The Old England is the large slate hotel standing on the shore behind St Martin's Church, with its own lawns and jetty running into Windermere. It began as a private residence and became a hotel as Bowness turned from fishing village into resort — so in a real sense the building has watched the entire history of Lakeland tourism happen around it. For a guest, the practical headline is simpler: you are staying about a minute from Bowness Pier 1, which is one of our three departure points.
Quick Facts
Worth saying first because it changes how you plan the week: Bowness Pier 1 is one of our three main pickup points, and from the Old England it is a stroll rather than a journey. No taxi, no early drive to Windermere, no parking. Guests staying here can be on a tour with less faff than almost anyone else in the national park.
Windermere Lake Cruises operates from the piers alongside, and it is one of the busiest paid attractions in England for good reason. A sailing north to Waterhead for Ambleside, or south to Lakeside, turns a spare afternoon into a proper outing. The hotel's own jetty and moorings mean that if you have brought a boat, this is one of the very few places you can simply arrive by water.
Bowness takes an enormous amount of day traffic and then, some time after five, hands itself back. Staying in the middle of it means you get the good version: the bay in evening light, St Martin's quiet, restaurants without the queue. The church is worth ten minutes — its fabric runs from the fifteenth century through the Victorian restorers, and it is a parish history in one building.
From the top of the village, Brant Fell is a short honest climb to a full-length view of Windermere that most visitors never bother with. Ninety minutes there and back with stops, and it is the best free thing in Bowness.
The high passes and the far valleys sit beyond the boats and the buses, and holiday driving is nobody's idea of a break. Our tours carry seven guests at most — and your pickup is the pier next door.
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 & bookThis is when the "hands itself back" version of Bowness that guests here already enjoy in the evenings starts happening all day, not just after five. The day-boat crowds thin right out through October, and a cruise from the pier next door — to Waterhead or down to Lakeside — becomes a genuinely peaceful hour rather than a busy one, cold air on your face, the shoreline woods blazing gold and copper the whole way, the water catching every colour back at you.
Brant Fell is worth the climb again now too: the same short pull up from the village, breath clouding in the cold, but the full-length view of the lake comes back in rich autumn colour rather than summer haze — the whole valley laid out below in amber and rust, the fells beyond sharpened by clearer air — and you'll very likely have the top entirely to yourself.
If you would rather not share the vehicle, a private day collects at the hotel and runs to no fixed timetable — a popular choice for a celebration, or when the party has a wide spread of ages. 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.
Car-free: about as easy as the Lakes gets — pier next door, village around you, tour days from the doorstep.
If you drive: Bowness parking fills by mid-morning in season. Braithwaite Fold and Glebe Road are the sensible options, but you may not need the car at all.
Timing: book tour days when you book the room — seven seats, and summer dates go two to three weeks out.
Ages: our tours suit adults and older children, about seven and up.
On Church Street in the middle of Bowness, directly behind St Martin's Church, with its own lawns and jetty running down to Windermere.
Bowness Pier 1 is a very short walk — it is effectively next door. Windermere station and Ambleside library are our other two pickups.
Yes, in a limited number of lake-view rooms and by prior arrangement, with a charge per dog per night. Well-behaved dogs are also welcome on our private tours, travelling safely in our vehicle crates.
About a mile and a half — a few minutes by taxi, or a walk of around half an hour uphill.
We are an independent local tour operator. This guide is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Macdonald Old England Hotel & Spa.