The full ten-lakes day, all winter
10 Lakes Winter Tour —
spectacular scenery in winter light
Breathtaking mountain views and long sweeping valleys
The full ten-lakes day, all winter
Breathtaking mountain views and long sweeping valleys
Duration
Full dayrun to the daylight
Lakes
10and mountain views
Ullswater
Shore roadand a photo stop
Group
Max 7guests
Pickup
4 pointsOxenholme to Ambleside
Season
Oct–Marlate October to late March
Rated Excellent by our guests on TripAdvisor, Viator and Google
£129per person, all included
Check availability & book Choose your date · small groups onlyOften sells out. We don't run every tour every day, so book early for the date you want.
Winter is the quiet season in the Lakes. The roads are emptier, the light is low and clear, and the high tops often carry snow. This is the same ten-lakes day as the summer tour, run to the daylight rather than to the clock, with the length of Ullswater from the shore road in place of the boat. Fewer people, and the mountains at their sharpest.
“We’re so glad we weren’t driving.” Our guests often tell us so.
The mountain roads are narrow and steep. Your driver watches the road, so you can watch the views.
Experienced, qualified drivers who know every pass and bend, in every kind of weather.
No route to plan, no tickets to buy. Just enjoy the day.
Other ten-lakes tours run sixteen- and nineteen-seat buses. Ours takes seven: a guide who can hear your question and answer it, room to move, and no queue for the door at every stop.
The same route and the same ten lakes as the summer tour, through the months when the boats are off. The Ullswater shore road takes the place of the cruise.
Someone who lives in Cumbria and knows these roads in rain, snow and low sun — and who will change the route on the day if that is what the weather asks. You get the Lakes, not a script.
Ashness Bridge, Surprise View, the Ullswater shore, Castlerigg with the mountains behind, Buttermere from the shore. We stop where the pictures are, and your guide knows the angles and the light.
The whole day runs through the heart of the Lake District World Heritage Site — inscribed for its landscape, its farming and the writers and painters it inspired.
Every stop, pickup and drop-off. The only thing you pay for on the day is your lunch.
We collect from four points at set times, and drop you back at the same point. Times are approximate — please be there ten minutes before your pickup time.
Oxenholme Railway Station
Station Yard, on the southbound side of the station, Oxenholme, Kendal LA9 7HF
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back around
Windermere Railway Station
Outside the railway station, Windermere LA23 1AH
what3words ///spreading.inflame.removes
back around
Bowness Pier
At the Windermere Lake Cruises ticket office, Bowness Pier, Bowness-on-Windermere LA23 3HQ
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back around
Ambleside Library
Outside the library, Kelsick Road, Ambleside LA22 0BZ
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back around
Maps and directions for each pickup point
Tap a lake or a stop to see it. The route can change with the weather and the roads on the day.
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors
The route changes with the weather and the roads on the day, so the lakes don't always come in this order.
01
Windermere
England's largest lake
02
Brothers Water
Small and quiet
03
Ullswater
The shore road
04
Bassenthwaite Lake
Seen from Surprise View
05
Derwentwater
Keswick's lake
06
Buttermere
Perfectly proportioned
07
Crummock Water
Next to Buttermere
08
Thirlmere
The drowned valley
09
Grasmere
Wordsworth's lake
10
Rydal Water
Small and still
Breathtaking mountain scenery all day, from the minibus and at every stop — Skiddaw and Blencathra above Keswick, Helvellyn over Thirlmere, the high peaks around Buttermere — with long sweeping valleys between them that most visitors never reach. The road takes you over four passes, including Kirkstone Pass and Honister Pass, where the road climbs at one in four — the one everybody remembers.
A ring of ancient stones on a plateau surrounded by mountains — Castlerigg is older than Stonehenge, with a better view. And at the top of Honister Pass, England's last working slate mine.
The length of Ullswater on the shore road, with a stop for photographs where the view opens out — and, when daylight allows, the walk to Aira Force. Then Ashness Bridge with Derwentwater and Skiddaw behind it, Surprise View, and Moss Force, a waterfall on the open hillside that most visitors never see. Photo opportunities at every one.
Borrowdale, where the mountains close in on both sides, then over Honister to Buttermere and Crummock Water, and back through the Newlands valley. A loop most visitors never complete.
An hour in Keswick to eat where you like — a working market town, with market days on Thursday and Saturday. And the village of Grasmere, with its gingerbread still baked to a secret recipe from 1854.
Every valley on this route has a story — a drowned valley, a poet's daffodils, a famous scandal. Your guide tells them on the day.
Rated Excellent by our guests on TripAdvisor, Viator and Google, where you can read every review, unedited.
★★★★★"The best day we have ever spent anywhere. Ten lakes, four mountain passes, the slate mine, Moss Force — I had no idea any of it existed. Our guide explained everything, and made the whole day feel like three hours. We will be back."
James & Catherine R. · Birmingham
★★★★★"Honister Pass alone was worth the price. The drive up through the Borrowdale valley, the mine at the summit, the descent to Buttermere — it was completely unlike anything I had seen in the Lakes before. And then the gingerbread at the end. A perfect day."
Margaret T. · Edinburgh
★★★★★"We have been to the Lake District seven times. We thought we knew it. This tour showed us that we had been seeing the surface of it. The Newlands Valley, Crummock Water, Moss Force — none of it was on our map. The guide's knowledge was simply outstanding. Book this tour."
David & Susan H. · London
The same tour, run privately: your own guide and minibus, collected from your accommodation in Kendal, Windermere, Bowness, Ambleside, Grasmere, Oxenholme or Keswick, on the date that suits you, with nobody in the minibus you didn't bring. Well-behaved dogs, and children under seven, by arrangement.
Price on enquiry up to 7 guests · full day · winter rate confirmed when you enquire
Enquire about a private winter dayThis tour can be added to, or adapted as part of, a bespoke tour — tailor-made for each individual booking, around the places and the people you most want to see.
Find out about bespoke toursEvery tour is led by one of a small team of local guides — Tim, Gillian, Sandra and Steve — who live in Cumbria and drive these roads in every season. The team rotates, so we can't promise a particular guide, but whoever you get will know the ten lakes in rain, snow and low sun. We are based in Kendal, our minibuses are licensed for private hire, and we are fully insured.
This page was checked by Phil in .
Photographs: hero Smudge 9000 from North Kent Coast, England (CC BY-SA 2.0), TXGemGem (CC BY-SA 4.0), Diliff (CC BY-SA 3.0), Russel Wills (CC BY-SA 2.0), Richard Sutcliffe (CC BY-SA 2.0), Brian Clift (CC BY-SA 2.0), Peter Skynner (CC BY-SA 2.0), HeritageDaily (CC BY-SA 4.0), Stephen Darlington (CC BY-SA 2.0), Hansheap (CC BY-SA 4.0), User:Diliff (CC BY-SA 3.0), lakes Mystery Ray (CC BY-SA 4.0), Graham Robson (CC BY-SA 2.0), Mick Knapton at English Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 3.0), Richard Thomas (CC BY-SA 2.0), Bill Boaden (CC BY-SA 2.0), Peter S (CC BY-SA 2.0), via Wikimedia Commons. Placeholder photography — to be replaced with our own.
