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The question of which is the most beautiful lake in the Lake District has been argued for two hundred years without resolution, which is probably the right outcome. Windermere is the largest and the most famous. Buttermere is the most perfectly proportioned. Wastwater is the most dramatic. But for the combination of scale, variety, drama and sheer visual intelligence — for the way the lake seems to have been designed to reveal itself gradually rather than all at once — Ullswater makes the strongest case.
It is twelve miles long, the second largest lake in the Lake District after Windermere, and it bends twice as it runs from Pooley Bridge in the north to Patterdale in the south. These bends are not a flaw. They are the reason the lake is as beautiful as it is.
Most lakes, viewed from above, are simple. An oval, a long rectangle, a kidney shape. You can see them whole in a single glance. Ullswater cannot be seen whole from anywhere. It bends around Skelly Nab and then bends again below Glenridding, so that from any given point on the shore you are looking at one section of the lake while the rest remains hidden. The effect is of inexhaustible depth — there is always more around the corner.
The fells that surround the southern reaches — Helvellyn and its long ridge to the west, Place Fell to the east, the Grey Crag group above Glenridding — are among the highest and most dramatic in the Lake District. From the lake shore at Glenridding on a clear day, Helvellyn's summit is visible at 950 metres. No other lake in the Lake District has fells this high rising directly from the water's edge.
William Wordsworth knew Ullswater intimately. He grew up at Cockermouth, thirty miles to the north-west, and walked in this area throughout his life. The daffodil poem — I wandered lonely as a cloud — was inspired by a walk he and Dorothy took along the shore of Ullswater at Gowbarrow in April 1802.
Dorothy's journal entry for that day is more precise and in some ways more beautiful than the poem: We saw a few daffodils close to the water side. We fancied that the lake had floated the seeds ashore and that the little colony had so sprung up. But as we went along there were more and more, and at last under the boughs of the trees, we saw that there was a long belt of them along the shore.
Gowbarrow Park, on the western shore of Ullswater, is now a National Trust property. The daffodils still come up each spring in the same places.
The Ullswater Steamers have been running since 1859, making them one of the oldest scheduled passenger boat services in the country. The steamers — which include both genuine Victorian steam-powered vessels and more modern additions to the fleet — connect Pooley Bridge at the northern end of the lake with Howtown on the eastern shore and Glenridding at the southern end.
The journey from Pooley Bridge to Glenridding takes approximately one hour and fifteen minutes and passes through all three sections of the lake, including the two bends. It is one of the finest boat journeys in England.
On the 10 Lakes Full-day Tour — the cruise from Glenridding back towards the northern end of the lake is included in the tour price. Pre-booked and pre-paid, no queuing at the pier. Your expert storyteller will tell you what to look for on each section of the lake as you sail.
Ullswater is approximately thirty miles north of Windermere by road, via the Kirkstone Pass. The pass itself — the highest driveable road in the Lake District — is part of the journey on our 10 Lakes Full-day Tour, and the descent from the summit towards Ullswater is one of the most dramatic moments of that day.
By public transport, Ullswater is served by the 508 bus between Penrith and Patterdale (seasonal). Penrith station is on the West Coast Main Line.
Is Ullswater near Windermere?
About thirty miles by road, via the Kirkstone Pass. The drive takes approximately fifty minutes. Our 10 Lakes Full-day Tour connects both lakes in a single day.
Can you swim in Ullswater?
Wild swimming is popular in Ullswater, particularly at the quieter spots on the eastern shore. The water is cold year-round. There are no official swimming facilities.
Is the Ullswater steamer trip worth it?
Emphatically yes. The view of the southern fells from the lake is genuinely different from any land-based view, and the journey through the two bends of the lake is one of the finest short boat trips in England. Our 10 Lakes Full-day Tour includes the cruise.
Ullswater is included on our The 10 Lakes Full-day Tour with Ullswater Cruise — a full day from Windermere taking in ten of the finest lakes in the National Park, ending with an Ullswater Steamers cruise. From £169 per person.