The Swan sits on the edge of Grasmere at the foot of Helm Crag, and it has a literary claim most inns would give a great deal for: Wordsworth put it in a poem. In The Waggoner he wrote of the Swan by name, and the line has been quoted at guests ever since. This guide covers the village below and the fells behind.
Quick Facts
Wordsworth named the Swan in The Waggoner, which is not a poem many people read now but was well enough known in its day to make the inn locally famous. There is a further story, told with varying degrees of confidence, that Sir Walter Scott — staying with the Wordsworths at Dove Cottage and finding the household's temperance and porridge rather trying — used to slip up the road to the Swan for something better. It is too good a story to check very hard.
Either way, you are drinking somewhere both of them knew.
Grasmere takes a great deal of daytime traffic and then empties. Do the sights early or late. St Oswald's churchyard holds the Wordsworth family graves beneath the yews he planted; the gingerbread shop in the old village school beside the church gate has been working the same secret recipe since 1854; and Dove Cottage, where he wrote most of his best work, is a short stroll on.
The fell directly behind the inn is Helm Crag — known to everyone as the Lion and the Lamb for the shape of the rocks on top. It is a couple of hours there and back and gives a view down the whole vale. Further up Easedale, the tarn is one of the loveliest in the district and reached by a broad, honest path. Both start effectively from the door.
Ambleside library is your nearest pickup, about ten minutes down the valley — our other two are Windermere station and Bowness Pier 1. Private days collect at the inn.
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 & bookCollected at the inn, no departure time to drive to, and a route shaped 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.
Yes — he names the inn in The Waggoner. There is also a well-worn local story that Walter Scott slipped out to it while staying with the Wordsworths at Dove Cottage.
An easy walk through the village — under a mile.
Ambleside library, about ten minutes down the valley. Windermere station and Bowness Pier 1 are our other two, and private tours can collect at the inn.
Helm Crag, the fell directly behind — a couple of hours, and the view down the vale of Grasmere is superb.
We are an independent local tour operator. This guide is not affiliated with or endorsed by The Swan, Grasmere or the Inn Collection Group.