Borrowdale is the valley that changes people's minds about the Lake District. South of Derwentwater the road narrows between wooded crags — the Jaws of Borrowdale — and beyond them opens a string of small hamlets, oak woods, and some of the most dramatic country in England. If you have booked a hotel, inn or guest house anywhere along it, this guide is for you: which hamlet is which, what is genuinely on the doorstep, and the practical business of a valley with one shop.
Quick Facts
This confuses people at booking, because the addresses all say Borrowdale. Working up the valley from the lake:
Grange sits just past the Jaws, with its double-arched bridge and a couple of tea rooms — the gentlest and most sociable end. Rosthwaite is the valley's centre of gravity: the shop, a couple of hotels, and where the Coast to Coast crosses the Cumbria Way. Stonethwaite is up a short side valley and quieter again, with one very good inn. Longthwaite holds the youth hostel by the river. Seatoller sits at the foot of Honister with the valley closing in properly. And Seathwaite, a farm and a lane at the very head, is where serious walkers start for Scafell Pike and Great Gable.
Three things within a short walk or drive that most visitors miss at least one of.
The Bowder Stone is a two-thousand-tonne boulder standing improbably on one edge, with a ladder up it. It has been a tourist attraction since the eighteenth century, which is a strange and rather charming thing in itself.
Castle Crag is the smallest fell Wainwright gave a chapter to, and among the best value: a short sharp climb through old slate quarry workings to a summit that looks straight down the valley and out over Derwentwater. Ninety minutes, and worth ten times the effort.
Watendlath sits up a single-track side road above the valley — a tarn, a packhorse bridge and a handful of buildings owned by the National Trust. The road is narrow and the parking small; go early, or walk up from Rosthwaite instead, which is the better way anyway.
The oak woodland along the valley is temperate rainforest — a genuinely rare habitat, kept alive by the extraordinary rainfall, and carrying mosses, liverworts and ferns you will not see in a normal English wood. Johnny Wood near Longthwaite is the easiest place to see it properly. And in the valley stand the Borrowdale yews, the survivors of the group Wordsworth wrote about in Yew-Trees — the "fraternal four", one of which came down in a storm two centuries ago. Standing under the remaining ones is one of the quieter pleasures in the Lakes.
Beyond Seatoller the road climbs Honister Pass at one in four, past the working slate mine at the top and down into Buttermere. It is spectacular and it is steep, and it is not much fun in a large vehicle or in poor weather. Driven in good conditions it is one of the great short drives in England.
Supplies: Rosthwaite has the only shop. Do the main shop in Keswick on the way in.
Parking: the National Trust car parks at Bowder Stone, Rosthwaite and Seatoller fill very early — before nine in season, or not at all. The 78 bus is genuinely the better answer.
Dinner: several places in the valley serve at a set time and need booking ahead; one long-established guest house at Seatoller seats everyone together at seven. Worth knowing before you arrive rather than after.
Seasons: some valley accommodation closes over winter. Check dates carefully if you are booking November to March.
Rain: Seathwaite is the wettest inhabited place in England. This is not a rumour. Bring the proper coat.
Borrowdale is magnificent and genuinely remote from the rest of the national park — the passes out are steep and slow, and Windermere is a long way south. Our scheduled small-group tours depart from Windermere station, Bowness Pier 1 and Ambleside library, none of which is practical as a day trip from here.
From Borrowdale this is simply how it works — the scheduled pickups are a long drive south over the passes, so a private day collected at your accommodation saves the entire journey and shapes the route around your party. From here it can run north into the quieter fells, or south to Windermere, Grasmere and the famous names. Well-behaved dogs are welcome aboard, travelling safely in the crates our vehicles carry.
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.
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 & bookThe valley runs south from Derwentwater through Grange, then Rosthwaite, with Stonethwaite up a side valley, then Longthwaite and Seatoller, and Seathwaite at the very head. They are minutes apart by car but feel quite different — Grange is the gentlest, Seatoller the wildest.
One, at Rosthwaite. Do a proper shop in Keswick on your way in, particularly if you are staying at the head of the valley.
On private tours, yes — we collect at your hotel or guest house. Our scheduled departures leave Windermere station, Bowness Pier 1 and Ambleside library, all a long drive south, so private touring is the realistic option from here.
Better than you might expect. The 78 bus runs the valley to Keswick frequently in season, and the Derwentwater launches call at Lodore and High Brandelhow. Services thin out considerably in winter.
Seathwaite, at the head of the valley, is the wettest inhabited place in England — around 3,300mm a year. Pack accordingly, and take some comfort in the fact that it is also why the woods are so extraordinary.
We are an independent local tour operator. This guide is not affiliated with or endorsed by any hotel, inn or guest house in Borrowdale.