Lindeth Fell sits on the slope above Windermere on the Lyth Valley road, an Edwardian Arts and Crafts house with fourteen bedrooms and seven acres of garden falling away towards the lake. It is a mile from Bowness and feels considerably further, which is the entire point. This guide covers what's genuinely within reach, and how a base up here works in practice — including the bit about walking back up the hill after dinner.
Quick Facts
Arts and Crafts houses were built with their gardens as part of the design rather than an afterthought, and Lindeth Fell is a good example — terraces stepping down towards the view, mature planting, a croquet lawn and a small tarn tucked into the grounds. It is the kind of garden that rewards an hour with a pot of tea rather than a brisk circuit, and on a clear afternoon the sight-line west to the Coniston fells is as good as anything you'll pay to see.
Bowness is a mile away and downhill, which makes the walk in a pleasure and the walk back rather less so — particularly after dinner, since the last stretch of lane has no street lighting. Guests who plan an evening in the village generally walk down and taxi back, and that is the sensible arrangement. In daylight it is a genuinely nice walk either way.
Five minutes from the house, the Windermere car ferry crosses to the western shore — and that short hop puts Hill Top at Near Sawrey, Hawkshead and the quiet woods of Claife within very easy reach. Most visitors staying on this side of the lake never think to use it and end up driving the long way round via Newby Bridge. Cross early in the day and you will be at Beatrix Potter's farm before the coaches arrive.
The high passes and the far valleys are beyond comfortable reach of any single base, and the driving is the least enjoyable part of a Lakes holiday. Our small-group tours carry seven guests at most; Bowness Pier 1 is your nearest pickup, five minutes down the hill.
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 & bookThe terraced planting turns properly through October — deep russets and golds stepping down the hillside — and the sight-line west to the Coniston fells, already the reason to sit out with a pot of tea, gets sharper and more dramatic as the autumn light comes in lower and the summer haze finally clears. Sit out wrapped up against the chill and watch the light change minute by minute as the sun drops behind the fells; it's a different view every ten minutes, and worth losing an afternoon to.
It's worth crossing on the car ferry earlier in the day than usual if you're heading for Hill Top: most Beatrix Potter sites run a shorter autumn season before closing for winter, so an early crossing across the golden, mist-touched woods of the western shore is both the quieter route and, later in the season, the only one that still works. The small tarn in the grounds holds the colour of the trees around it beautifully once the leaves properly turn — still water, burnished reflection, and barely another soul about.
For a stay in a house this quiet, a private day fits the mood — collected at the door, no departure time to walk down the hill for, and a route shaped around your party. Well-behaved dogs are welcome aboard our private tours, 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.
Without a car: workable — taxis handle the hill, Bowness Pier 1 is your tour pickup, and the boats do the rest.
Parking in Bowness: fills by mid-morning in season. Braithwaite Fold and Glebe Road are the sensible options if you do drive down.
Evenings: book the taxi back before you go down, particularly in winter.
Ages: our tours suit adults and older children, about seven and up.
About a mile south of Bowness — roughly a twenty to thirty minute walk downhill, though most guests take a taxi back up in the evening, as the last stretch of lane is unlit.
Bowness Pier 1, about five minutes away by taxi. Windermere station and Ambleside library are our other two pickups. On private tours we can usually collect you at the house.
Around seven acres of mature gardens with a terrace, croquet lawn and a small tarn, looking west over Windermere towards the Coniston fells.
It sits somewhere between the two — an Edwardian Arts and Crafts country house with fourteen bedrooms, run with the feel of a private house rather than a large hotel.
We are an independent local tour operator. This guide is not affiliated with or endorsed by Lindeth Fell Country House.