Forest Side was built in 1853 for a wealthy Manchester man who wanted a Gothic mansion in the best village in England, and after a long quiet period it has been thoroughly brought back. Today it sits in forty-three acres of woodland and garden on the Keswick road just outside Grasmere, with a Victorian walled kitchen garden that genuinely supplies the kitchen. This guide covers the estate, the village below, and the days out beyond the valley.
Quick Facts
Plenty of hotels mention a kitchen garden. This one grows well over a hundred varieties of vegetable and herb, chemical-free, and the restaurant is built around what comes out of it — the rest sourced within about ten miles or foraged locally. The practical consequence for a guest is that the garden is worth walking before dinner rather than after, because you will recognise things. The absence of chemicals is also why the woodland behind still holds red squirrels and roe deer.
The village is close enough to walk and small enough to know completely — St Oswald's churchyard with the Wordsworth graves beneath the yews, the gingerbread shop in the old village school beside the church gate, and Dove Cottage a short stroll further on. Go early or late; the middle of the day belongs to the coaches, and by five the village is quiet again.
The circuit from Grasmere round to Rydal Water and back is about four miles with no serious climbing, and takes in two lakes, a cave and Wordsworth's later home at Rydal. It is the best low-level walk in the central Lakes and it starts effectively at the end of the drive.
Grasmere is small, which is its charm and its limit. Our small-group tours carry seven guests at most and pick up at Ambleside library ten minutes down the valley; private days collect at the hotel.
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 & bookAutumn is when the kitchen garden shows its full range. Walk it in the low afternoon light and the smell alone tells the story — damp earth, the sweetness of the last squashes, herbs releasing their scent as you brush past — with roots coming in alongside the season's foraging, and the menu shifting to match almost week by week. The woodland behind turns properly through October, a canopy of deep amber and rust overhead, and it is the best time of year to spot the red squirrels, noticeably busier and bolder now as they dart between branches caching for winter.
The Grasmere-to-Rydal circuit is at its finest now too: the same easy four miles, but with both lakes doubling a full, blazing range of autumn colour on their still surfaces, and St Oswald's churchyard deep in fallen leaves around the Wordsworth graves, the yews darkening overhead. There's a particular hush to that churchyard in October — go before the frost strips the trees bare, while the light is still gold and low enough to catch every leaf on its way down.
For a stay built around the dining room and the garden, a private day is the easy fit — collected at the door, back in good time to change, and the route shaped to your party. Forest Side welcomes dogs, and so do we on private tours, where they travel 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.
Without a car: the village needs none; the 555 bus runs the A591 corridor, and tour days cover the rest.
Parking in Grasmere: the village car parks fill by mid-morning in season — walk down from the hotel instead.
Timing: book tour days when you book the room, particularly in daffodil season.
Ages: our tours suit adults and older children, about seven and up.
On the Keswick road just outside Grasmere village, a Victorian Gothic mansion in 43 acres of woodland and gardens.
Ambleside library, about ten minutes down the valley — Windermere station and Bowness Pier 1 are the other two. On private tours we can usually collect you at the hotel.
Yes, it welcomes dogs. Well-behaved dogs are also welcome on our private tours, travelling safely in the crates our vehicles carry, though not on scheduled departures.
The Victorian walled garden grows well over a hundred varieties of vegetables and herbs without chemicals, supplying the restaurant directly and supporting red squirrels and roe deer in the surrounding woodland.
We are an independent local tour operator. This guide is not affiliated with or endorsed by Forest Side.