Short walk uphill from the centre
Hillside Bed & Breakfast
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.
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.
Quick Facts
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 point on our full-day 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 point on our full-day tours. For half-day tours our pickups are Windermere station, Bowness Pier 1 and Ambleside library, around twenty-five minutes away. Private days collect at your accommodation.
The grand sweep: ten lakes, the high passes between them, and an Ullswater Steamers cruise exclusive to this tour. If a celebration stay deserves one great day out, this is it.
See dates & bookCollected at the door, your party only, the day shaped to you — literary landscapes, hidden valleys, or simply the most beautiful roads we know. Well-behaved dogs are welcome aboard in our vehicle crates.
Enquire about a private dayDove Cottage at Grasmere — entry included as standard — and the valleys that made the poems, with Dora's Field carpeted gold in daffodil season. The right literary day for this most Georgian of addresses.
See dates & bookAcross the lake to Hill Top and Near Sawrey, with our illustration-matching walk through the village lanes — back for a long lakeside lunch.
See dates & bookThe afternoon version crosses the lake by boat rather than by road — worth choosing if you'd like the crossing itself to be part of the day.
See dates & bookA slow hall morning, then eight lakes and their valleys at a seven-seat pace — the most civilised way to spend a Lakeland afternoon.
See dates & bookThe same eight lakes as the afternoon tour, run the opposite way round in the morning — ideal if you'd rather keep your afternoon free for the lawns.
See dates & bookA full literary day east to Haworth — the Parsonage, the cobbled village, and the moors that gave Wuthering Heights its weather, newly magnetic with the recent film. Oxenholme pickup available.
See dates & bookInto the Dales for Grassington's "Darrowby", the Wensleydale Creamery, Kilnsey Crag and Bolton Abbey — filming locations brought to life around you with live scene technology.
See dates & bookFrom 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, 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.
Oxenholme, three miles out, is a pickup point on our full-day tours — the Ultimate (The 10 Lakes Full-day Tour), Brontë Country and All Creatures Great and Small. For half-day tours our pickups are Windermere station, Bowness Pier 1 and Ambleside library. Private tours can collect at your accommodation.
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.
We are an independent local tour operator. This guide is not affiliated with or endorsed by any guest house or bed and breakfast listed. Small businesses change hands — please check current details directly before booking.