Whinlatter · above Braithwaite
Things to do near Cottage in the Wood —
a local guide
From the people who drive these roads every day
Whinlatter · above Braithwaite
From the people who drive these roads every day
Keswick
10 mindown the pass
Height
1,000 ftin Whinlatter Forest
Nearest pickup
Amblesideabout an hour
Private full day
£915per group, collected
Michelin
One Starin the restaurant
Small groups
7guests at most
A private full day from Cottage in the Wood
A full-day private tour, collected where you are staying, for your party alone — or a bespoke tour planned around your stay. Tell us you are staying at Cottage in the Wood and we confirm the pickup and times.
Book a private full day Plan a bespoke tourPrivate full day £915 per group · bespoke from £459
You are staying a thousand feet up in the only real mountain forest in England, which is a rarer thing than it sounds and worth making the most of. Everything good about being here comes from the altitude and the trees — including, on a clear night, one of the darkest skies in the country.
Whinlatter is England's only true mountain forest, and Forestry England run it properly — waymarked walking, serious mountain biking on the Altura trails, and a visitor centre with live cameras on the ospreys in season. The Comb Beck and Spout Force walks start close by and are short enough to do before dinner.
Red squirrels are really present here rather than theoretically present. Early morning, quietly, near the feeders, is the way to see one.
This is the part most guides miss. Away from Keswick's lights and high enough to be above a good deal of the valley haze, the sky here on a clear moonless night is really dark — the Milky Way visible as a structure rather than a smudge. Step out of the light, give your eyes twenty minutes to adjust properly, and look south.
Autumn and winter are the seasons for it, when the nights are long and the air is cold and dry. Bring more layers than you think you need; a thousand feet makes a real difference to how cold standing still feels.
Down the pass and you are at Braithwaite, then Portinscale, then Keswick — the launch, the lake, and Catbells across the water. Derwentwater is the most sociable of the lakes and the launches make a circuit of it, which is the easy way to see the shoreline without a long walk.
Castlerigg Stone Circle is just east of Keswick, on a shelf of ground with mountains on every horizon. It is managed by English Heritage on National Trust land, it is free, and it is best at either end of the day when the coaches are elsewhere.
The restaurant at the cottage holds one Michelin Star and has since 2019. We have a full day-planning guide for dining there, including the plain version of driving back down a wooded pass in the dark.
From here, any of the full-day tours can run privately, collected where you are staying, and the morning and afternoon tours pair into one full day; or we plan a bespoke tour around your stay. If you have a car, our nearest small-group pickup is Ambleside library, the better part of an hour south.
Our nearest small-group pickup is Ambleside library, the better part of an hour south; a private full day starts from where you are staying. That makes a scheduled tour a long day from Whinlatter.
The standing rule for private tours is worth knowing: Keswick and the further-out locations are full-day private only, unless you are booking two half-day privates on the same day. For a stay up here, a full private day is the arrangement that works.
The pass: good road, steep, wooded and unlit. Different in the dark and different again in ice.
Keswick parking: busy from mid-morning in season. Go early or go late.
Weather: a thousand feet up, you will often be in cloud when the valley is clear — and occasionally the other way round, which is spectacular.
Dogs: welcome on our private and bespoke tours by prior arrangement, in the crates our vehicles carry. Not on scheduled departures.
On Whinlatter Pass above Braithwaite, near Keswick, around a thousand feet up in Whinlatter Forest. Keswick and Derwentwater are about ten minutes down the pass.
Keswick and the further-out locations are full-day private only, unless you book two half-day private tours on the same day, or we plan a bespoke tour around where you are staying. Our small-group pickups are the better part of an hour south.
On a clear, moonless night, yes — you are above much of the valley haze and away from Keswick's lights. Give your eyes twenty minutes to adapt and bring more layers than you think you need.
Yes, one Michelin Star, held since 2019. We have a separate day-planning guide for dining there.
Up here a day out runs as a full-day private booking or a bespoke tour planned around where you are staying.
A private full day is £915 for the group, your own guide and vehicle, with nobody aboard you did not bring. Tell us you are staying at Cottage in the Wood and we confirm the pickup and times before anything is booked.
Arriving by train? We can collect your party at the station, go straight out on tour, and bring you to the hotel at the end of the day.
Book a private full dayTailor-made for each booking, half day from £459 or full day from £942 per group: the places and the people you most want to see.
Plan a bespoke tourSources: The Cottage in the Wood; Forestry England — Whinlatter; Keswick Launch.
Lake District Tours is an independent local tour company based in Kendal. This guide is not affiliated with or endorsed by The Cottage in the Wood.
This page was checked by Gillian in .
Photographs are of the area rather than the hotel itself. Tour photographs are credited on each tour page.
