Guest houses · Kendal
From the people who drive these roads every day
Windermere
20–25 minby road
Levens & Sizergh
Minutessouth
Nearest pickup
Oxenholmestation, 3 miles
Private tour
£459per group, collected
The town
Market townnot a resort
Small groups
7guests at most
A private tour from Kendal
Book any of our tours as a private tour, collected from your guest house, for your party alone — or have a bespoke tour planned around your stay.
Book a private tour Plan a bespoke tourPrivate from £459 per group · small-group tours from £79 per person
Kendal's guest house stock is smaller than the Lakeland villages — this is a working market town rather than a resort — but that is rather the point. What is here is well run, considerably cheaper than anything inside the national park, walkable to a proper high street, and minutes from a main-line station. This is also our own town, so the recommendations here are home ground.
Kendal has never made its money from tourism — it was wool, then snuff, then Kendal Mint Cake and light industry — and the accommodation reflects that. There are fewer guest houses than in Windermere or Keswick, but they are correspondingly quieter, cheaper and less seasonal, and you are staying somewhere that carries on being itself in February.
It is also the practical base: motorway minutes away, main line at Oxenholme, supermarkets you can park at, and both the Lake District and the Yorkshire Dales within half an hour.
Listed by position rather than ranking — all are independently run, and the character varies considerably more than the star ratings suggest.
Short walk uphill from the centre
A Victorian house a few minutes above the town centre, well regarded for its hosting and its position — everything in Kendal is downhill from here.
Oxenholme, 3 miles out
Four-star and family-run by Bill and Pauline Connell, close to the Helm and a short walk from Oxenholme station — which is a pickup on some of our tours. Dog-friendly, with parking and cycle storage. See our Oxenholme guide.
Oxenholme, 3 miles out
A country inn in a former farmhouse below the Helm with a small number of rooms, a large beer garden and play area, and a campsite. Dog-friendly throughout, and five minutes from the station.
Edge of Kendal, by the Kent
Rooms alongside an eighteen-hole golf course on the edge of the town, with a bar and restaurant and views towards the fells.
Above the town
Kendal has several small owner-run B&Bs in Victorian townhouses on the slopes above the centre, a number of them with elevated views over the town and out to the fells. They change hands more often than the larger places — worth checking current reviews before booking.
Kendal Castle on the hill is twelfth-century, ruined, free and always open, with the best view of the town. The yards — narrow passages running off the main streets — are a survival of the wool trade and reward twenty minutes' wandering. The Brewery Arts Centre does food, film and theatre in one building, which on a wet evening answers everything. And the Quaker Tapestry in the Friends Meeting House is an extraordinary and little-known thing.
Scout Scar, west of the town, is a short walk to a limestone edge with an enormous westward view over the Lyth Valley — and almost no visitors from outside the area know it exists.
Oxenholme, three miles from the town, is a pickup on some of our tours. Your nearest small-group pickup is Oxenholme station, about three miles out, for some of our tours; private days collect you at your guest house. Private days collect at your accommodation.
Any of these can run privately, collected from your guest house, for your party alone. Our nearest small-group pickup is Oxenholme station, about three miles out, for some of our tours.
From a Kendal base a private day works particularly well — collected at the door, no drive to a departure point, and the route built around whether you want the lakes, the Dales or the great houses south. Well-behaved dogs are welcome aboard by prior arrangement, travelling safely in our vehicle crates.
Not sure which route suits your plans, or want a day built entirely from scratch — a family reunion, a wedding anniversary, scattering ashes somewhere that mattered? Tell us what you have in mind and we'll design a day around it — see our guide to celebrating a special occasion for ideas, or get in touch directly.
On private tours, yes: we collect you from your guest house and bring you back, from £459 for the group. For a small-group seat, our nearest pickup is Oxenholme station, about three miles out; each tour page lists the pickups that tour uses.
Generally yes, and often noticeably — you are outside the national park boundary. For a longer stay the difference can pay for several tour days.
About twenty to twenty-five minutes by road, or a direct branch-line train from Oxenholme.
More than its reputation suggests — the castle, the yards, Abbot Hall, the Quaker Tapestry, the Brewery Arts Centre, and Scout Scar a short walk west.
Any of our tours, run privately: your own guide and vehicle, collected from your guest house, on the date that suits you, with nobody aboard you did not bring. We don’t run every tour every day, so reserve your day when you book your stay. Already here? Call us on 015394 55507.
Arriving by train? We can collect your party at the station, go straight out on tour, and bring you to your guest house at the end of the day.
With six or seven of you, a private tour costs less per person than the small-group tour.
Book a private tourTailor-made for each booking: an anniversary, a proposal, the places and the people you most want to see.
Plan a bespoke tourSources: Levens Hall; National Trust — Sizergh; Quaker Tapestry Museum.
Lake District Tours is an independent local tour company based in Kendal. This guide is not affiliated with or endorsed by any of the places it mentions.
This page was checked by Gillian in .
Levens Hall topiary: Kevin Waterhouse, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0. Photographs are of the area rather than the hotel itself. Tour photographs are credited on each tour page.
