor — 5.0 stars → Read all reviews on Google — 5.0 stars →

Joining from elsewhere

You don't need to be staying in the Lakes

We pick up from Windermere and Oxenholme stations — both on the West Coast Main Line. A day trip from London, Manchester or Edinburgh is entirely practical.

London ~3hrs Manchester ~90min Edinburgh ~2hrs Leeds ~90min Birmingham ~2hrs Glasgow ~2hrs All cities →

Arriving by train?

Step off the train. We are there.

Windermere station and Oxenholme Lake District station are both served by direct trains on the West Coast Main Line. Tell us your arrival time when booking and we will coordinate the pickup. No car needed, no parking to find, no navigation.

Know the Lakes before you arrive

315 guides & journal entries — written by the expert storytellers

Every lake, pass, literary connection, wildlife highlight and seasonal moment — covered in depth by the people who know it best.

Scenic

Ullswater — Is This the Most Beautiful Lake?

Literary

What Beatrix Potter Actually Did for the Lake District

Brontë Country

Haworth — A Complete Guide for Visitors

Wildlife

Osprey on Bassenthwaite Lake — England's Remarkable Story

Scenic

Castlerigg — What Nobody Tells You Before You Visit

Bespoke

The Geology of the Lake District — A Bespoke Theme

Seasonal

October — Why Our Expert Storytellers Think Autumn Is the Best

Private Tours

Celebrating a Special Occasion
Browse all 315 guides and journal entries →

Five ways into the landscape

Explore by theme

Not sure where to start? Plan your visit first — then follow the thread that interests you most through tours, guides and stories built around it.

Plan Your Visit

Plan Your Visit

Getting here, where to stay, when to come, and which tour fits your trip.

Explore →
Scenic & Nature

Scenic & Nature

Ten lakes, four mountain passes, and a Dark Sky Reserve next door in the Yorkshire Dales.

Explore →
Gardens of Cumbria & the Lakes

Gardens

Levens Hall's 1694 topiary, Sizergh's rock garden, and the gardens writers designed themselves.

Explore →
Heritage & History

Heritage & History

Roman forts, Norse place-names, a lived-in medieval pele tower and two thousand years of one small region.

Explore →
Literary Lake District & Dales

Literary Lake District

Wordsworth, Beatrix Potter, James Herriot and the Brontës — four literary worlds, one trip.

Explore →

Who you will spend the day with

Four expert storytellers. Between them, a remarkable range of knowledge.

Lake District Tours was co-founded in 2021 by Tim and Gillian, with Sandra joining as a founding member. Steve has since joined as a fourth guide — four different lenses on the same landscape.

Tim, co-founder and lead guide

Tim

Co-Founder · Guide & Driver

Geologist, natural historian and wildlife specialist. Knows the Lake District landscape in a depth that comes from years of studying and walking it. Leads scenic, natural history and Beatrix Potter tours.

GeologyWildlifeBeatrix PotterPrehistory
Gillian, co-founder and specialist expert storyteller

Gillian

Co-Founder · Specialist Guide

Former university librarian and archivist, now happier telling stories than filing them. Late medieval and early modern history, Victorian literature and art history. Usually leads our Wordsworth and Brontë tours.

Victorian LitArt HistoryBrontëWordsworth
Sandra, founding member and guide

Sandra

Founding Member · Guide & Driver

Social historian specialising from the Industrial Revolution through WWII. Yorkshire-born, 40 years in the Lakes. The warmth and local knowledge that makes every day feel like a visit with a friend.

Social HistoryIndustrialYorkshireWWII
S

Steve

Guide & Driver

Astronomer, weather-watcher and landscape archaeologist. Previously in IT, now spends his days pointing out things in the sky and the ground that most people walk straight past.

AstronomyMeteorologyLandscape ArchaeologyNature
Meet the expert storytellers in full →

Before you book

Questions people ask before they book

Every tour can be booked directly online — select your date and departure point on the tour page, pay securely, and you receive instant email confirmation. Prefer phone or email? Call 015394 55507 and we will arrange it.

Yes — free cancellation up to 24 hours before your tour, with a full refund. Date changes are free too, subject to availability.

Never more than seven. That is a hard maximum on every tour we run — small enough that your guide knows your name, stops anywhere, and changes plans when something better presents itself.

No. We pick up from Windermere station, Bowness Pier 1, Ambleside (the Library on Kelsick Road) and Oxenholme Lake District station — both stations are on the West Coast Main Line, so a day trip from London, Manchester or Edinburgh is entirely practical.

Your seat, your expert guide's full commentary throughout every mile, and all driving and parking. Each tour page lists exactly what is included — and the few things (like attraction entry on certain tours) that are not.

Tours run in all weather — the Lakes in mist and rain is often the most atmospheric version of it — and your guide adapts the route to make the most of the day. If we ever have to cancel, you receive a full refund or a free transfer to another date.

Every tour can be booked directly online — select your date and departure point on the tour page, pay securely, and you receive instant email confirmation. You can also book by phone on 015394 55507.
No. Tours pick up from Windermere station, Bowness Pier 1, Ambleside and Oxenholme Lake District station — both stations are on the West Coast Main Line, so a day trip from London, Manchester or Edinburgh is practical.

See all 37 questions on our FAQ page →

The Expert Storytellers' Journal

Seasonal notes from the Lakes

When the bluebells peak in Borrowdale. When the osprey arrive. Which week in October the bracken is at its finest. Once a month during the season — from the expert storytellers who are there.

Monthly during the season · Quarterly in winter · Unsubscribe any time