Most places in this corner mention Beatrix Potter. Monk Coniston can say she owned the estate — and that in buying it she put Tarn Hows into public hands. She bought the whole thing in 1930, sold half to the National Trust at cost because the Trust could not afford the lot, and went on managing the remainder herself until she died. If you are staying here you are on the land she saved, and this guide starts there.
Quick Facts
In 1930 the Monk Coniston estate came up for sale — around four thousand acres running from Coniston up towards Little Langdale, Tarn Hows included. Beatrix Potter bought the lot, largely to stop it being broken up and developed. The National Trust could afford half, so she sold them half at cost and kept the rest, farming and managing it herself for the remaining thirteen years of her life. When she died it all went to the Trust.
It is worth sitting with that for a moment. The single most photographed beauty spot in this part of the Lake District is public land because a children's author bought it with book money and gave it away. She was, by every account, a considerably better land manager than she was given credit for at the time.
It is minutes away and it is genuinely lovely — a landscaped tarn ringed by conifers with the Coniston fells behind, and a level accessible path right round it. It is also extremely popular, and the car park fills by mid-morning through the season. Staying this close is a real advantage: walk or drive up before nine, have it more or less to yourself, and be back for breakfast.
The village is a short drive: slate-grey, working, and with two very different stories attached. Brantwood, across the water, was John Ruskin's home for the last thirty years of his life — the most influential art critic of the Victorian age, and the house is full of his own drawings and collections. And Donald Campbell died on this lake in 1967 attempting the water speed record; the Ruskin Museum in the village tells that story properly, and holds Bluebird material.
You are on the correct side of the water for Beatrix Potter's own country. Hawkshead has the Beatrix Potter Gallery in what were her husband's solicitor's offices, and the grammar school where Wordsworth was educated. Hill Top at Near Sawrey — the farm she bought in 1905 and kept exactly as she wanted it — is a short drive on. Our Beatrix Potter tours cover this ground with a guide who knows which illustration matches which gate.
This side of the district is quiet and slightly awkward to get out of — the roads over to Windermere are narrow and slow. A private day collected at the house is generally the easier arrangement.
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 & bookFrom this side of the district a private day makes particular sense — the roads out are narrow and the scheduled pickups are a drive over the hills, so we collect at the house instead and shape the route around your party. 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.
A car helps. Bus service on this side is limited, though the Coniston–Hawkshead–Ambleside route runs seasonally.
Tarn Hows parking: before nine, or walk up from below. It fills completely by late morning in season.
Roads: narrow, walled and slow. Allow more time than the mileage suggests, particularly over Hawkshead Hill.
Ages: our tours suit adults and older children, about seven and up.
Yes. She bought the Monk Coniston estate in 1930 — some 4,000 acres including Tarn Hows — and sold half of it to the National Trust at cost, managing the whole until her death, when the remainder passed to the Trust as well.
It was part of the estate she bought, yes. It is now among the National Trust's most visited places, and it is in public hands substantially because of what she did with it.
Ambleside library and Windermere station are both a drive away over the hills; on private tours we can usually collect you at the house, which from this side of the district is generally easier.
Tarn Hows is minutes away, Coniston village and the lake a short drive, Hawkshead and Grizedale Forest close, and Hill Top at Near Sawrey within easy reach.
We are an independent local tour operator. This guide is not affiliated with or endorsed by Monk Coniston.