Briery Wood sits between Ambleside and Windermere, a couple of miles from each, in seven acres of garden close to the lake shore. It is a classic Lakeland country house hotel of the sort that used to be the standard model here — unhurried, garden-facing, with a proper restaurant — and the position is genuinely useful: two towns within minutes, the lake at the bottom of the road, and the Troutbeck valley just up the hill behind.
Quick Facts
The A591 corridor between Windermere and Ambleside is the busiest few miles in the national park, and staying on it has one great advantage: everything is close. Ambleside north for the shops, the cinema, Stock Ghyll Force and the boats at Waterhead. Windermere and Bowness south for the station, the piers and the livelier shore. You can pick by weather and mood rather than by what is reachable.
The shore path towards Waterhead makes an easy, level walk with the fells opening up across the water, and Brockhole — the national park's own visitor centre — is close: gardens running down to the lake, adventure play for older children, boat hire and a decent café. Between them they will fill a gentle day without anyone getting in a car.
Behind the hotel the ground rises quickly into the Troutbeck valley, one of the best-preserved old farming valleys in the district. The village strings along the fellside in a line of historic farmhouses, and the National Trust's seventeenth-century Townend farmhouse sits at the southern end, open seasonally. It is a different world from the A591 and about ten minutes away.
The passes, the western valleys and the literary villages all need someone else driving. Our small-group tours carry seven guests at most, with Ambleside library your nearest pickup; private days collect at the hotel.
For a family group or a party with a wide spread of ages, a private day is usually the easier arrangement — collected at the hotel, moving at your pace, with the route shaped around everyone. 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.
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 & bookCar-free: workable — the 555 and 599 buses run the A591 past the door, boats go from Waterhead, and tour days handle the rest.
If you drive: Ambleside and Bowness car parks fill by mid-morning in season.
Timing: book tour days with the room — seven seats, summer dates two to three weeks out.
Ages: our tours suit adults and older children, about seven and up; younger families are better served by Brockhole and the boats.
About two miles south of Ambleside near the shore of Windermere, in roughly seven acres of gardens — a classic Lakeland country house hotel.
Ambleside library, a few minutes north — Windermere station and Bowness Pier 1 are the other two. On private tours we can usually collect you at the hotel.
Yes — it has family rooms and gardens with direct access from some rooms. Note our tours suit adults and older children, about seven and up.
Ambleside and the Waterhead piers are a few minutes north; the lakeshore path and Brockhole visitor centre are close, and Troutbeck valley is just up the hill.
We are an independent local tour operator. This guide is not affiliated with or endorsed by Briery Wood.