The Keswick Country House Hotel is one of the town's oldest, a substantial Victorian building in four acres of gardens beside Fitz Park, with Skiddaw standing behind it and the market square a couple of minutes' walk away. It arrived with the railway, when Keswick reinvented itself from a mining town into a place people came to on purpose — and it has been putting visitors up ever since. This guide covers the town, the lake, and how touring works from the north.
Quick Facts
Keswick was a working town long before it was a holiday one — graphite mining first, then the pencil industry that grew out of it. That history is why the place still feels like somewhere people live rather than a resort: a proper market square with a market on it, outdoor shops that serve fell-walkers rather than souvenir hunters, and pubs that fill with people who have been up something. The Theatre by the Lake is a genuinely good regional theatre, not a tourist attraction, and worth checking the programme for.
A mile east of town, Castlerigg Stone Circle sits in an open field ringed by mountains on every side — Blencathra, Skiddaw, Helvellyn, the Dodds. It is around five thousand years old and it is free, open, and unfenced. Everyone goes at lunchtime. Go at first light or last light instead, when the fells are doing something with the sky and there may be nobody else there at all. It is a twenty-minute walk uphill from the hotel, or a two-minute drive.
Ten minutes through Fitz Park and down brings you to the lake. The Keswick launches work as a circular bus service, calling at jetties round the shore — ride to Hawes End for Catbells, the most-climbed small fell in England and a genuinely excellent short walk, then sail back. Or simply do the full circuit for one of the best-value hours in the north.
Our scheduled small-group tours depart from Windermere station, Bowness Pier 1 and Ambleside library — all a fair drive south over or around the passes. Joining one as a day trip from Keswick is not practical. A private day collected at the hotel is the answer, and from here it can go either way: deeper into the northern and western fells that most visitors never reach, or south to the famous central lakes.
From Keswick this is the practical route rather than an upsell — the scheduled pickups are a long drive south, so a private day collected at the hotel saves the journey and shapes the route around your party. 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 & bookWithout a car: Keswick is one of the better Lakeland towns for it — launches on the lake, the 78 into Borrowdale, the 555 south, and plenty walkable.
Parking: the town car parks fill by mid-morning in season, and the Borrowdale ones fill earlier still.
Weather: the northern fells make their own; carry a layer even on a promising morning.
Ages: our tours suit adults and older children, about seven and up.
Beside Fitz Park on the edge of Keswick town centre, in around four acres of gardens — a couple of minutes' walk from the market square.
On private tours, yes — we collect at the hotel. Our scheduled departures leave Windermere station, Bowness Pier 1 and Ambleside library, all a considerable drive south, so private touring suits guests staying in Keswick far better.
A great deal without a car: Derwentwater and the launches, the Theatre by the Lake, the market square, Castlerigg Stone Circle a mile out, and Fitz Park on the doorstep.
For the northern and western fells, outstanding. For Windermere, Grasmere and the southern lakes it is a fair drive over the passes — which is exactly what a guided day is for.
We are an independent local tour operator. This guide is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Keswick Country House Hotel.