Aynsome Manor sits in its own grounds just outside Cartmel, a short walk or shorter drive from the village square, and has recently been through a full refurbishment. It is dog-friendly, quiet, and positioned so that you can eat at one of the best restaurants in Britain and be back within a few minutes. This guide covers the village and the country round it.
Quick Facts
This is the practical advantage of staying at the edge of a village with three Michelin stars in it. L'Enclume holds three, plus a Green Star; Rogan & Co holds one; and both are a walk rather than a drive from here. Book both well ahead — L'Enclume in particular goes months out — and plan the rest of the week around which evenings you have.
The village pubs are genuinely good too, and considerably easier to get into.
Cartmel Priory, founded around 1190, escaped the Dissolution because part of it served as the parish church and the villagers successfully argued they could not lose it. The result is a church on a cathedral scale in a village of a few hundred people, still in use, free to enter, and holding a superb fifteenth-century east window. Twenty minutes, and among the most rewarding twenty minutes in the south of the county.
Cartmel Racecourse holds a few National Hunt meetings a year in the village fields — unlike racing anywhere else, and the village fills completely, so book ahead if your dates coincide. Holker Hall nearby has award-winning gardens and a very fine Victorian interior, and we run tours there. Grange-over-Sands, ten minutes east, has the promenade and Hampsfell behind it.
Our scheduled tours depart Windermere station, Bowness Pier 1 and Ambleside library — around forty minutes north. Oxenholme, for our full-day tours, is a similar run. From Cartmel a private day collected at the door is generally the easier arrangement.
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 Cartmel a private day saves the drive north entirely — collected at the door, no departure time, and the route shaped around your party. It also means nobody has to think about driving home after dinner. 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.
A short walk down the lane — a few minutes on foot to the square and the priory.
Yes — it is in the village, a walk rather than a drive. Book well ahead; it fills months in advance.
Yes. Well-behaved dogs are also welcome on our private tours, travelling safely in our vehicle crates.
Windermere station, Bowness Pier 1 and Ambleside library, around forty minutes north. Private tours can collect at the door.
We are an independent local tour operator. This guide is not affiliated with or endorsed by Aynsome Manor.